ReSurge International Blog

Team Hard at Work in Quang Ngai, Vietnam

 

Our volunteer surgical team has arrived in Vietnam! And they have quickly gotten to work. The team saw more than 200 patients on clinic day.

The team includes surgeons Drs. Kristin Stueber and Pirko Maguina; anesthesiologists Drs. James Bucher, Paul Satwicz and Kevin Healy; pediatrician Dr. David Norton; nurses Dawn Yost, Nanette Root, Lisa Pritchard and Carol Rogers; and coordinator/translators Catherine Lam, Kim Satterlee and Kris Pasillas.

 

 

They are also joined by supporters Rob and Jennifer Williams and their two children, who have been sending us great updates from the team. 

Stay tuned for more updates on the team's work in Quang Ngai!

 

"Quang Ngai welcomes ReSurge International"

 

Join Us in LA for Barco's Annual Walk for Children

 

 

We are looking forward to attending Barco's Nightingales Foundation's annual Walk for Children in Los Angeles on April 6. 

The walk raises funds for children with medical needs and honors the nurses who care for them, and we hope that those of you in the Los Angeles area will consider joining us!

The Barco’s Nightingales Foundation and Michael and Frida Donner’s support of ReSurge over the years has provided free reconstructive surgery for approximately 1,500 children worldwide, and we are so grateful for both their ongoing partnership and for the opportunity to join them and their community in raising funds for children with medical conditions.

Please join us! To meet up with the ReSurge group, please contact Erika Dowd at [email protected] or register online at the Barco’s Nightingales site.

Stay tuned for an update and pictures of the event in early April!

 

Reflections on a Successful Trip to Malawi

 

By Joe Lippi, Director of Medical Programs and Impact

In Malawi, I was told by several surgeons that just getting into the operating theater was their major challenge. That surprisingly general statement meant very little to me when Dr. Jonathan Rausky (volunteer plastic surgeon), Dr. Steve Parker (volunteer anesthesiologist) and I arrived in Lilongwe for a one-week visiting educator trip in burn surgery. However, as the week progressed I began to see the complexities of the environment in which we were working and, indeed, to understand how true that statement was.

If one of the elements of running a hospital breaks down—be it infrastructure, human resources, medical records or administration—the system is disrupted and one doesn’t get into the OR. In Malawi, we learned how delicate this balance was, and our volunteers experienced first-hand the challenges that are presented when parts of the system break down. 

But a ReSurge visiting educator trip is by design very different than our surgical team trips.

Restoring Function for Fatima in Malawi

 

ReSurge volunteers Dr. Jonathan Rausky and Dr. Steven Parker visit with their patient, Fatima, in Malawi the day after she received surgery on a burn scar contracture to her neck that had previously pulled her head downward toward her chest.  

Fatima was accidentally burned by boiling water in her home. She and her mother had come to the hospital many times to receive surgery but had to be turned away. This is often the case in developing countries where medical care for burns is extremely limited.

Dr. Rausky and Dr. Parker went to Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe, Malawi, to do a visiting educator workshop. In collaboration with the surgical, nursing and anesthesia staff at KCH, Drs. Rausky and Parker were able to operate on Fatima and restore function to her neck—using the operation as an opportunity to teach their local counterparts at the hospital.

 

Photo by Joe Lippi

 

Related articles

What Is The Health Impact of A Burn Scar Contracture?

The Incredible Impact of Reconstructive Surgery

Visiting Educator Duo in Malawi

Renewing Health and Mobility in Malawi

 

ReSurge volunteer Dr. Steven Parker visits his patient, Suzgo, and his beautiful mother, Dorothy, a few days after the burn scar contracture on his elbow was released. 

Several months ago, Suzgo was boiling water to cook his meal when he accidentally burned his feet and arm severely with the water. Dr. Parker and one of our volunteer plastic surgeons, Dr. Jonathan Rausky, have been in Malawi doing hands-on surgical training and formal lectures specifically focused on caring for burn victims at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe. They performed surgery to release Suzgo's burn scar contracture and used the case to teach their local counterparts during surgery.

Suzgo and Dorothy were in great spirits after his surgery and expressed their gratitude to the ReSurge volunteers and staff at Kamuzu Central Hospital for his life-changing surgery.   

 

Photo by Joe Lippi

Visiting Educator Duo in Malawi

Drs. Rausky and Parker assessing the anesthesia equipment available to them for the week.

This week we have a visiting educator team leading a workshop on burn treatment in Lilongwe, Malawi. The two-person volunteer team includes anesthesiologist Dr. Steven Parker of Juneau, AK, and Dr. Jonathan Rausky, a plastic surgeon from Paris, France.

Drs. Parker and Rausky are at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe for a week doing hands-on training and formal lectures specifically focused on caring for burn victims. Along with their local counterparts, they are selecting surgical cases that are appropriate for teaching, that provide significant quality of life improvement for the patient and that are able to be conducted safely and with appropriate follow up care. 

Volunteer plastic surgeon Jonathan Rausky works with his Malawian counterpart Stephano Mjuweni during a long burn case.

In addition to this hands-on training, they are also providing lectures and leading discussions for residents, medical students and other medical personnel at the hospital. 

Stay tuned for more updates from Malawi!

 

Photos by Joe Lippi, ReSurge director of medical programs and impact

Stanford's Chang Now ReSurge Consulting Medical Officer

Dr. Jim Chang with a boy in Cambodia who requires reconstruction of the hand due to burn scars.

 

ReSurge has always benefitted from a strong relationship with Stanford University, which was first forged in 1969 by our founder and Stanford plastic surgeon Dr. Donald Laub. 

This alliance continues to thrive as we welcome Dr. Jim Chang as our new consulting medical officer. Jim is currently professor and chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Stanford University Medical Center. His responsibilities will include evaluating and refining ReSurge medical programs for safety, quality assurance, effectiveness and impact. 

 

“ReSurge has extremely effective programs all over the world," said Jim. "I look forward to new educational programs and initiatives that will renew this collaboration between ReSurge and Stanford."

 

Jim's relationship with ReSurge dates back to 1998, when he served on a volunteer surgical team to Quang Ngai, Vietnam. He also leads hand surgery medical teams to Cambodia and has lectured throughout Asia.

Jim brings to ReSurge a wealth of experience. In addition to his appointment as chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery, he is professor of plastic surgery and orthopedic surgery at Stanford University Medical Center, and an attending surgeon at Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital and the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, where he also serves as director of the plastic and hand surgery laboratory. Renowned for his expertise in hand surgery, Jim currently serves as treasurer of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) and was previously its research director. 

“Dr. Chang has long been a strong, committed supporter of our organization, and we are absolutely delighted to have someone of his profile and prominence in academic plastic surgery joining our team,” said President and CEO Susan W. Hayes. “His background and experience perfectly position him to strategically guide our programs as we navigate the changing waters of global surgery and international development.” 

Please join us in welcoming Jim on board our staff!

 

Photo by Julia Chang

 

Last Burn Awareness Week Graphic to Share: Queyen

 

On this final day of National Burn Awareness Week we have one last graphic for you to share with friends and family on social media.

Queyen's arm was burned in a fire when she was 6 months old. She is from the mountains of Vietnam and lived with a disabling burn scar contracture on her arm for more than 25 years. As an adult, she was treated by our surgeons who released the contracture to restore function and mobility to her arm. 

This is a great success story that we would love for you to share with your friends and family! 

Please click the above image to like and share it on Facebook.

Thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about the global crisis of burns by sharing our infographics during National Burn Awareness Week! We will continue to use these resources to shed light on this neglected global health crisis and encourage you to do the same!

 

Today's Graphics: Punkaj & the 11 Million

 

As National Burn Awareness Week wraps up tomorrow, we've got two burn-related graphics for you to share today.

The first, above, shows the incredible impact of reconstructive surgery through before and after photos of one of our patients in India, Punkaj, whom we have treated over several years. Punkaj's story was also included in our blog post this week on the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves blog.

Please like and share this graphic with your friends on Facebook -- just click the image above!

You can also share with your friends the link to Punkaj's story of hope. Find it here on our website. 

 

 

The other graphic we're encouraging you to share today is the above image with the statistic that 11 million people are severely burned each year.

Please simply click the image to like and share it on Facebook or you can download it here.

Thank you for helping us spread the word about the neglected but solvable global burns crisis! Stay tuned for one last graphic to share on the last day of National Burn Awareness Week tomorrow.

 

Today's Infographic: Burn Injuries in India

 

 

Our Burn Awareness Week infographic for today focuses on the impact of burn injuries in India.

Severe burns remain a neglected health crisis in developing countries like India, particularly among poor women and children who use open flames for cooking and lighting and don't have access to medical care when accidents happen. Even for its size, India bears a disproportionate amount of global burn injuries.

Please like, share and retweet this infographic today!

You can also find all of our burn-related infographics for download in this Dropbox folder. Thank you for helping us spread the word about this neglected global health crisis!

 

Today's Infographics to Share: Women & Burns

 

Our burn-related infographics for today focus on the burden of severe burns on women. As you can see above, more women are severely burned each year than are diagnosed with HIV and tuberculosis combined (WHO, 2004 GBD). 

Half of the world still uses open fires for cooking, heating and/or lighting. In these households, disabling burns are prevalent, and women are primarily the ones doing the cooking and homemaking in developing countries, where the vast majority of severe burns occur. Lack of proper fire safety measures and loose clothing worn by women contribute to the problem. In some cases, burns also represent a human rights issue, especially for women and girls in South Asia where fire and acid attacks are used to brutally disfigure them.

 

 

In India, women make up 28 percent of the world's burden of burn injuries (even though they only represent 8 percent of the world's population). Without immediate access to adequate burn care, these burn injuries are left to heal by themselves, creating scar tissue (contractures) that can destroy function and movement, and cause disfigurement in ways unimaginable.

To learn more, please visit our website. To share these infographics, simply click on the images above.

 

Today's Infographic: Developing Countries' Share of Severe Burns Burden

Today's infographic in our series on burns this National Burn Awareness Week highlights the fact that the great majority of severe burns now happen in developing countries. 

It was not that long ago when home and tenement fires were common in the United States. Now, only five percent of all burns worldwide happen in developed countries. The rest occur in developing countries where prevention is almost nonexistent and medical care for burns is extremely limited. The result over time is millions of needless disabilities and deaths, even for relatively minor burns.

Please help us spread the word!

Find and like or share the above infographic on Facebook or Twitter. We have also made all of our burn infographics available for download in this Dropbox folder.

Thanks for sharing, and stay tuned for additional infographics throughout the rest of this National Burn Awareness Week!

 

Infographic: The Health Impact of a Burn Scar Contracture

 

As we mentioned yesterday, it is National Burn Awareness Week in the United States, and ReSurge is taking this opportunity to shed light on severe burns around the world.

This week only, we will be sharing at least one infographic a day on a different aspect of the global burns crisis. Today's infographic explains what a burn scar contracture is and how it impacts a burn survivor, depending on where the contracture is located.

We are asking people to please share this information with your friends and family this week on social media. Simply click on the image above, save it and post it on Facebook or Twitter. Or you can also view and download all of our infographics in this Dropbox folder.

Thank you for helping us spread the word about this neglected but solvable global health crisis!

 

Share Our Infographics This National Burn Awareness Week

 

Today kicks of National Burn Awareness Week, and in conjunction with this week of observation, we have created a suite of informative infographics about the global burns crisis that we are asking people to like and share on social media.  

Every day this week, we will post a new infographic like the one above here on our blog and on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Please help us spread the word about the neglected burns crisis by liking and sharing these graphics with your friends on social media. You can also download the graphics in this Dropbox folder

Severe burns around the world are a silent emergency, but solutions exist. Burns can easily be prevented and treated through simple surgery that corrects disabling injuries and saves countless lives.

Thank you for helping us get this important message out!