A New Chapter.... Exciting Things are coming!!!

Hello!
                     I hope this blog finds everyone well!


I have a big announcement to all our followers. 


Myself and Jason Martin have started our own chapter of Healing the Children!


We are now Healing the Children, Southern California chapter. 

              As a new chapter we need your support, through donations of money, medical supplies, gloves, gowns, OR start kits, sutures, cast material, AFOs, Orthotics, braces etc.  as part of the National HTC we have a tax ID number and contributions are tax deductible. 


We are so grateful for all the help and support in the past and look forward to continue to inform everyone of our wonderful outreach work. 
Our next tip is planned for March 2016. Time flies, our goal is to raise 5,000 USD to make this trip possible. 

To Donate, go to www.healingthechildren.org Click on the Donate Button, Choose Southern California Chapter. No donation is too small. 1 pack of gloves or 50 cents, it will all be put to good use for the children and adults of Nepal afflicted with foot and ankle deformities. 

THANK YOU

And then the Earth Shook

It has been 1 month since my return from our wonderful foot and ankle surgery camp. I thought my next blog would be setting up fundraising for our next foot and ankle camp which was to be half at NOH and half in the mountains near Pokhora. As many of you know a devistating Earthquake has shook Nepal to its core. 50 miles west of kathmandu city center. By the grace of God our friends were saved, many of our most recent as well as past patients as well but Nepal is suffering. Although they have some infrastructure, it is not equipped to handle the food, clean, water, refuse, sewage,shelter needs of the thousands of people displaced and scared. The will take months...many months to recover.

I myself wish I had been there, my heart is in 1,000 pieces these are my Nepali family. These are my friends....

 I leave you with the medical director NOH's account
Dear ALL,
The earthquake struck at 1158 on Saturday, April 25 2015. There was violent shaking like never before ever. The Magnitude 7.8 earthquake lasted for over a minute. It continued the whole day and late into the evening with large and violent shakes. Roads cracked, house turned and shifted and some collapsed and some cracked. Old buildings mostly cracked or collapsed. Heritage monuments including principal pagodas in all three towns of Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Kathmandu collapsed. The monumental Dharahara tower collapsed and turned into rubble. Luckily Saturday being a holiday, all offices and schools were closed. Casualty was lower than predicted. Our hospital had no OPD on Saturday. Structural damage to the hospital has been negligible.
Most casualties and fatalities occurred in the old parts of town and also from the nearby hilly districts of Dhading, Nuwakot and Sindhupalchowk. The old town of Saankhu in Kathmandu district had 1000 houses out of which only 400 remained standing. Landslides and avalanches occurred in the mountains. Search and rescue was not possible immediately.
Nepal Orthopaedic Hospital had people coming in from late afternoon. Place was very chaotic. Patients refused to stay indoors as there were powerful aftershocks and the hospital was shaking like a vibrator. Most patients were kept in the first floor on Saturday.
April 26th was quieter with only moderate jolts of aftershocks. Whole team of doctors and nurses and paramedics came in for regular work.
We had a joint meeting in the morning with all departments including radiology, anaesthesiology, orthopaedic surgeons, physiotherapists, ortho surgeons, administration, emergency, nursing, pathology and pharmacy. Plan was to remain organized and work in a co-ordinated manner. We temporarily shifted the operation theater to the emergency room on the first floor. All patients were kept on the first floor in the general wards and in the lobby and physiotherapy department. OPD patients were seen at the front of the hospital in front of the circular garden.
Surgery was planned for six patients with open and closed tibia and femur fractures. Suddenly there was this big jolt of earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale at around 12 56 in the noon. There was chaos in the OR and everywhere. People were running helter- skelter. The organized activity turned very disorderly. There was no room left in the front of the hospital as all patients from the first floor came pouring out in the front open space. There were more patients coming to NOH from outside than we could handle and there were patients' relatives and by-standers crowding the place. Crowd management became very difficult. Police were called in to control the crowd and all except one attendant was allowed for each patient. The gate into the hospital was controlled and finally the scene turned manageable.
Patients, attendants and health care givers all were frightened. Only three surgeries were possible that day and OR had to be cancelled. Decision was made to turn NOH into a field hospital. NOH asked for tents from Red Cross and Army and other organizations. No government help came through. NOH had  run out of medicines and plaster casts and bandages and painkillers. Finally at 400 pm one tent donated by UNICEF arrived and it was quickly assembled by NOH staff and there were impromptu tarpaulin tents made to house the patients in the front space of the hospital. NOH canteen ran out of food and arrangements were made to stock food for staff and patients and also for medicines and supplies. All shops were closed.  Chaos was compounded by rain and quickly patients were arranged tightly under the UNICEF tent and the makeshift tarpaulin covers. By late evening one army tent arrived and some more patients were housed there with some being stationed in the reception and registration areas on the ground floor.
Till morning X-rays and lab tests were done and in the afternoon, these were stopped and splinting and bandaging of fractures and dislocations were done. Open wounds were cleaned and dressed and splinted. We called that damage control. Dislocations were relocated with IM analgesia. Most patients were advised to come later for admission as there were not enough beds. Around 60 patients needed surgery.
April 27th had less powerful aftershocks and NOH field hospital was running smoothly. Morning meeting was held quickly and surgery was planned for patients. Plan was to shift patients in the ground floor wards and in the evening and maybe start surgery normally in the regular OR next day. Lab tests and x-rays were done on all patients. Patients were admitted according to need. Patients were given free snacks by the hospital and all patients were treated for free.
The load of patients needing surgery is very high and patients will still be coming as other hospitals are also packed. We need to help these patients. We need medicines and implants and food and support for these patients who are injured bodily and psychologically. Some patients were buried in rubble and rescued, some had loved ones die in front of them. Nepalese are very poor. They cannot afford surgery. We need financial help for treating them. We need a lot of money for that. The nearest guess is that we will need money to treat at least a hundred inpatients. If we can treat patients for free, more patients in need will come for treatment to NOH.
NOH is a non-profit, non-governnmental organization and we need to pay our staff salary. If we keep on treating the patients for free, NOH will not be able to pay staff their salary this month.
I appeal to all of you, friends and well-wishers of NOH to please raise money so that surgery can be done on these poor patients without us having to worry about operational costs. Please do anything to help us. Any small or big amount will help. NOH account for earthquake victims :

GOFUNDME.COM/NEPALEARTHQUAKENOH

Nature has been very harsh to us. Let me thank you for all for sending your messages of support. Please spread the word for financial support to victims of the earthquake so that needful surgery can be done. Please help NOH so that we can help earthquake victims.
I pray to the Almighty that this punishment be stopped and the jolts stop on the poorest peoples on earth.
Sincerely,
Dr. Saju Pradhan
Medical Director
Nepal Orthopaedic Hospital

Reflections

As I sit on a rooftop in Thamel, I am flooded with gratitude to our team and host hospital.

Dr. Carl. my co leader, while it may be true we only see eachother in Nepal. It is always a great time with an amazing team dynamic. I think we both compliment eachothers strengths and weaknesses in leadership. Good Luck on the Mountain trip!

Dr.Ali. Thank you for joining us on this amazing journey. It was great to perform new techniques and bring more Ex fix exposure to NOH. Thank you for reaching out to Jen Sherry and bringing a larger audience into our MTA.

Bojan. What can I say. You are one amazing woman. We are lucky to have you as an anchor on our team. Congratulations on completing your 93rd mission with our team in Nepal!!!

Calei. I cant believe its been 5 years since we've seen eachother let alone worked in Nepal together!! Thank you for all the generous supply donations as well as being a shining star, fun happy positive person who is a joy to work and hang out with!

Ashlee. Happy 16th. Thank you for spending your birthday time on our trip. The photos are fantastic. Your interaction with the kids and patients was great. Many of us commented on how mature you are!! I know you will be a great photo journalist because, you already are.

Latika. Strangers no more. I know you were nervous jumping in with a bunch of strangers. Thank you for taking time out of your residency. I hope you learned a lot not only about surgery but about what mission trips are all about!

Jen. What makes a trip more fun? 2 Jens for the price of 1. We are so grateful for your time in joining us on our mission. For many years we have worked under the radar but I think its a perfect time to shed light on the amazing work done by people in the name of creating opportunity for people with physical challenges. You were a blast to hang with and made talking to a camera so easy.

Amy. Thank you for jumping in head first. You were great! You kept our team organized and brought a wonderful spirit to the team. I am glad Dr Tom recommended  you to come on the trip.

NOH. Dr Saju, Anil, Sujan,Ragiv and the whole team. What amazing hosts. Thank you for allowing us to help over 70 patients 23 of which surgically. We are looking forward to continuing our friendship and working together to better the lives of nepali children and adults.
Namaste
Jennifer

Two days for the price of one

Wow, on Monday I was worried about all of the small details of the trip, screening, folders, organizing, now as I type this the trip is formally over......I can not tell you how overjoyed I am.

5 years ago, Dr Steve Miller emailed me and asked if I wanted to go to Nepal on a mission trip, we had just met 2 weeks before and had chatted about podopediatrics and mission work. I said yes. I said yes and the world opened up for me. If you had told me then just 5 years later I would be helping to lead teams of wonderfully amazing people from all walks of life and locations, i might have believed you. Dr Miller inviting me on that trip was the best thing in my career.

Yesterday was Thursday, the most amazing day. A patient that touched all our hearts 5 years ago came back to discuss her case and upbring. I was able to go to the orphanage where she was raised. DHC-New Life Center, the kids there were very happy.  It was amazing and such a happy happy day. We did great cases and then made it to Fire and Ice Pizzaria.

Pizza in Kathmandu????? Some may think were crazy but the place is great. Pizza is wonderful and the servers are awesome. Its nice to enjoy a bit of hone when you're far away.

Friday 20 March

Breakfast at the Norling is always nice, sitting at the table enjoying food with a table of people many of whom were strangers on Monday is a great way to reflect on the human spirit. Our team had 4 return members and 5 new ones.

As a co team leader, you hope that the team you build likes eachother, works well together and the host institutions like working with them.

We were blessed on all three. Not only was this a great group, we were able to run a pretty tight ship and yesterday Dr Saju told myself and Carl that NOH enjoyed working with us very much! It made me so joyful. We did some fun cases yesterday, Dr Carl worked to correct 2 different toe deformities, Dr. Ali and myself treated equinus as well as pediatric hammering of the toes.

In total we screened over 70 patients, operated on 23 11 of which were children and performed over 50 procedure which includes external fixation, clubfoot release, cavus foot reconstruction, post polio surgery. In addition to the surgery, we were able to utilize the stash of Cascade AFOs Dr Steve had brought in 2013 as well as purchase custom made braces and inserts for 10 patients.

The trip closed today with an amazing team dinner filled with laughter, photographs, whiskey and wine. Who could ask for a better trip.

We are planning next years trip already....stay tunned!!!!!

Namaste, Dr Jennifer

Marathon Wednesday.

It is 10pm Kathmandu time. We just got back from dinner.

Breakfast was at 6:30, we were at NOH by 8 am ready to start our day. Two cancelations later, cases were flipped and our day was started.

As Dr Ali brought external fixation equipment we were able to perform 2 today. One a very very complex case that lasted over 8 hours. The other a complex deformity in a child who broke her leg after falling 2 stories, she was set in a deformed position, we used the frame to fix this.

We were over 12 hours total in the OR. Long but satisfying day.

During the day I met with the Chief of the hospital, we discussed sponsorsships of missions, our next mission, monetary donations to aid in our patients care. This was very enlightening. 

We left NOH around 8 pm. One of our team NOH doctors Ragiv saw us starting to walk home, he called the hospital administration and got us a ride! Although it was a lovely night, all of our feet appreciated this gift of motorized travel!!!

While a few went back to hotel, the remainder went back to Gokarna for a delicious dinner buffet and a bit of birthday cake for Latika.

Well after a long 18 hours day, we all need a little bit of rest!

Namaste, until tomorrow
Dr Jennifer

How does the HTC celebrate St. Patrick's Day???

17 March 2015

A Saint Patrick's Day our whole team will remember, not for the green scrubs some wore or the beers we finished our day with but for the 6 patients we helped surgically and the 10 more we saw and recommended care for. 

A little thought on Healing the children, you may see photos of our adult patients as well as our child patients. Why?? Well some of our adult patients were children when they were diagnosed with their condition and many never received treatment as children, as such the deformity worsened and their life was truly changed, for the worse. How can we turn them down. Although our first priority is the children, we will see and treat the adult foot and ankle patients as well. 

Early recognition and treatments are keys to correcting certain deformities like clubfoot, other deformities need extensive work ups to understand the cause as some are neurological. For example, I saw a follow up today.  He's 14 years old,  he had suspected neuromuscular disease and two camps ago we sent him for testing, after many tests he was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, this diagnosis does modify our plan a bit and we discussed many options with the patient and his parents. 

One case that really hurt my heart was a patient our team had done surgery on 5 years ago.

 My first HTC Mission I helped treat a woman's neglected bilateral clubfoot. Her case was bilateral as a team we decided it would be better to treat one foot at a time, although she asked for us to do both. As a team we felt it would be too much  for recovery if we did both, she would need to be carried everywhere. She said she understood. She has come back for follow up for the past 3 camps. Each time we ask her if she wants the other foot operated on. This year she finally tells us that her family doesn't want to help her recovery. Neither her son or daughter want to help her. I offered  to pay for her recovery,to stay at NOH, but she said her family wouldn't let her. It broke my heart but at least she has one corrected foot. 

Today we helped to correct tight calf muscles, contracted toes, arthritic ankles, bunions,traumatic arthritis and peroneal spastic flatfoot. It was a good day of surgeries and follow ups not only from yesterday but of our previous  camps. It was great to see.how happy our returning patients are. One of our patients Chandra is getting her masters degree in Nepali language and grammar. She is doing well and wanted to sit and practice her english with me. It was so nice because as we were taking pictures, she showed me her photos from last year, our team, her and her family. So amazing!

Our team was able to be at Swaymabhunath or monkey temple an ancient buddhist temple complex upon one of the highest points in Kathmandu Valley. It was beautiful. We finished the day with beers and a buffet dinner at Gokarna Forest. What a great start to the surgical part of our mission. We have 7-8 cases tomorrow. We are so happy that we are able to work with the local anesthesiologists although it changes our OT plans( We run 2 OTs until 12 noon then 1 until the cases are done) we are happy they are working with us!!!

Until tomorrow here are some photos from today! Namaste

Dr. Jennifer