Our Patients...A Profile

Total Joint Orthopedics' Director of Engineering, Eric, is also a gifted photographer.

Check out this series of patients during screening. When asked to pose for a photo, each patient sat formally with a stern look. Most have never seen a picture of themselves, so when Eric flipped the camera to show them what they look like, he received smiles out of sheer joy in return. Luckily he was dexterous enough to catch those smiles, and give them each a few minutes of relaxation before their preoperative nerves set in.

Here are the results...

Screening Day!

We are lucky to have good buddies at San Rafael who help us throughout the year. Dr. William Vasquez is an orthopedic surgeon in San Salvador who traveled for a mini fellowship with Hofmann Arthritis Institute in Salt Lake City a few years back. He performs the pre-screening for us, getting a list of people who are good candidates, doing their initial consult, and taking radiographs.

Our pre team saw eight patients on Friday morning while the rest of the team was stuck in traffic, as we wanted to get a head start on surgery Saturday. The hospital is much quieter on the weekends (for obvious reasons), and we're allowed to use three operating rooms instead of the two we're given during the week.

Waiting to be screened

Patients line up in the morning, many of them with family members, but a few on their own, having traveled quite some distance. Screening teams are assembled with a hospitalist (a general practitioner or internal medicine doctor), an anesthesiologist, an orthopedic surgeon, and a physician assistant. Nurses and physical therapists aid the process, and patients have their picture taken for their chart. Each patient is given a score based on medical need and physical health; we want these patients to be successful in surgeon and afterward. We only bring supplies for primary hip and knee replacements in order to keep the surgeries simple and the results positive. The surgeons in El Salvador are more than capable of handling trauma cases involving plates, screws, and nails, but usually don't have access to joint replacement necessities such as power equipment or implants.

Potential patients

Conducting clinic is the most heartbreaking part of our trip. We come up with a list a final candidates, and we are satisfied we have met everyone's needs. And then we realize that we have a solid list of 72 people and the capacity to handle 60-65. How do you choose?

Drs. Aaron Hofmann (UT) and Trevor Magee (UT) show a patient her radiograph 

CRNA Robert (OK) helps a patient into a room

Drs. Ken Mathis (TX) and Brian Dahl (UT) examine radiographs

**Thanks to volunteer photographer Eric for providing amazing photos throughout the week**

Day One Chaos

After a nice rest on Friday, we spent the afternoon unpacking our trucks as they arrived from customs and dividing boxes between floor, PACU, OR, etc., etc.

Per usual, a lot of the early trip time and effort involves convincing customs officials to release our stuff from customs. Our pre-team travels especially to get this part done, and unfortunately, they were unsuccessful this time. Fortunately, it was released just in time for us to lug it to the third floor and organize it all.

Our normal storage room/headquarters is currently used as a treatment room, so we've been moved. Our new headquarters are located in the mental health ward, so it appears they know us well!

Early to bed, because we've got patients to screen and surgeries to do tomorrow!

Wild Guinea hen, poolside

We Made It!

That's right...we've arrived!

One of the perks of a redeye is that you get to enjoy the sunrise from high up in the air. Actually, that might be the only perk. The SLC team got through customs without a hitch, however, a downtown demonstration for the election (coming up...next year) lead us on a stop-and-go citywide tour that lasted nearly three hours. 

Not to worry, while we may have rolled into the Sheraton tired and slightly grumpy, there is very little coffee and fried plantains can't solve. We're looking forward to meeting up with our buddies from OK, TX, ID, and MS (some of whom are coming and going throughout the week) this afternoon to unpack and organize for our patient screening tomorrow. 

We'll keep you updated throughout the week, so don't forget to visit regularly. And check out the adventures of Operation Walk around the world by using #operationwalk on Instagram!