ReSurge International Blog

ReSurge's 44th Trip Season Begins with Nepal Trip

ReSurge recently began its 44th trip season by sending out a team of visiting educators to Kathmandu, Nepal. The team of seven includes two post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) nurses, an ICU burn specialist nurse, a hand therapist, a circulating RN, a team coordinator, and Bonnie MacEvoy, an anesthesiologist.  

Bonnie has been keeping a blog with excellent updates on the work the team has been doing (note: some images posted on the blog are of surgical procedures). Here are some excerpts from her blog on her time in Nepal:

We have 15 nursing students, 2 anesthesia assistants, 2 surgical residents, 2 plastic surgery residents, the staff nurses, and a visiting medical student from Germany whose English puts me to shame. It is a wide audience and targeting our teaching - also given that English is a distant second language for most of them – is going to be tricky.

I am amazed at how quickly the nurses have come up with a plan of action and a list of lectures to do for our class of 15 nurses. And they are amazing teachers.

We had a scenario of a burn victim brought into the hospital from a fall and burn. Sandy, one of our PACU nurses, we covered with smears of charcoal and vaseline with plastic to make fake blisters.  She had charcoal on her nose to inspire a discussion on inhalational injuries, a circumferential "burn" on her lower leg to talk about compartment syndrome, and a large burn on her back that might be missed if no one examined her thoroughly. Len [the burn nurse educator] did a fantastic job and so many various teaching points came up as the new nurses were guided through the care of this "patient."

Volunteer educators give lesson on burn injuries

I did a lecture about pharmacology with questions that when answered correctly were rewarded with a peanut M&M. By the end they all chimed in at once and everyone got a treat.

Sandy, Vickie, and Anne did a scenario with monitors and the hooking-up of patients as they arrive in the PACU. I got to be one of the patients and lay still as these gentle and tentative little hands moved about trying to understand and do each task.  Every now and then something would make me smile and they would all laugh.

Now and then I would get a little pat or someone would be holding my hand. I kept my eyes closed to be a good post-operative dummy, but when I opened and saw the seven or so faces around me, they would all smile. Such amazing young women with so much interest and promise.

 

We are very grateful to Bonnie for sharing her blog and photos with us, and we are grateful to each of our volunteers for the excellent work they are doing. Stay tuned for more updates from Nepal!

ReSurge Presents at Clinton Global Initiative

Yesterday, ReSurge was honored to present its commitment, ReThink Burns: Preventing Disabilities Before They Happen, at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2013 Annual Meeting in New York.  This year, our commitment was selected as "an exemplary approach to addressing a global challenge" and was highlighted on stage at the session, "From Stigma to Success: Empowering the World's Billion People with Disabilities."

Click the video box below to watch the video of President and CEO Susan Hayes present our commitment.

 

 

"Even a minor burn untreated can cause a working hand to become an unusable fist or even restrict one's ability to walk," said Hayes. "Burn disabilities are not only treatable, they are preventable. Simple and affordable treatment soon after a person is burned makes the difference between a productive life and one of isolation, suffering and disability."

Through this commitment, ReSurge and our partner, International Medical Corps, will significantly reduce the number of people who are permanently disabled by burns, build the capacity of the local health system to prevent and treat burns, and increase the number of burn survivors in Nepal who can attend school, earn a living, and care for their families.

Please click here to learn more about ReSurge's commitment and the Clinton Global Initiative.  

 

Announcing ReThink Burns: College Edition!

Today we are excited to announce the launch of a program to build a network of passionate college students who will bring attention to the neglected but solvable global health crisis of burns. 

ReSurge International is seeking entrepreneurial-minded and philanthropy-focused college students to be our campus ambassadors as part of the new college edition of our ReThink Burns campaign. We are thankful to Ketchum, Inc., a global public relations firm, which helped us develop ReThink Burns: College Edition on a pro bono basis.  

Did you know that nearly 11 million people are severely burned annually? Almost all of them live in developing countries, where prevention is almost nonexistent and medical care for burns is extremely limited. Without immediate access to care, those who survive are left with injuries that heal themselves, destroying normal function and often disfiguring victims. Click here to learn more about the solvable global health crisis of burns.

Campus ambassadors will build awareness of this neglected global health crisis of burns and the work ReSurge is doing on the issue. 

Activities include (but are not limited to):

• Help save a life - Challenge others to ReThink Burns, one photo at a time, through ReThink Your Social for one week in November.

• Change your life - Earn a trip to a developing country by producing the winning video in the ReThink Your Summer video contest.

• Inspire your campus - Be our Campus Ambassador and connect with faculty, media professionals and students at universities nationwide. Educate your community about burns and help transform the lives of thousands through ReThink Your Campus.

 

By reaching out to students in creative ways, managing a social media campaign, pitching to media outlets and building a relationship with a well-established organization, the campus ambassador role is a valuable leadership position for a student to hold and to highlight on a resume or during interviews.

Click here for more information on ReThink Burns: College Edition.

 

Know someone on a college campus who this program might appeal to? Please forward this blog post to them!

Welcome Alan Harmatz, New Chief Medical Officer

Alan (right) with President & CEO Susan Hayes and surgeon Dr. Hung on a 2005 ReSurge trip to Vietnam

We at ReSurge have been very pleased to recently welcome a long-time volunteer, Alan Harmatz, on staff as our new chief medical officer.

Alan has been an active volunteer and team member with ReSurge since 1996, and served as a member of ReSurge's board of directors from 2003 to 2008. As chief medical officer, Alan evaluates ReSurge's surgical team trips and the organization's education and empowerment programs for safety, quality assurance, effectiveness and impact. He also travels internationally to assess potential new ReSurge sites.

Alan is a board-certified practiced plastic surgeon with more than 15 years of clinical expertise in addition to international, business and administrative experience. Most recently, he has served as the section chief of surgical subspecialties and associate director of clinical/quality process improvement at the Central Maine Medical Group in Lewiston, Maine.

We are thrilled to have Alan on our team!

New Trip Season, New Beginnings

 

Photo by Phil Borges

ReSurge is about to begin its 44th trip season, with more than 100 medical volunteers expected to travel with us in the coming year. In the next month, we will begin deploying some of our volunteers around the globe to teach and perform surgeries.  

We also recently began our new fiscal year, and exciting plans are underway. This year, we expect to provide 5,500 life-changing surgeries for more than 3,500 children and adults. We also expect to provide training for more than 800 medical professionals in the developing world. 

In just the last few weeks, our international partners have helped give hundreds of children and their families a second chance at life. We are excited to see what more the new year brings!

To see where the volunteer teams are headed this year, click here for our latest team trip schedule.  

Best Wishes, Amy

After 37 years of dedication to ReSurge International and its mission to help those in need of reconstructive surgery around the world, Amy Laden retired two weeks ago as our director of international services.

Amy started with the organization, then Interplast, in 1976 as a social worker focused on helping patients through a very physically and emotionally trying experience. 

During the time of Interplast's domestic program (wherein children from other countries would be brought here for surgery), Amy would obtain visas, organize transportation and recruit local host families for these children who often had traveled to California by themselves to receive treatment.

"I remember being overwhelmed by the trust their families had in us," said Amy.

She made sure that these children received the best care, in and out of the hospital.  Understanding that there was more to a patient's recovery than the surgery, Amy was a constant advocate for their emotional well-being.

The organization has come a long way since then and Amy has played an instrumental role in our growth and transformation into what is today ReSurge International. As we've come to rely on our international partners more and more, Amy helped to build local capacity to increase year-round access and ensure that surgical skills are passed on from one generation to the next.  She believed in empowering developing world surgeons and had immense respect for its power to create sustainable access to care for children.

"More than anyone else in the 44-year history of the organization, Amy Laden is the face of ReSurge to our patients, our international partners and those of us fortunate enough to have worked with her," said Susan Hayes, ReSurge president and CEO.

Amy's desire to help led her to be part of more than 50 ReSurge trips to 24 cities in 14 different countries, but her legacy will be her unwavering dedication to our patients.

Amy with our founder, Dr. Donald Laub, at her retirement party

Though her absence will surely be felt, we couldn't be happier for Amy as she moves on to this next phase of her life. She has generously agreed to join our Coordinator/Translator Committee and will continue to be involved with ReSurge as a volunteer, when she isn't traveling or swimming.

 

 

 

Facebook Campaign Generates Over $1,500 for Surgeries

 

We at ReSurge are pleased to announce that, as a result of a Facebook campaign with our partner Barco's Nightingales Foundation over the last few weeks, we were able to raise $1,725 to provide almost six surgeries for children!

The surgeries that we will be able to provide with this support will renew children's opportunity to attend school and help restore their hope for the future. Every life we can help restore makes a tremendous difference for that child, along with the child's family and community. 

We are grateful for Barco's consistent and generous support, and we appreciate your participation in this campaign by liking their page and sharing the campaign information with your friends. 

On behalf of the children who will receive surgeries because of this initiative, thank you to Barco's and to our followers for your support!