Health Projects – Orthopedics
- 83 children in St Vincent received diagnostic evaluations
- 19 children in St Vincent received surgeries
Especially within the orthopedic pediatric speciality, WPP sees most of their patients for a number of years to fully complete multiple stages of surgical correction for the most prevalent orthopedic conditions. The following bright faces are just a few of the St. Vincent children the WPP team looks forward to seeing each year.
Jadiel
has a congenital hip and leg length discrepancy and had hip surgery last year to implant plates to reinforce the viability of his hip function. This year the WPP team removed these plates to further strengthen the hip and prepare for the next stage of surgery to correct his leg length issue. Jadiel will travel to St. Louis next year for the first of two surgeries with the final surgery likely occurring in 2020.
Cregg
was born with severe Blounts disease, a condition often referred to as “bow legged”. Because of WPP’s consistency of sending orthopedic diagnostic and surgery teams to St. Vincent, Cregg’s parents sought help when he was just a little more than a year old, the ideal time to begin monitoring and intervention. Plates were surgically implanted this year to progressively correct this bone deformity. This is a significantly less invasive, intensive and painful approach to the surgical correction technique which occurs when Blounts is untreated and allowed to progress to a severe status.
Hope
Now 5 years old, Hope’s healing journey began with World Pediatric Project at just one week of age. Born with a congenital condition causing severe muscle and joint constriction, Hope’s parents were originally told she would be confined to a wheelchair for life Yet, because of the consistency of WPP’s orthopedic surgery mission to St. Vincent every year, Hope has received steady corrective care needed to support her growing mobility, including now walking and soon the ability to run. This year, Hope underwent a procedure to assist the movement and functionality of her right arm.
