2018
Port au Prince Center St Francis des Sales Hospital HRFU Hernia Center of Excellence May 7 – 12
Port au Prince Center St Francis des Sales Hospital HRFU Hernia Center of Excellence Fall – dates to be determined
Ouanaminthe Haiti Hospital University Oct 28 – Nov 4
Honduras Danli site visit – dates to be determined
Paraguay – Asuncion University Hospital, Santa Rosa Hospital, Luque Hospital – dates to be determined
Dominican Republic Santa Domingo area hospital – dates to be determined
Dominican Republic Institute of Latin American Concerns (ILAC) Santiago – November 4-10
Peru Bogata – dates and location to be determined
Guatemala Guatemala City – dates to be determined
Mexico – dates and location to be determined
Surgery on Sunday Omaha Nebraska date in October to be determined
2017
May 1, 2017 | Haiti
Dr. Filipi went to Haiti to determine where a hernia center of excellence can best be developed as a natural outgrowth of our 5 year commitment to the Ministry of Health and the Haitian Surgical Association to educate 25 Haitian surgeons. We have educated 17 surgeons and will work with at least 4 more this year but want to establish an exit strategy and the center of excellence will eventually stand alone with minimal remote input.
April 13, 2017 | Omaha, Nebraska
Surgery on Sunday occurred which was really Thursday April 13th at the University of Nebraska Bellevue Hospital. Eleven patients living at or below 200% of the poverty level and had no Medicaid, Medicare or other insurance were operated upon. Their post-operative course was unremarkable. This is a good activity for the underserved of Omaha and allows medical students to see their faculty surgeons and anesthesiologists giving back – an important observance.
March 8, 2017 | CanCun, Mexico
Dr. Robert Fitzgibbons Jr, chairman of the department of surgery at Creighton University, editor of the Journal Hernia and past president of the American Hernia Society was elected as the new Hernia Repair for the Underserved president. It is an honor for us all to have Dr. Fitzgibbons as president and Dr. Filipi promises to stay very involved.
2016
December 31, 2016 | USA
Final tabulations of HRFU activities for 2016 showed 2 publications in peer reviewed journals, 3 donated anesthesia machines, 6 donated table top sterilizers and one cautery machine given to underserved hospitals, a team of 2 biomedical technicians paid for and directed by HRFU, repaired OR equipment in 5 hospitals, 2 in Haiti and 3 in the Dominican Republic. Seven hernia teams operated in 5 countries on 334 patients and 9 surgeons were trained. The overall complication rate was 1.1% and there were no deaths.
December, 2016 | USA
We have received a generous stock donation from an individual donor. To accommodate the donation, HRFU established a stock brokerage account that allows the stock sale revenue to be transferred to our checking account. The donor avoids capital gains tax, and because the stock market is so robust this type of transaction is becoming more common.
August, 2016 | USA
HRFU asked Dr. Nick Carter, a 4th year surgical resident at Vanderbilt, to be our in country education coordinator. Nick is multilingual and is pursuing a career in global surgery with an intent, after residency, to live with his family in Haiti permanently. He is an outstanding young man and has been invaluable in his assessments and in country surgeon trainee reports.