Dr. Patrick Hayes (OrthoCarolina Shelby) traveled to Leon, Nicaragua in summer 2016 as a team leader with Cooperación Ortopédica Americano Nicargüense (COAN), a not-for-profit organization committed to optimizing the healthcare and well-being of the people of Nicaragua.
With more than $40,000 in donated supplies, implants and equipment, Dr. Hayes and his team of 14 (two surgeons, one anesthesiologist, one-floor nurse and 10 non-medical) held clinic to see patients and performed surgeries on local Nicaraguan people during the week at the Hedodora teaching hospital. With education a big part of the mission, the physicians gave lectures and also taught residents and staff arthroscopic and open surgical techniques, bringing with them a much-needed new pump and arthroscopic and open instruments to improve the hospital’s capacity to do cases. The team anesthesiologist brought medicine and equipment to do regional blocks (anesthesia), provided education to the hospital’s medical staff and left them with medicine and equipment.
As part of their service, the group, which included several youth, completed a number of projects on the orthopedic floor for the hospital, including:
- Cleaning and sanitizing; scraping gum off hallway floors and removing wall plaster damaged from air conditioner leaks, washing windows in patient rooms
- Painting and clean-up of the hallway
- Painting of new doors, and fresh paint on existing doors
- Donation of new items including six blood pressure cuffs, and a microwave and plastic armless chairs for the nurses’ station.
They also visited a local orphanage in Leon, with clothing, soccer balls, pumps and goals in hand for the children.
“It’s a good feeling to know you’re making a difference in patients’ and children's lives and improving the local doctors’ abilities to care for the people that live there.” – Dr. Patrick Hayes
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