Our Volunteers travel abroad at least once per year
Medical missions abroad is how Healing the Children Rocky Mountains got its start and is the primary focus of our chapter at this time. Once or twice per year, HTCRM puts together a team of medical professionals & administrative staff to travel to Lima, Peru (in conjuntion with HTCNE) and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala to operate on local children for one week. The teams are made up of surgeons, anesthesiologists, CRNAs, AA's, anesthesia techs, OR nurses, recovery room nurses, scrub techs, speech therapist, audiologists, pediatricians and a few administrative staff members to do all the paperwork and take pictures.
On the first day of each mission the team screens potential patients, identifies those whom we can help, and schedules surgeries which take place the rest of the week. Throughout the mission our team emphasizes on teaching the local staff and medical students; some of this is done at the bedside or in the OR and other times with formal presentations and lectures.
At this time HTCRM's focus is on cleft palate and cleft lip missions but we hope to expand into other types of surgical missions in the future.
Surgical teams at work. top-right: Surgeon Jared Theler
at-left: Surgeon,, Jon Skirko and Surgical Nurse Dianne Cline