Guatemala
Since 2006 Operation Walk Canada has returned to Guatemala each year as part of a long-term commitment to this country so that the direct and exponential benefits of each mission can be realized by a focused group.
In Guatemala, the team works at Obras Sociales del Hermano Pedro. This huge labyrinthine facility is much more than just a hospital. Hermano Pedro provides residential care to nearly 300 people, children and adults, with severe disabilities. As well, the hospital provides nutritional services and care to infants and toddlers with congenital cleft and palate defects. The hospital is clean and the care is superb. It is a wonderful, warm sanctuary and a terrific place in which to conduct Operation Walk’s work. The Obras relies very heavily on donations and receives negligible financial assistance from the Guatemalan government. Throughout the year, the four operating rooms are largely utilized by volunteer medical teams which work alongside the in-country staff to provide much needed surgical care.
Ecuador
A joint mission of the London based Operation Walk team and the Calgary based True North team first took place in Cuenca, Ecuador in 2009.
The surgeries done here are complex and challenging procedures to treat developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), a condition which in Canada is diagnosed and treated early, leaving patients with normal hips. Unfortunately, in developing countries such as Ecuador, this is not the case and left untreated, can lead to pain, osteoarthritis and significant hip deformity and leg length discrepancy by early adulthood. The need to rectify this problem is urgent.
One of Operation Walk’s most important initiatives in Ecuador takes place in conjunction with the surgeries and project involves the local orthopaedic community and the country’s government in an effort to establish a national DDH early diagnosis and treatment program. Prevention is always the best cure!