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Volunteers are integral to what Interplast does. We rely on volunteers to help developing world surgeons with their backlog of cases, as well as to help train local medical professionals.
Interplast has more than 700 medical professionals who regularly volunteer on trips. Photo by John Urban. Volunteer Surgical Teams: Volunteers staff surgical team trips around the world. These surgical teams include volunteer plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, operating room and recovery room nurses, coordinator/ translators who provide general patient, family and team support and perform clerical work. Some teams also include nurse educators, hand therapists and physical therapists. We are sorry that we cannot take volunteers who do not fit within these specialties. For applications, please see below. Interplast surgical teams generally include 10 to 15 members; our teams are small so as not to overwhelm our host country colleagues and local medical facilities. Trips generally last two weeks, and teams typically perform around 75 surgeries on each trip. Each team trip also provides hands-on training and education. Click here to review our program schedule. All medical team participants pay $325 toward travel expenses; Interplast pays all remaining transportation and accommodation costs, although team members are responsible for their own meals during the trip. Additional voluntary contributions to help defray trip expenses are certainly welcomed. Visiting Educators: Some medical volunteers with extensive teaching experience also participate in Visiting Educator Workshops. The goal of our Visiting Educator Program is to educate developing world doctors in an effort to build local capacity and create long-term, sustainable medical care. It is a critical part of our mission, and our volunteer educators teach local doctors the latest techniques for repairing hands, burns, cleft lips or palates and microtia. Anesthesiologists, pediatricians and nurse educators also conduct workshops and conferences. All of our visiting educators have comprehensive experience teaching internationally, and are selected by our chief medical officer. If you have extensive medical teaching experience and wish to learn more, please contact Dr. Scott Corlew, chief medical officer. Volunteer in Mountain View: Interplast also uses ongoing volunteers to help with generating acknowledgement letters, filing, other clerical services and computer support. Their assistance helps our staff to be as efficient and productive as possible. For more information on becoming an office volunteer, please contact info@interplast.org. Volunteer Surgical Team Applications (download here): Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view these pdf files. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here for the free download. When you are finished with the application, please send your completed packet to: This is a special challenge put out to all Interplast Medical Volunteers! Thanks to a generous offer by a long time Interplast volunteer nurse, you can DOUBLE any donation you make before June 30th. All donations made towards Interplast’s Monitor Challenge will go directly towards funding 12 much needed GE Anesthesia Monitors. It is anticipated that this equipment would last a minimum of 10 years. Monitors will be used on approximately 150 trips and would play a critical role in meeting American Society of Anesthesiologist requirements for monitoring during surgery, for as many as 15,000 impoverished patients who will benefit from reconstructive surgery performed by Interplast. The GE monitor is cutting edge technology and has been selected after careful review by Interplast's Anesthesia Committee. The committee considered a multitude of factors in making its recommendation: parameters monitored, visibility of measurements and waveforms, ruggedness of unit, battery life, and portability. These multi-parameter monitors would allow Interplast's anesthesiologists, surgeons, and nurses to fully integrate all aspects of a patient's physiology during surgery in order to ensure the best possible clinical and economic outcome and promote multi-disciplinary teamwork. Donate now and double your donation!
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