Good Evening!
Today our team filled up the schedule with surgeries! We started the week easy with three ACL repairs - a very common injury here.
The ACL repair is a very neat procedure that involves taking a piece of tendon from another part of the body (often times the patella) and using it to graft a new tendon to replace the ACL. The Khmer patients play lots of sports (especially basketball and soccer) so these repairs allow them to enjoy the activities they enjoy most!
Story of the Day
One of our mission team members is a young man named Jonathan, who just graduated from CU Boulder in May and is currently studying for his MCAT. He dreams of one day being an Orthopedic surgeon, like Dr. Hsin.
Today, Jonathan got the opportunity to scrub into one of the ACL repair surgeries, under the supervision of Dr. Hsin. This once in a lifetime experience (getting up close and personal during an actual orthopedic surgery) is something that other med students wouldn’t have a chance to experience until late into their residency. Jonathan even got the opportunity to help suture up the patient at the end of the procedure!
One of the Khmer doctors, Dr. Heng, taught Jonathan how to do sutures and lent him a suture kit and model to practice on. It’s so amazing to see how our team gets the opportunity to learn from the Khmer doctors just as much as they learn from us. This trip has been such a humbling experience for all of us.
These education opportunities are part of why the Cornerstone Foundation does what it does! We get the chance to introduce up-and-coming physicians to practical work and experience, which helps frame the importance of why they study so hard. Education and exposure are part of the core tenants of what the Cornerstone Foundation is all about - providing the local and global community with orthopedic care and medical education.
Today’s Stats
Performed 3 ACL surgeries
3 knee bracings done
2 intakes conducted by Dr. Hsin
5 intakes conducted by Dr. Ray
