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We have just returned from working three weeks at the CURE International Hospital in the "Warm Heart of Africa," as Malawi is called. We had a great time in the largest city of Malawi, Blantyre, and at the CURE International Hospital, a mission hospital like Bethany in Kijabe, Kenya, that gives free surgical care for crippled children. We were quite busy and as usual left Malawi with two children still on the operating table--we always seem to leave big cases on the OR tables as the consultants I have been teaching finish up the surgery while we run to the airport to catch our plane. Anne was very busy in surgery also. Malawi is a small landlocked country in south central Africa--in the top ten of the poorest in the world and #5 poorest in some reports. Malawi also has one of the highest percentages of HIV positive people in the world. This was a short visit just to evaluate the situation there. The people were "warm" and friendly and we would love to go back longer someday. The missionary doctors there did not know if a plastic and hand surgeon would be of help, but since Louis was the only such doctor in the entire country during the weeks we were there (there is not a permanent plastic or hand surgeon in Malawi),he was very busy. The spiritual ministry in the hospital was outstanding and active evangelism was carried out throughtout the day.
Louis also gave lectures and operated a few times at the large Malawi Medical School teaching hospital, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre. Louis worked primarilly with Dr. Richard Brueton, a senior orthopaedic consultant at both hospitals and a missionary surgeon with CURE International. Together they operated on a number of children with burns, especially leg burns which had not allowed the children to walk normally, if at all. Louis and Richard released contractures at the knee and ankle and then reconstructed the residual defects with various fasciocutaneous and muscle flaps. When a reconstruction is performed with a flap, patient and family compliance in wearing a splint or cast long term is not necessary. Patient compliance is always a problem in remote areas where the patient cannot easily return to the hospital for followup. Of course skin grafts are occasionally needed and then the joint is pinned in optimal position for a few weeks and a cast must be worn for several months.
Louis and Richard also operated on a number of congenital hand cases including two radial club hands. It was a wonderful experience for both. Louis also worked several times with Dr. Jim Harrison, another orthopaedic consultant at the CURE Hospital in Blantyre.
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