SRW Accomplishments

SO MANY CASTS — February 2020

Six weeks after our orthopedic team travels to Honduras to provide much-needed surgery for children, a smaller SRW team returns to change the casts of those who had surgery. These new casts remain in place for another four to six weeks. To be efficient, while the casts are off, personnel from the Honduran brace company make a mold of each child's foot for the brace they will need in their shoe once the cast is removed for the final time. Post-operative bracing is just as important as the surgery itself in improving each patient's future mobility. SRW helps cover this expense for patients, as most families cannot afford the $150-$300 per child cost of the braces. Thank you to Cornerstone Church in Mosinee, WI, and the Ladies Guild from Zwingli UCC of Mt. Vernon, WI, for helping provide part of these funds.

Some of the younger children need anesthesia for the cast-change procedure, and some also have metal pins removed. About fifty percent of the patients go to surgery, while the remainder can be treated without anesthesia and do very well. Our team is small but mighty! We complete these procedures over two days at the clinic in Siguatepeque, as children and their families travel back to the clinic from across Honduras. This year, we saw 31 patients, and 43 braces needed to be made for these children. The trip took place February 22—March 3, 2020. All our team members had also made this same trip last year. We cannot wait to see these patients next year and watch their improved mobility in action!

Team members were:
David Mann, MD
Mary Dowling, RN
Wendy Read, RN
Jessica Ebert, CRNA
Jessica Hoffmaster, CRNA
Elizabeth Shimon, PA
Cassie Kolstad, PA
Pat White, RN
Pat Kreibich, RN

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