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Pediatric Orthopedic Project, Inc.

POP is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving pediatric orthopedic care in the developing world through surgical mission trips, the education of local medical staff, and hospital facility improvements.

POP Happenings Blog

POP will once again be blogging this year during our mission trip. Please join us on our journey and see your donations in action!

Thank you for your support!

The Mission Team

Mission 5 Day 5 – March 2016

Mission 5 Day 5 – March 2016

March 17, 2016 by popstl Leave a Comment

Thursday, March 10th Live Blog:

It’s only 11:20AM here, but we’ve had some touching moments already. Healing after spine surgery is a mental and physical experience.

Ronald tries to stand Cropped
Pain is sometimes too much to bear. Back to rest with pain medications and a first walk later. We need to remember he was bed-bound for 2 weeks until we treated him. He’s a brave young man.

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We started the day as usual with a very interesting lecture from one of POP’s medical team. Here is Brian McCarty delivering a resident round on the benefits of Neuromonitoring during surgery.

Abigail and Jessie CroppedHeading into surgery can be frightening. Jessica, one of POP’s neuromonitoring technologists is bilingual and comforts her minutes before leaving for the OR.

Abigail and Mom Cropped
The love of a mother’s hands moments before being wheeled to the OR for scoliosis surgery. This is Abigail. She received one round of scoliosis surgery during POP’s first mission. Today’s surgery will hopefully complete all of the treatment she will need. She’s brave to go through this intensive procedure again.

Melany walks Cropped
A girl walks back to her room while her mother looks on with amazement! Melany was tall to begin with, she’s inches taller today.

Laisha rests comfortably
Moments like these are golden. Smiling comfortably hugging her POP teddy bear, who she generously named “Mady Luna” after POP’s co-founder and Santiago spine surgeon Dr. Miguel Luna.

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Another reality check moment. POP’s facility improvement project this mission trip was to renovate the cast room. Here you can see why. The hospital does not have a working cast saw. Patients are being told to soak the casts in water and then return where staff can try to help remove it for them. Here we see a patient on the floor, outside of the cast room (because it’s undergoing renovation) and a friend helps cut the cast off with wire cutters. This leaves much room for infection. We know that our shipment arrived at the port during our visit and will soon be at the hospital. The cast room staff will have both an electric and a backup manual cast saw in the hopes of preventing this in the future.

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Mid-day we had a very interesting Nursing lecture by ICU nurse Jennifer Felber on Fluid Balance post-surgery. The local nurses were incredibly engaged and everyone learned a lot from each other.

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Burning the mid-night oil, POP staff members head back to the cast room to work on decorations prior to the shipment arriving so the room is ready. Here POP’s co-founder, Dr. Madelyn Stazzone (also a Pediatric Radiologist) and POP’s Director of Marketing, Lisa Simani-Oren (also a nurse) paint the background of our mini-mural. It’s late, but the positive energy of the day and of our patients and friends here give us all the energy we need!

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With everyone’s work done for the day, we wait for our mini bus to collect us from the hospital to take us to our home away from home to change for dinner. It’s late, but everyone is hungry.

Blog

Mission 5 Day 4 – March 2016

Mission 5 Day 4 – March 2016

March 17, 2016 by popstl Leave a Comment

Wednesday, March 9th Recap:

POP made history today! We took on our first trauma case. A 17-year old boy who suffered a terrible motorcycle accident. Patients sat up and walked to their parents, and a reunion of previous patients happened this afternoon. We weren’t even supposed to take on a 7th patient because we only had 1 OR to work with, so the original plan was to use Wednesday as a clean-up and prep for the final 3 cases day and a cast room lecture. Since the shipment didn’t arrive and we found out about this young man, we were agile and changed our course of action to help him. If we didn’t treat this boy, he would have had to be in a body cast for 3-4 months.

Ronald pre surgery Cropped
Here is Ronald, a resident of Santiago. He’s 17 years old and sustained a spine fracture from a motorcycle accident. He was in bed for 2 weeks when we met him. He loved his bear and named him “peluche,” which means Teddy Bear. He did very well with his surgery.

Melandy recovers with visit from mom
Melany’s mom visits her as she recovers from scoliosis surgery.

Melany's dad visits Cropped
A father’s smile watching his daughter sitting up for the first time nice and tall after surgery.

Laisha and her mom_day2
A mother gives a comforting kiss to her daughter after scoliosis surgery.

Laisha's incision Cropped
Her scoliosis incision looks great post-surgery!

Laisha and her bear
Sleeping while hugging her bear!

Ann Rosen Butterflies Cropped
Ann Rosen painted 3 butterflies on this wall in the orthopedic recovery room. Great job Ann! They love butterflies in the Dominican Republic.

Yve's paintings Cropped
POP’s Director of Development and Operations, Yvette López Adams painted the other wall. It looks lovely Yve! Great teamwork ladies!

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A reunion of previous patients was held today! So many showed up and it was nice to hear how well they are all doing now thanks to POP and our supporters!

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The volunteer group at the hospital had a cake made with our logo for a celebration today! Gracias!

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Former patients visit current patients to help them recover. What a wonderful day!

Blog

Mission 5 Day 3 – March 2016

Mission 5 Day 3 – March 2016

March 16, 2016 by popstl Leave a Comment

Tuesday, March 8th

All in all, today was a very successful day! 2 scoliosis surgeries were successfully completed, education of the doctors and nurses was done and renovations of the cast room continued. We left in the dark and came back to our hotel in the dark.

Long day
We started our shift in the dark of the AM, and ended in the dark. 14 hours done! Exhausted but a day well spent!

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Dr. Rich Nigro gave rounds on anesthesia at 6:30am.

screws and implants
These are the screws and surgical instruments that are inserted into the patient’s spine during scoliosis surgery. Thank you to DePuy for the donation of instruments.

Laisha hugs mom before surgery
Here is patient 2, Laisha, giving her mom a kiss before she has surgery in the morning.

Nursing Rounds on Infection Prevention Cropped
Nursing rounds mid-day today were about infection prevention for scoliosis patients by POP’s very own Director of Marketing, Lisa Simani-Oren, APN. She did a wonderful job enabling a cross-cultural conversation where we learned a lot about what is done here in Santiago.

Kelly sick Cropped
One of our operating room nurses, Kelly, got ill and our team took care of her by putting in an IV. It’s amazing what some replacement fluids will do.

IMG_2298 Cropped
Thanks to one of our newest supporters in Massachusetts, POP was able to provide gowns to parents visiting their children. Here Dr. Phil Oren holds one up.

Laisha and her mom Cropped
Laisha’s surgery went very smoothly. Her mother sheds a tear after seeing her daughter. She is doing very well after her surgery but it’s an emotional experience.

Karina sits up Cropped
Monday’s patient, Karina, sits up in bed for the first time after surgery. Her incision looks good. Our former patient Melissa observes (right). Dr. Madelyn Stazzone, POP’s co-founder, and Nurse Beth examine Karina.

Just before c-arm broke Cropped
The operating room before the c-arm machine started to smoke, and spark. The machine didn’t make it but the patient, Melany, did very well with her surgery.

prepping cast room for mural
The planning phases for the cast room renovation are under way and the ortho ward decorations have been ongoing. Stay tuned to see the final product in the days coming. Here POP volunteers project the POP logo onto the wall of the cast room in order to stencil the outline and prep to paint. The hospital wanted us to paint the POP logo onto the wall because we were able to donate so many new pieces of equipment. They are just so loving and appreciative. We couldn’t do this without the generosity of our many donors.

Moms now friends Cropped
Mothers of patients, new friendships made.

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POP is Unique



POP has a unique five arm model. POP seeks to improve orthopedic care not only by annual surgical missions but also by educating local doctors and nurses so that they can pay it forward to their communities; equipping the archaic hospital with necessary equipment, supplies and renovations; sponsoring children with orthopedic conditions that need non-surgical treatment and collaborating with other organizations to bring children with complex orthopedic conditions to the United States for treatment.

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