Kicking Off Op Walk Boston 2010

The formal planning for Operation Walk Boston 2010 began this week with a pre-mission trip to the Dominican Republic. For the past three days, we have been busy selecting patients for our upcoming mission, meeting with hospital and local officials, and taking inventory on our cargo. The planning has gone very smoothly and our colleagues at Hospital General de la Plaza de la Salud in Santo Domingo have again been wonderful hosts. We are very excited to continue the mission planning and can't wait for our trip in 5 short months.

Roya Ghazinouri - Mission Coordinator

Jeremy Smith - Medical Coordinator

Paul Laemmle - Operating Room Coordinator

Planning for 2010 Trip Already Underway

Operation Walk Boston will return to the Dominican Republic in March 2010 for the third year in a row. While our next trip is over six months away, there is much advance preparation to be done including evaluating our next round of patients, preparing our volunteers, fundraising to make our trip possible, and getting all our cargo together and ready for shipment. A small group of volunteers will be making a preliminary visit to Santo Domingo in October to screen patients and work on all other aspects of the mission. We encourage you to visit our blog regularly to learn more about our progress and about how you can help support our efforts.

Message from Operation Walk Boston Coordinator

"Operation Walk Boston team members departed Santo Domingo today after completion of a successful mission the Dominican Republic! I would like to take this opportunity to thank our amazing group of volunteers for their hard work during the past week. Your compassion and dedication to our patients and their families will have a lasting impact on their lives. I am honored and grateful to be part of such a wonderful team and look forward to planning our mission for 2010." - Roya Ghazinouri

Operation Walk Boston 2009

Hello all - 

Yesterday many of the 40 patients went home from the hospital. Their appreciation and gratitude was truly touching. For me, this has been a fantastic reminder of why I decided to practice medicine - taking care of advanced disease in wonderful patients while working with a team of skilled and dedicated individuals committed to one common goal.

This is the last day of our trip. I believe we have done a great thing for the forty patients we treated and, just as profoundly, they have touched each of us. 

Op Walk Boston Day 5

With the operating rooms closed, all hands were busy either taking care of the patients on the floor or loading up equipment in the cargo room. Many of the 40 patients have been out of bed and walking, usually to the encouraging cheers of other patients, Dominican volunteers, and our Operation Walk staff.

Operation Walk Day 4

"We have now been in Santo Domingo for 4 full days and have completed 54 joint replacements on 40 patients. Overall, the days have gone very smoothly. The operating rooms are now closed and our work is transitioned to the post-operative floors. We are all proudly anticipating a successful completion of Operation Walk 2009." - Dr. Thomas Thornhill

Operation Walk Day 3

Another great day! 10 patients to the OR with 17 joint replacements. The large numbers of patients pushed post-operative staff, certainly keeping everyone extremely busy. We remain thrilled with how things are going though.

Day 2

Today was our first full day of operating. Collectively, we operated on 12 patients, replacing 19 joints. While Operation Walk surgeons, anesthesiologists, and operating room staff were hard at work in the ORs, physical therapists and nurses were busy on the floor. In addition, our host-hospital - Hospital General Plaza de la Salud - has provided an impressive number of volunteers to support for our mission.

Tomorrow we plan on another full day...12 more patients on the schedule.

Operation Walk Boston Day 1

Today began with our pre-operative clinic, where we met 43 patients awaiting total joint replacements. We then operated on 6 of these patients, replacing 8 joints. All 6 are currently doing well as they start their recovery and therapy. 

The physical therapists had a busy day as well. Their activities included a 2-hour educational session for the Dominican therapists. 

Tomorrow is our first full operative day, with 12 patients on the operating room schedule.

Operation Walk Boston has arrived

We have arrived! Early wake-up call tomorrow morning for our pre-operative clinic at Hospital General Plaza de la Salud followed by our first afternoon of joint replacement operations. 

A Year in the Making, Team Coordinators First to Arrive in the Dominican Republic

(A message from Roya Ghazinouri, Program Coordinator)

I arrived in the Dominican Republic along with our operating room coordinator, Paul Laemmle, on March 21st. We have spent the past few days unpacking our cargo, organizing transportation and logistics for our team. Our operating rooms are ready for surgery and our ward is cleared and ready to receive our patients. Our team of volunteers is flying out from Boston today and we will start preoperative clinic and surgeries tomorrow.

Our nurse in charge, Kerrie McDonough, gave a 2 hour lecture yesterday to 19 Dominican nurses. The topic: Basic Nursing Practice. The session was very well received and we hope to continue this education during our one to one patient care time with the local nurses and our patients.

As our team arrives in the DR today, I reflect back at all the work we did for the past year to prepare for this trip and realize every minute of it was worth it. The impact of our work is tremendous.

Leaving Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big day! A huge group of volunteers will be heading to Santo Domingo tomorrow morning, eager to get the week started.

Operation Walk Boston Prepares for Trip to the Dominican Republic

(A message from Roya Ghazinouri, Program Coordinator)

We are 2 weeks away from our trip to the Dominican as part of Operation Walk Boston. I can't believe it is almost here. The support from the Brigham and Women's Hospital community has been amazing. Our 7,000 lbs of cargo was shipped last week, our volunteers are all ready for departure, and our patients in the DR are screened and ready for surgery! We will be posting updates on our blog while in the Dominican Republic so please visit often to share in our progress and accomplishments.