Page 45 - Hoag Orthopedic Institute 2014 Outcomes Report

IN DECEMBER 2013, 40 TEAM MEMBERS FROM HOI JOINED A “JINGLE BELL ARTHRITIS WALK” PRESENTED BY THE ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER OF THE ARTHRITIS FOUNDATION, RAISING MORE
THAN $2,000 IN THE FIGHT AGAINST ARTHRITIS.
through the Orthopedic Surgery Center of Orange County and Main Street Specialty Surgery Center, and support of local fundraisers. Examples of charitable outreach follow.
HOI staff at all levels volunteer with local non- profit organizations. Leading by example, one HOI executive serves with Taller San Jose, which empowers young adults who have fallen through the cracks of all existing support services to move out of poverty by teaching them how to
get and keep employment with a living wage. Another gives time to the Share Our Selves (SOS) Wellness Center in Santa Ana. The clinic tends
to an underserved community that has few to no options for affordable health care. Care is free and includes health screenings and urgent care for uninsured students and their families at the charter school El Sol Science and Arts Academy in Santa Ana.
HOI has also supported several non-profit organizations in promoting population health by sponsoring tables at fundraisers, such as Irvine Adult Day Health Services, and participating in events. For instance, in December 2013 40 team members from HOI joined a “Jingle Bell Arthritis Walk” presented by the Orange County chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, raising more than $2,000 in the fight against arthritis.
Globally, one of the year’s highlights came in September with HOI sponsoring its first team to take an orthopedic mission with Operation Walk to the picturesque yet poverty-riddled town of Antigua, Guatemala. The team included an HOI orthopedic surgeon and anesthesiologist, along with a physician assistant, nurses and a surgical coordinator, all of whom helped defray the trip’s cost by using their personal vacation time.
In three and a half days, four Operation Walk teams working from sunup to sundown performed 70 cases. Many of the patients suffered from congenital deformities and debilitating arthritis. One of the women undergoing hip surgery
was found to have a severe infection that was deteriorating her femoral head, which in all likelihood would have been fatal had it not been discovered and treated.
HOI Charge Nurse Sarah Gagner, RN, ONC, made medical mission trips to Northern Haiti with her church in Irvine, in 2012 and 2013 “to give back and gain a different perspective.” Sarah and the other volunteers set up a walk-in clinic upon their arrival. Haitians came to the clinic with a variety of health conditions, from back pain and injuries to fungal and infectious skin conditions. Every patient received a hygiene kit, vitamins and de-worming medication. In January 2014, Sarah is taking a 10-day medical mission to the poorest rural communities of Nicaragua with a Santa Ana- based church.
Mission to Guatemala – From left, HOI’s Trishelle Daly, Dr. Robert Kopel, Cecil Reyes and Angela Hufford visit a grateful patient.
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