Yale-New Haven Hospital news release
Release date: February 10, 2005
Media contact: Mark D'Antonio, (203) 688-2493

Medical team travels to Thailand to give children the gift of surgery

One recent afternoon, with temperatures plummeting, 37 anesthesiologists, surgeons, pediatricians, nurses and technicians — the majority of whom work at Yale-New Haven Hospital — along with some of their spouses, lugged their suitcases outside Yale-New Haven Hospital's main entrance and boarded a bus to Newark Airport.

Their destination: Thailand, where the temperature was in the 90's. Their mission: Provide surgery for children with congenital defects such as cleft lips and palates, and make a dramatic difference for families too poor to afford even basic medical care.

During its 17-day trip, the group planned to set up six hospital operating rooms, complete 150-175 surgeries in five days and screen 250 other patients to assess problems that might be treated down the line or in the United States.

"It's amazing," said Mark Weinstein, MD, who coordinated the trip and has been gathering colleagues for similar excursions to different countries every January for 10 years. "You have a 15-year-old who has never been to school and is always holding her hand over her face. We fix it for her."

Planning for this trip began seven months ago, well before the December tsunami devastated countries surrounding the Indian Ocean. The group kept to its original plan to set up shop in the Phetchaburi province in central Thailand, 800 miles from the nearest site of the tsunami disaster. The first five days are dedicated to surgery, after that, members of the team have the option of donating their free time to help tsunami victims.

Dr. Weinstein and his colleagues paid for the trip with grants and fundraising. Healing the Children, a non-profit, volunteer organization, handled the logistics. Healing the Children coordinates similar excursions for several other Yale-New Haven Hospital clinicians and associates to destinations such as Brazil, Russia and Vietnam.

Members of the Thailand excursion also raised money for the trip. For example, John Tangredi, RN, raised $250 by selling chocolate bars at a school in Wallingford, where he lives.

The group also packed supplies donated by REMEDY, an organization of healthcare professionals who practice recovery of opened but unused surgical supplies to provide international medical relief while reducing solid medical waste from U.S. hospitals. REMEDY was founded in 1991 by William H. Rosenblatt, MD, professor of anesthesiology at Yale University School of Medicine.

"The little we do to make a difference means so much," said Carol Phillips, RN, a veteran of other international trips. "Many parents who are brought to recovery after their child's operation respond with tears of happiness and say in their own languages 'God bless you' when they see their child."

Yale-New Haven medical staff also volunteered their time to help with the tsunami relief efforts and the Yale-New Haven Hospital Medical Board donated $12,500 to AmeriCares and $12,500 to Save the Children to help tsunami victims.

Reporters: For more information on this release, contact Mark D'Antonio, (203) 688-2493.

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Last revised: February 14, 2005 (mv)

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