HRFU Team Makes a Difference!

Hernia Repair For the Underserved

(submitted by Dr. Charles Filipi)

The team of Cynthia Ferris MD, Rachel Dowd RN, Theresa Alvarado RN, Bob Cusick MD, David Chen MD, Lesly Manigat MD in conjunction with Dr Paul Severson of "Project Haiti" did an outstanding job operating upon 36 patients and teaching 3 fully trained Haitian general surgeons to do Pediatric inguinal hernia repairs and the adult Lichtenstein repair for inguinal hernias. Eight demonstration cases with the trainee as first assistant were followed by 28 cases performed by the trainee with the proctor assisting or supervising. These physicians are satisfactorily trained and will be able to serve the people of Haiti for many years to come.
Data was kept on the operations performed and scores were tabulated on a new surgical technique rating form. This will be utilized for further analysis and publications.
Dr. Filipi, president of HRFU, and Dr. Chen will monitor by e-mail the mesh operations performed by the trainees. The trainees have utilized a small amount of mesh provided them, and now HRFU with the help of industry will provide monitored free mesh for the future.
Dr. Cusick, Dr. Chen, Dr. Manigat and Dr. Jeudy are now in discussion about hernia studies and the development of hernia centers of excellence. Hernia Repair for the Underserved will assist these projects.
All team members intend to return to Pignon to provide follow-up and training of other Haitian surgeons. The overall project appears to be a success if we can now facilitate the performance of the operations by the trained surgeons and keep records to document use of the training provided.