Robert Brady, MD, a spine surgeon for Danbury-based OrthoConnecticut and Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital, part of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health, has returned from what OrthoConnecticut said was a humanitarian mission to Jamaica that treated 11 children with severe spinal deformities, according to a news release shared with Becker’s.
Dr. Brady led the trip through the Straight Caribbean Spine Foundation, a nonprofit that he founded in 2006 to provide surgical spine care to Jamaican children, according to the release. The foundation said it sends a volunteer surgical team to the island twice a year to identify and operate on the most urgent pediatric spinal cases.
During the weeklong mission, the team evaluated children from across the country and performed surgeries on the most severe cases at Bustamante Hospital for Children and University Hospital of the West Indies, both based in Kingston, Jamaica. The trips also provide training and mentorship for local Jamaican physicians and nurses aimed at building sustainable spinal care capacity within the country’s healthcare system, according to the news release.
“These children are incredibly resilient,” Dr. Brady said. “Many are living with painful and progressive spinal deformities that impact every part of their daily lives. To see them standing taller, breathing easier, and gaining hope for the future is something that changes all of us.”
The foundation said it has operated in Jamaica for nearly two decades. The foundations added that the program is one of the longest-running scoliosis treatment initiatives on the island.
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