A new partnership to improve Orthopedic Surgery in Ayacucho

Dr. Jay Crary, orthopedic surgeon

Although the city of Ayacucho has skilled orthopedic surgeons, they lacked the necessary equipment to handle common types of leg and thigh fractures in an ideal manner.  As a result, injured patients  had to endure much more difficult, painful and less successful treatments that often resulted in long-term problems and disability.   

In response to this need, Ayacucho Mission made Orthopedics a central priority for this year's mission.  Thanks to generous contributions of our supporters, Ayacucho Mission and the Peruvian American Medical Society partnered with SIGN Fracture Care International, an orthopedic non-profit, to provide the necessary equipment to enable the Ayacucho surgeons to offer their patients the best options for treatment of leg and thigh fractures.  

The initial phase of the program was the introduction of the equipment and instruction in the appropriate technique.  Dr. Jay Crary, an orthopedic surgeon, and Dr. Cesar Aranguri, Director of the Mission,  first held an instructional course for the orthopedic surgeons in Ayacucho.  Over the following week, the Ayacucho surgeons, Dr. Prado and Dr. Romero, did two cases assisted by Dr. Crary.  The first was a 10 year old girl who had had a femur fracture 6 months earlier that had failed to heal despite previous surgery.  The second was an open tibia fracture in a young man who fell off a horse. Both cases were quite successful.  

During the first month after the Mission concluded, Dr. Prado and Dr. Romero did two more surgeries completely independently.  Both cases went very well, which is a testament to their skills as surgeons and the equipment and training provided by the Mission.  We believe this will be a very valuable program for the people of Ayacucho and the local medical community.  It will allow local surgeons to treat severely injured patients so that they can mobilize and return to their work and their families more quickly, with easier and more predictable recoveries and less short and long-term disability.  

Pre-operative x-ray of an 18 year-old man who fell off a horse and sustained open fractures of the tibia and fibula.  Local Ayacucho surgeons Dr. Prado and Dr. Romero worked alongside Mission surgeon Dr. Crary to apply the techniques and equipment introduced by the Mission to intervene on the patient.

Post-operative x-ray from the same patient showing the successful placement of a SIGN intramedullary nail to stabilize the tibia.  This patient was able to walk with crutches immediately after surgery and will begin weight-bearing on the leg after about 6 weeks.

Ayacucho Mission Recap Party - Sunday September 29th 2-5pm - Whittier, CA

We're having our annual Recap Party (formerly called the Reunion Party) at the lovely activity center at Palm Park in Whittier.  If you are in the area, please come join us!  We'll serve lunch, show photos and share stories. 

Past volunteers and anyone else interested in learning about the mission or meeting some of the team are welcome.  Please just RSVP at the link below so we can be sure to have enough for everyone to eat and drink!

Ayacucho Mission Recap Party

Palm Park Activity Center

Sunday, September 29th  |  2:00 - 5:00pm

5703 Palm Avenue, Whittier, CA 90601 (Palm Ave. between Beverly Blvd & Broadway)

Please RSVP at this link!

Getting to work in Quinua

Our first day found us in Quinua, Peru--an important historic and cultural site famous for its ceramic figurines, battle site memorial and rich Quechua heritage.  At nearly 11,000 feet above sea level, the city and its surrounding communities have very limited health infrastructure for its 6,000 residents.  It was a perfect place to start.

Working closely with the Quinua-based community health center, Asociacion VIDAS, our small mobile team treated nearly 100 medical and dental patients, and identified a number of surgical cases to bring to Ayacucho Regional Hospital to treat the following week.

Realizing that the patients requiring orthopedic surgery may not be able to travel to the clinic, we turned to the town's Gobernador for ideas to reach the people.  He offered to drive around town in a mototaxi (imagine a rickshaw fused with a scooter) inviting individuals with fractures and other injuries to contact our group through the loudspeaker attached to the roof.    We loved the plan, but were disappointed to find out the town's loudspeaker was broken.  Never discouraged, the Gobernador came up with his second great idea:  Let's walk across the way to the traveling circus that had just come to town and ask to borrow theirs.

To our pleasant surprise, not only were the circus folk (a very nice family) happy to carry their speaker down from the big top and mount it to a mototaxi, but we found our first orthopedic surgery case--a trapeeze artist who had broken her leg in a recent show.  In no time, the Gobernador was rolling through town, getting the word out about the available services.  It never fails to amaze how many new ways we learn to work together.

Patricia of Circo Galax, traveling from the jungle through Quinua into Ayacucho and beyond

Raquel Yupanqui, Director of Asociacion VIDAS testing the loudspeaker atop the mototaxi

John Billimek and El Gobenador de Quinua

Ayacucho Mission 2013 rolls out!

With volunteers arriving from all over the U.S., the Ayacucho Mission is underway.  With the help of our good friends in Ayacucho, we have canvased the villages with flyers, taken to the airways and involved community leaders to spread the word of this year's campaign.

This year, we will spend most of our days in mobile clinics to towns in the surrounding villages treating who we can in the field.  Those who need surgery or specialty care, we will transport back to the Regional Hospital, provide lodging for the family and deliver the are they need.  It's a whole new model for Ayacucho Mission, and we couldn't do it without the help of our loyal supporters.  We couldn't be more excited.

Join us on April 19, 2013 for the Ayacucho Mission Fundraising Gala!

Our ability to provide free, high quality medical care to thousands of indigent patients in Ayacucho depends on the generous contributions of our supporters.

Our Annual Gala Fundraising Dinner is an evening of entertainment and interaction with all of our friends--old and new--where we celebrate the generous contributions of our donors and volunteers, and challenge ourselves to support the Ayacucho Mission in new ways.

Please join us for a wonderful evening of music, dancing, a delicious meal and a chance to make a monumental difference in the lives of those less fortunate than us.  The event runs from 6:00pm until midnight at the Knott's Berry Farm Hotel on April 19th, 2013.  Complete details are in the enclosed flyer, and at ayacuchomission.org/gala.

To get your tickets, or to learn more about the event, please contact Julieta Aranguri at (714) 501-3426 or Patty Rodriguez at (909) 821-9787.

Or, you can get your tickets online at ayacuchomission.org/gala.  Remember as always, your contributions to Ayacucho Mission are tax-deductible, and extraordinarily valuable to make a difference in Peru.

We hope to see you there!