During this short surgical trip we will be providing cleft care for the children of Hue, Vietnam. We will be performing primary cleft lip and palate surgeries as well as secondary cleft reconstructions. This will make a significant difference as we are providing care to the children of the central and highlands regions who otherwise would not be able to afford this care.
The communities of the central and highland regions around Hue will significantly benefit from this project. This is the fourth time the Team will be completing this short surgical trip and my second time participating. We will be able to provide continuity of care to patient's that we have seen on the three previous trips.
The expected impact is to improve the lives of the children, families, and these communities by providing these life changing surgeries. The hosting hospital is well known to us and we have made great friendships with the doctors, nurses, and the rest of the hospital staff over the last several years. For me personally, I have gained an increased culture competence by participating in this trip, which I have been able to take back home as I continue to care for patients.
We arrived at Hue University in Hue, Vietnam to begin our journey. The team was composed of over 20 volunteers including pediatricians, family medicine doctors, nurses, a pediatric dentist, anesthesia providers, and surgeons. Our first day included screening over 50 patients for surgery. The patients were from Vietnam and Laos. Some of these patients we knew from previous missions and many were new patients. We operated for a total of 5 days and in total performed more than 60 surgical procedures. Many of these children were receiving surgery a a later time than would typically be performed back at home due to a lack of access to care. By providing these life changing surgeries patients will be able to eat better, speak better, and hopefully have less challenges with the stigma of having a cleft lip/palate. We were able to work alongside our colleagues at Hue University allowing us to share knowledge with each other and grow our friendship.
