Child Surgery Vietnam-USA 2026 Team USA 🇻🇳 🇺🇸

Hello from Vietnam. Since my last post we have been very busy traveling as we continue to train local staff in the provinces to identify and refer children in their communities for surgery. Our training and new screening model has been very effective. Thanks to the help of the local staff in the communities we will help a record number of children this year. The real magic happens next week as we kick off our 2026 surgery campaign. First stop Yen Bai province 250 children scheduled, then Lao Cai -300 children scheduled....every week for the next few months we will travel to a different remote province to provide life changing surgeries. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks. Special Cases: On occasion as we travel the countryside we come across patients that may not fall into our normal patient profile but are poor and in need of medical assistance. With some of these circumstances our Director will ask if Team USA would be willing to help. Last month I was...

We just completed another very productive surgery week in Lao Cai. Lào Cai is an ethnically diverse province in the Northwest region of Vietnam bordering the province of Yunnan in China. Lao Cai is approx 315 kilometers north of the capital Hanoi. During our visit we were able to provide surgeries for 180 disabled children. We also had a small team of surgeons from the US join us. Dr. Thomas Golden, an orthopedic physician from Ventura CA was a special guest lecturer for Bach Mai hospital in Hanoi. Bach Mai hospital asked if Dr. Golden and his team could join us in Lao Cai for a few days to support our program and provide consultations and surgeries to help the local surgeons. NOTE The surgeons who support our organization are all from Vietnam and are specialists from Hanoi's top teaching hospitals. So having a team of surgeons from the US was an exception and they were treated as honored guests. It was a treat to have the group from home to converse with and help the...

Another successful surgery week in Ha Giang Province. Ha Giang is located in the far north of the country, and contains Vietnam's northernmost point. It shares a 270 km long border with Yunnan province of China. Hà Giang has many high rocky mountains, limestone formations and springs and is world famous for the Ha Giang loop. The Ha Giang Loop is a breathtaking motorcycle route that winds through the northern highlands offering travelers an exhilarating experience filled with stunning landscapes, culture and thrilling adventures. This week we were able to provide life changing surgery to almost 200 children. That is an average of 50 surgeries a day. Here are a few before and after photos of the children. For more photos of our week in Ha Giang province please explore the hundreds of photos. Ha Giang Surgery - 2026 https://photos.app.goo.gl/SguWBMW15tJK5oXe6 BONUS: Always my favorite thing to do and get a feel for the local community. Visit the local market...

  Hello team USA, It's just Tuesday of Surgery Week in Yen Bai province and I already feel so blessed to be able to do what I do!   Yen Bai is a very poor community located in the mountains approximately 76 miles north of Hanoi.   This week we will evaluate approx 500 children for surgery.    Highlights of the week for me : Monday I was reunited with a little boy we did surgery on 2 years ago.   At the time he was the youngest patient with bilateral cleft lip repair at just 8 months old.   Wow what a transformation his lip looks amazing and he is now a handsome very active two year old boy.   A classic example of how we are changing the future one child at a time.            As I visit the patients in the hospital the parents and grandparents are so appreciative and want to express their gratitude for helping the children.   We don't speak the same lang...

  Hi Team USA, First update as we kickoff our 2026 campaign.   I arrived in Vietnam last week and have been busy traveling to the remote provinces to train the local medical staff.    Our program has major expansion plans for 2026.   We will increase our area of impact from 15 provinces in 2025 to 27 provinces in 2026.  This expansion has caused us to change our patient screening process and rely more on local medical staff in the Provinces/Districts/Villages to help screen and evaluate patients for the program.   Because of this new model of screening the local team requested that I return to Vietnam early this year to help provide them with feedback and guidance on the new screening model. After observing several training sessions I am struck by the amount of local medical staff that will be involved.    At each of our training sessions at the province level there were approx 140  local ...

Surgery week in Cao Bang province was very unique.   Unique ?  As I have mentioned before when our team comes to town we place a extra strain on the system.   In addition to the normal patient population we often add an additional 200 patients plus families.   That strain turned out to be to much for the hospital in Cao Bang.   So we made a last moment decision to transfer 50 patients and families to Bac Kan Province Hospital which is 100 kilometers away.   I was concerned because the families in Cao Bang were not aware of this.  During the final evaluation by the surgeons on Monday it would be decided which patients would be transferred.  Only then did families learned they would be going to another province for a week for surgery.   The bus leaves in 2 hours be in the hospital lobby.   Logistic nightmare, how would the families react?   Well in typical Vietnamese fashion the fa...

Quick follow-up from my post on surgery week in Ha Giang Province.   James, a young man I met volunteering at the Center for Visually Impaired Children.  James asked if he could join our team to help the children.   James is from California but now lives here in Hanoi with his wife.     On our way to Ha Giang Province I asked James "You must be thinking what can I do to be of value as a volunteer this week for the children?   I advised James that the best value he and I can bring is to engage with the children and families.  They will feel very special. This experience will be life changing so take in those special moments.  After this week you will want to share your experience and love you felt with friends and family.   It will be hard to put into words the true feelings you will have meeting the children and families first hand.  So enjoy the experience and capture the special moments that will ...