Dominican Republic, November 2013
2013 Dominican Republic ILAC Trip Summary
The most recent Dominican Republic trip was a success. One hundred and eight hernia operations were performed and numerous other patients were examined and treated medically. As always the team members were grateful for the experience.
Dr. Robert Cusick and Dr. Lao were the Pediatric surgeons, Dr. Campanelli and Dr. Fitzgibbons plus Dr. Ed Buckley, Dr. Steve Kerns and Dr. Jarrod Kaufman were the adult surgeons. The later three were there for Hernia Repair for the Underserved (HRFU) team leader training. Dr. Manion led the anesthesia team followed by Dr. Guy Giroux, Theresa Keefe CRNA and Dr. Carl Heine.
The entire team performed well under Barb Elliott’s leadership. Welcome back Barb. There is continued enthusiasm on the part of the team members and ILAC staff members to continue our work at the ILAC surgical center.
There were many good moments and below are but a
Below one of our post operative patients going into her home.
Surgeon Training: One fully trained surgeon, Dr. Jean Fritz Jacques from Port au Prince Haiti was trained by Dr. Cusick on pediatric hernia repair and Dr. Campanelli on the Lichtenstein repair. Dr. Jacque did well and was awarded 20 pieces of donated mesh for future Lichtenstein repairs on poor patients. Below are pictures showing the beginning of training with Dr. Campanelli operating and the two surgeons after completion of 5 other groin hernia operations performed by Dr. Jacque with Dr. Campanelli first assisting. After each of the 5 operations a written rating form was used to assess surgical performance by Dr. Jacques.
