Posts from 2025
The Essential Elements of a Mission
Luxor, Egypt
This mission to Luxor involved a team of 22 people from the US, 3 surgeons from Egypt, local Rotarian hosts, many local volunteers and translators plus local hospital staff. While some team members had bee... Read More »
Global Scholars
Luxor, Egypt
As part of the new Education Committee approved by the Rotaplast Board, we piloted the Rotaplast Global Scholars Program on five recent missions over the past year. This initiative provided clinical experi... Read More »
The Patient’s Journey
Luxor, Egypt
For the patients and their families the Rotaplast journey is one of joy and the hope of having life changing surgery through to the anxiety of going through the assessment process needed to ensure the surg... Read More »
The People Behind the Surgery
Luxor, Egypt
Rotaplast is known for conducting cleft lip and palate surgeries but the teams also do many other types of surgeries including surgery to reduce scarring and restricted movement because of burn scars, cong... Read More »
Clinic Day
Luxor, Egypt
Clinic Day for all those of us who have been on missions is the day the team comes together getting everything set up so when the doors open and the patients poor in everything work like clockwork and if t... Read More »
Journey of Love
Luxor, Egypt
The Surgeons, anesthetists, nurses, physiotherapists and volunteers all go on missions because of the lives they change through miraculous surgeries that transform lives. The team on this mission to Luxor,... Read More »
Day 11 – Final Clinic and Repacking Day
Monrovia, Liberia
While not every patient needs to come back to the final clinic we were very pleased to see that many of them did. It was great to see some of our favorite patients and even more satisfying to see some Read More »
Day 9 and 10 – Last days of Surgey
Monrovia, Liberia
This mission has been special in many ways, the warmth and welcoming of the Liberian people, the support from Rotarians, especially Rotaractors and also because of the diversity of surgeries. We did a numb... Read More »
Day 8 – Thank You’s and Blankets
Monrovia, Liberia
Rotary District 7450 sponsored a significant portion of this mission. The money was raised by many of the clubs in the District contributing from money raised from charity events and also donations. Withou... Read More »
Day 7 – Land of Smiles of Tribulations
Monrovia, Liberia
While the primary purpose of the mission is to perform surgeries and help patients it is also important to get to know the country and the people. Everyone on the team when asked “What have you liked mos... Read More »
Day 6 – The Team’s Found its Perfect Rhythm
Monrovia, Liberia
For a mission to be a success it requires a team effort with everyone doing their role, interacting with the rest of the team and being flexible enough to adjust roles because of unexpected circumstances.... Read More »
Day 5 – Raining Smiles
Monrovia, Liberia
It is the rainy season here in Liberia so we shouldn’t be surprised it rains – in fact, it rains a lot, in monsoon-like downpours. On the positive side the rain brings the temperature down but ... Read More »
Day 4 – The Patient Journey
Monrovia, Liberia
Many of the people traveling to St Joseph’s Hospital have traveled several hours by multiple shared taxi rides, buses or on foot. With rain, this can add an extra hour because of traffic or flooded r... Read More »
Day 3 – Surgery, Clinic and Radio Stars
Monrovia, Liberia
Several other surgeries were performed today – all went well, some took longer than expected as they were complex cases but the outcomes were fantastic. Below is Dr. Jeff DeWeese (surgeon) and Dr. Mi... Read More »
Day 2 – Clinic Day
Monrovia, Liberia
With the medical team now licensed to work in Liberia day-2 began with clinic set up of all the stations – medical records, photography, nurses station, surgeons, and pediatrician. People had been ... Read More »
Day 1 – Getting The Formalities in Order
Monrovia, Liberia
There are always some challenges to overcome on every mission and this mission was going to be no exception. Despite having all the paperwork sent ahead of time for having the medical team credentialed and... Read More »
Long Journey – Meeting New and Old Friends
Monrovia, Liberia
Team members met up at Dulles International after traveling from many parts of the US – Hawaii, California, Florida, Oregon, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. This was a chance for those who had worked tog... Read More »
Latest From Around The World
The Essential Elements of...
Luxor, Egypt
This mission to Luxor involved a team of 22 people from the US, 3 surgeons from Egypt, local Rotarian hosts, many local volunteers and translators plus local hospital staff. While some team members had bee... Read More »
Global Scholars
Luxor, Egypt
As part of the new Education Committee approved by the Rotaplast Board, we piloted the Rotaplast Global Scholars Program on five recent missions over the past year. This initiative provided clinical experi... Read More »