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We are delighted to have follow up for the story we posted last week about Lance Dowdle! Lance has been able to spend these past few days fitting patients with orthodontic prosthetics.

Because of the rapid changes in a growing child’s mouth, it is essential that these prosthetics be replaced regularly. Today Lance trained our local partners in how to make the palatal obturators and he and the team will be writing protocols and creating instructional videos to leave in Kijabe.

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Thanks to equipment Lance will be able to leave, along with the ongoing dedication of the hospital staff, children who need replacement obturators will be able to get them into the future!

We’ve got pictures from Kenya! Stories to come!!

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We head to Kenya in a couple days and our bags are packed with the supplies and equipment we’ll need as we work alongside the Kenyan medical staff to repair cleft lips and palates at the Cure Hospital. One of the key components to our work is patient and family care and we are grateful for donations from organizations and people who help support us in this particular effort. Their generosity and thoughtfulness allows us to give each patient a take home backpack filled with gifts, including socks and handknit hats.

Thank you to Yvette Molter, Donny Bertucci, Paul Bertucci, Meredith Vessely, and Washington Square Athleta for helping us in this endeavor! There will be many wonderful smiles in Kenya next week because of your generosity. 

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 Each member of our GMAST team donates their time and they travel at their own expense. But these surgeries have operational costs and Global Medical and Surgical Teams will be providing some of the medical and anesthesia supplies for this mission.  If you would like to help GMAST with these costs, you can donate here or you can give directly to CURE.

GMAST is pleased to have Lance Dowdle, president of Excel Orthodontics, join us on our surgical mission in Kenya this week. Lance will bring his expertise in orthodontic prosthetics  to  help further the successful outcomes of cleft palate surgeries. 

Earlier this month, a few members of our team spent an afternoon with Lance learning how to make palatal obturators. Similar to a retainer, this small device can be specifically fabricated to fit an individual patient’s mouth and is used seal the gap between mouth and nose that may remain after a surgery – depending on the age of the patient and the particularities of the case.  Sealing the gap is critical for the ability to eat and speak well.

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Part of GMAST’s mission is to work for sustainable medical and surgical outcomes in a given region by providing training and resources for the local medical teams. We are happy to have Lance along on this trip! He will be able to teach the Kenyan medical staff how to make these palatal obturators and leave fabrication equipment and training resources for their future use. 

Global Medical and Surgical Teams will join Samaritan’s Purse and Cure Kenya for a week of cleft lip and palate surgeries at the Cure Hospital in Kijabe, Kenya, October 25- November 2.

GMAST President Dr. Michelle Vessely Bertucci is leading this trip and the Team is comprised of experienced medical and support personnel who will be volunteering their time and expertise for these surgeries. We look forward this opportunity to support the work at Cure Kenya, bringing life-changing smiles to children and their families through cleft repair.

This is the second time Global Medical and Surgical Teams has partnered with Samaritan’s Purse and Cure Kenya for this important work. Last year our joint venture brought 13 medical professionals and volunteers together in Kijabe to work with CURE Kenya’s team. Families traveled from across Kenya to be seen by our Team and we performed 49 surgeries. We also provided training on operating techniques as well as pulse oximetry use and pre and post-operative care for the local medical staff, and we introduced iTriage, our new app for remote Electronic Medical Records (EMR) management.  In addition to medical care, we were able to provide a take-home backpack with shoes, a hat, and stuffed animal for each patient. We invite you to look back at our posts from Kenya 2018 to get a glimpse of what we’ll be up to next month!

We are excited to be finalizing details for our October 2019 trip and we will soon be on our way! You can follow along via Facebook, Instagram, and our Blog. AND NOW >> we also have a mailing list that we hope you’ll sign up for. We promise not to spam you, but rather, we want to provide you with timely reports on our work and hope that you’ll follow along and support us in whatever ways you can.

Our medical and volunteer teams donate their time and travel at their own expense for these trips, but these surgeries have operational costs and Global Medical and Surgical Teams will once again provide some of the medical and anesthesia supplies for this mission.

If you would like to help GMAST with these costs, you can donate here or you can give directly to CURE.