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Mazel
Toy!
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MEDICAL MERCY
EACH YEAR, LOCAL DOCTOR DONATES HIS SERVICES TO COLOMBIAN CHILDREN.
ALAN ABRAMS
Special to the Jewish News
T
wice a year, Dr. Ira Zaltz, a 36-year-old pediatric
orthopedic surgeon at Henry Ford Hospital in
Detroit, proves that compassion knows no
boundaries.
For the last four years, Zaltz, at his own expense, has
given up a week from his busy schedule twice yearly to
operate on poor and uninsured children in a suburb of
Cali, Colombia.
This medical mercy mission differs from others that fly
into a country for a week and then are gone. The
Children's Silver Service Foundation
flies into Colombia and works along-
side local Colombian doctors, teaching
them how to do the surgical procedures
and provide the all-important follow-
up care.
"It is a teaching type of mission,"
Zaltz said. "We are approved by the
Colombian hospital. We work with
extremely well-trained local doctors."
Generally, four to six surgeons, one
Dr. Ira Zaltz
or two anesthesiologists, and approxi-
mately eight to10 nurses make the trip,
said Zaltz.
"Many Colombian surgeons, nurses
and social workers work year-round on facilitating patient
appointments, pre- and post-surgical care, and access to
the clinics."
The medical group usually sees about 300 patients per
trip and performs between 40 and 50 surgical procedures,
Zaltz said.
Zaltz is the only participant from Michigan. He joined
the Children's Silver Service Foundation while working at
Hope Children's Hospital in Chicago.
"They have a pediatric orthopedic club at Hope. People
in Chicago were very active in the group and funded it,"
he said.
A Columbian
child after foot
surgery.
Agit
Dr. Matthew Bueche of Loyola University in Chicago, Dr. Hugh Watts of UCLA,
Dr. Edward Millar of the Shriners Hospital for Children-Chicago and Dr. Ira Zaltz
of Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital.
7/6
2001
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