Let's Get Ready!

Last night we had our final group meeting before our mission. Volunteers from Brigham and Women's Hospital, New England Baptist Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital were in attendance. Dr. Thornhill gave a warm welcome to all of the new volunteers and thanked the returning alumni for their hard work and dedication.

We learned of a few changes that will be taking place this year. We will be performing more Total Joint Replacements than any previous mission. To that end we will be operating from Thursday through Monday, often performing bilateral procedures. In addition, we will be moving to a newly renovated wing of the hospital which promises to provide a wonderful home for our patients both pre and post-operative.

Roya Ghazinouri, Ellen Fitzpatrick and the rest of the Coordinators will be traveling down to the Dominican Republic slightly earlier than the rest of the group which is scheduled to arrive April 10th. We are all eagerly awaiting the mission which promises to be one of the best yet!

Old and New Volunteers chat after our meeting

Nearly Time...

Operation Walk Boston is getting ready to leave for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on April 10^th 2013.

For the past year, we have been working with our colleagues at Hospital General de La Plaza de la Salud to screen patients for surgery, develop educational and research programs and build the infrastructure to embark on our seventh mission to Santo Domingo.

As I write this post today, our volunteer team is finalizing all the pre-surgical screening necessary for our patients.  Our cargo has arrive in the hospital in Santo Domingo. Our educational and research programs are being finalized and the group is very much energized to start another amazing mission

The work we do has been possible because of continued support of our donors and our volunteers. It is through their generosity that we are able to provide joint replacement surgeries to individuals in the Dominican Republic who otherwise could not afford these surgeries.

The work we do is dear to our hearts and we do it with great dedication, humility and gratitude. We will post our journey on this blog as we start our mission. Please join us daily to see the amazing work done by our volunteer team and our host team in the Dominican Republic.

Sincerely

Roya Ghazinouri

Chief Operating Officer

Opertion Walk Boston

Our cargo has safely arrived in Santo Domingo

2.27.13

     Tonight we had a great meeting with Dr. Archana O'Neill and the rest our Anesthesiology Team to review the more than 80 patients who have requested to have either a hip or knee replacement performed. Many of these patients have requested bilateral procedures and have been dealing with serious pain and deformity for many years. Still others are returning patients who have had great success with a unilateral arthroplasty and will be undergoing a procedure on the contralateral extremity.
     Meeting with our Anesthesia colleagues in the months preceding the Mission allows us to prepare for the unique challenges presented by our patients, many of whom will still require further testing prior to their procedure. We hope to be able to optimize both the quality of care which will be provided to our patients as well as maximize the number of patients which can be operated upon. We are excited for the opportunity to help so many wonderful patients and are eagerly anticipating our arrival in the Dominican Republic.

Ellen Fitpatrick MD (Opwalk Chief Medical Officer) with Archana O'Neill MD (Chief Anesthesiologist) during our Feb 27th meeting