Your COA / Votre association
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We look forward to sharing further details with members at the next Annual Meeting. Get in Touch If you consider sports medicine and/or arthroscopy to be a component of your practice, we invite you to join the AAC. Membership categories include: • Active (orthopaedic surgeons, sports medicine and other physicians) • Affiliate (allied health professionals, researchers) • Associate (residents, fellows) • Senior (retired from practice) Please visit the Memberships section of our web site for more information. The AAC would like to hear from potential or existing members with your ideas. For all inquiries or to reach any of member of the Executive, please contact Trinity Wittman at aac@canorth.org
*AAC Executive Members President: Ivan Wong; Halifax, NS Education/Clinical: Laurie Hiemstra, Banff, AB Research: Femi Ayeni, Hamilton, ON Treasurer: Cole Beavis, Saskatoon, SK Secretary/Membership: Monika Volesky, Montreal, QC Public Relations and Communications: Ross Outerbridge, Kamloops, BC Industry Relations: Al Getgood, London, ON AAC Advisory Committee Catherine Coady, Halifax, NS Robert Litchfield, London, ON Peter MacDonald, Winnipeg, MB Robert McCormack, New Westminster, BC Nicholas Mohtadi, Calgary, AB Christian Veillette, Toronto, ON Daniel Whelan, Toronto, ON
Making Global Surgery Work as a Community Orthopaedic Surgeon Stephen Croft, M.D., FRCSC Team Lead, Broken Earth Western Newfoundland Corner Brook, NL Andrew Furey, M.D., FRCSC Team Lead, CEO Team Broken Earth St. John’s, NL
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mplementing global health initiatives from communitybased centres can be a challenging feat, however certainly not impossible. Global health missions encompass many hurdles, but once overcome, they not only have the potential to improve the health and well-being of the local communities, but they can also have an inspiring and lasting impact on individuals and groups upon return from abroad. With that in mind, in November of 2016, a group of nineteen health professionals from Western Newfoundland joined forces with Team Broken Earth (TBE), a non-profit volunteer task force committed to delivering and improving health care in Haiti1. TBE is continuing the medical relief effort in Port-au-Prince, Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake, and helping Haitians build capacity to shape their own future. Dr. Stephen Croft, a community-based orthopaedic surgeon working in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, led the team to a successful mission under the TBE umbrella. As suspected, there were multiple challenges encountered along the path to Portau-Prince, some of them very specific to our Canadian community practice setting. What follows is an account how our team was able to address some of the biggest hurdles.
The COA Global Surgery (COAGS) Committee is pleased to share Canadian global health initiatives. If you are interested in COAGS featuring your organization in the Bulletin, or if you are a resident and you would like to share an essay about your global surgery experience, please contact trinity@canorth.org for details. The initial challenge that arose was the very question that this article is attempting to address: Is it possible to embark on such a large mission coming from a rural environment? Corner Brook, Newfoundland is a city of approximately 19,000 people, and is a member of the Western Regional Health Authority, which has a catchment area of approximately 78,000 people2. The consideration for removing a group of nineteen health professionals for one week as a self-sustaining group to Haiti was not taken lightly. Two orthopaedic surgeons, one general surgeon, one anaesthesiologist, four emergency room physicians, one internist, one family physician, one physiotherapist and a full complement of nursing staff were needed as members of the travelling team, not an insignificant number of staff to be removed from call rotas, nursing shifts, and daily schedules. After great deliberation, and under guidance from TBE Leader and CEO, Dr. Andrew Furey, the decision was made that the mission would be feasible. COA Bulletin ACO - Spring / Printemps 2018