Haiti Surgical Mission, 2010

A volunteer Kidejapa plastic surgery team traveled to Haiti on a surgical mission to help victims of the devastating earthquake that struck that country on January 12, 2010. The earthquake left many in desperate need of reconstructive surgery.  

The Kidejapa team went to Haiti in April.  While many of the immediate needs were served by plastic surgery teams in the first month or so following the earthquake, the Kidejapa team helped with skin grafts, wound repair and repair of broken facial bones. 

Members of the team included a plastic surgeon, anesthesiologists, RNs and surgical techs.

Kidejapa’s mission is to help with plastic and reconstructive surgery needs in developing countries. 

This was the first mission trip in response to a disaster. 

The team was struck by the conditions under which the Haitians were living.  Traveling through Port-Au-Prince, they passed much rubble and realized that for a large number of the Haitians, life was just continuing as usual. 

In a country where most people had so little to begin with and were faced with difficult situations their entire lives, continuing with their way of life was just another bad turn of events, except that now they are living in tents.