Our History
In 2011, a group of physicians, nurses, surgical technicians, and clinical volunteers from Dell Children’s Medical Center decided to start organizing surgical mission trips to help children gain access to health care regardless of location or funding. We partnered with the Shalom Foundation, a non-profit organization, who had built a pediatric surgery center in Guatemala City. In December of 2012, our group embarked on our first trip to the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center in Guatemala. After helping 60 children with a variety of general surgical and urologic problems, we were committed to building the strongest organization possible to continue our work year after year.
Since our First Trip
We have expanded to include as many surgical specialties as possible including Orthopedics, Plastic Surgery, General Surgery, Otolaryngology, and Urology. We have partnered with the pre-medical student organization at the University of Texas Austin (AED), who continues to fundraise and volunteer alongside us on mission trips. We have also built a strong community of medical professionals in Guatemala City, including surgeons and primary care physicians to make sure that the children we treat have access to the surgical care they need and ongoing care for themselves and their communities even after we leave.
As our ranks grew we established a relationship with the Austin Community Foundation and continue to exist as a 501c tax-exempt organization. In 2019 , we rebranded our group as Operation KidDocs and have continued to grow our web presence and fundraising efforts.
Where we are now
Working with the staff of the Moore Center, we have developed a first class surgical center in this underserved region. The educational activities we provide to local physicians, students, and health care providers is helping to build a more sustainable healthcare system. While the bulk of our work has been at the Moore Center, OKD continues to explore other opportunities in other countries to help with the surgical care of children. We are proud to continue our work completing two medical mission trips each year, donating approximately 150-200 surgeries annually to children who need our help.
Why Is This Work Important?
Increasingly it is being recognized that surgical disease is a huge unmet need in the developing world. The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery reported that 28–32% of the global burden of disease can be attributed to surgically treatable conditions (1). A Bulletin from the World Health Organization noted that in some low and middle income countries that an estimated 85% of children will have a surgically treatable disease by the age of 15 years old (2). While broad programs aimed at medical diseases have been undertaken, little attention has been paid to the totality of surgical problems in vulnerable populations.
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