Pay it Forward

Tiny and scared, tears flow and pain seethes up through a hole in his tummy. A man makes a slight gesture with his hand, distracting the tiny boy from the nuisance in his belly and suddenly a smile appears and tears vanish into thin air.

We often call something someone can do that can't be fully explained a "gift." I find myself in this situation while in the presence of this doctor at work.

Dr. Alvear is a pediatric surgeon. As the founder of WSF, for the past 11 years he has led surgical missions to countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, Honduras, and India inspiring other physicians, nurses, and medical staff to exercise their calling in the service of humanity.

A sea of parents waits outside. One after another they arrive. Each one brings his or her child to a small chair in front of the doctor. Looking out the door of our small examination room, the line seems as if it will never end. And still, he treats each little patient as if he or she was his first patient of the day, his only patient.

At the inaugural meeting of the Mission to Ethiopia, Dr. Alvear spoke about the main principles of the World Surgical Foundation as being threefold:

1) Provide much needed surgical services to underserved patients.
2) Donate important medical supplies and equipment to host hospitals,
3) And most importantly, to give invaluable training to surgeons and residents of the host hospital.

A young medical student from Israel, Sarah Tannenbaum, watches the good doctor at work and eagerly awaits answers to her questions. Suddenly, he turns to the young medical student and says, "see where the urethra connects to the bladder?" he proceeds to explain the x-ray and give a prognosis with an energy and enthusiasm one could only hope to achieve on his best of days. His love for what he is doing is palpable.

Meanwhile, surgeons from the Black Lion Hospital pepper him with questions, hoping to tap his vast knowledge and experience with these complicated procedures in hopes that they can one day safely and successfully treat these maladies in their own patients.

Dr. Befikir Elefachew watches intently as Dr. Alvear's nimble fingers resect a small piece of colon from the tiny figure on the operating table. He then gently hands Dr. Elefachew the instruments and guides him through the rest of the surgery. "How else will he learn the necessary procedures and techniques to operate on his own patients safely and successfully in the future?"

Dr. Alvear firmly believes that training and education is the most important goal of these missions. He encourages surgeons to develop relationships with members of ICS (International College of Surgeons) in order that top surgeons will visit them more often bringing their expertise. Members of the ICS, like orthopedic surgeon Maxime Coles (presently on the Ethiopia mission), are invited to join the missions and frequently attend. Workshops on the latest techniques, such as the laproscopic surgery trainings given by Dr. Rolando Mendiola are provided to the surgical staff of the host hospitals.

In fact, if you were to wander the fourth floor of the Black Lion Hospital and peak your head into any of its six operating rooms you would see and hear the WSF volunteers eagerly engaging the Ethiopian medical staff in instruction. By all appearances you could say that a small teaching hospital has been erected in this place of need - fertile soil to sew the seeds of much needed medical training.

Later on in the locker room, Dr. Befikir Elefachew can hardly contain his surprise and excitement when sharing his feelings about the day with a doctor from the WSF mission. "Three procedures in one day, and we started late! We usually only do one case per day! We've had other groups come and work with us, but it was never like this!"

Two weeks of surgery to individual patients potentially touches hundreds of lives. Teaching invaluable skills to able surgeons will surely touch thousands.