Operation Walk Pittsburgh Performs Over 63 Free Surgeries in...( Pittsburgh-based orthopaedic t...),Health

Pittsburgh-based orthopaedic team provides life-changing hip and knee replacements to the disabled

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- The Operation Walk Pittsburgh team, consisting of 50 healthcare providers from Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Boston, and Philadelphia recently returned from an extraordinary mission abroad to Antigua, Guatemala. Volunteer team members performed more than 63 successful hip and knee replacements on 50 patients suffering from debilitating joint disease. This trip to Guatemala served as Operation Walk Pittsburgh's inaugural mission. Due to the success of this inaugural mission, the team will return to Antigua, Guatemala in August 2010.

"Our team had representation from all healthcare systems in Western PA, and these healthcare professionals devoted their time and skills to make an immeasurable positive impact on so many lives during our time in Guatemala," said Dr. Anthony DiGioia, head Physician of the Operation Walk Pittsburgh team. The Operation Walk Pittsburgh team also includes Drs. Michael Weiss and Anton Plakseychuk (surgeons), Drs. Saryu Desai and Anne Uskova (anesthesiologists), and Operation Walk Pittsburgh team co-leaders Janice Harmon, RN, and Tom Maidens, RN.

Founded in 1994 by Dr. Lawrence Dorr, Operation Walk is a private, not-for-profit volunteer medical services organization that performs free hip and knee replacement surgeries for impoverished patients in developing countries. Operation Walk team members donate their services, skills, and time to the organization. While some medical supplies are donated, dedicated individual donors and sponsoring corporations subsidize the majority of the costs associated with the program.

"This experience is one none of the team members will soon forget," says Dr. DiGioia, "We are anxious to build our program not only through the planning and execution of new mission trips, but also through
'/>"/>