Last week I wrote about how many Mexicans are increasingly troubled by policies and actions of the U.S. government towards Mexico. I explained how many are struggling to understand if the pain they are feeling should be attributed only to the U.S. government or to Americans in general. This is a big deal. Nearly 2 million Americans live in Mexico. Tens of millions of Americans travel each year to Mexico for work or vacation. I shared three ideas for what each of us can do to help show the Mexican people the real spirit of Americans and how we feel about our Mexican friends and neighbors.
This week, I want to highlight a group of Americans doing amazing volunteer work in San Miguel de Allende to help locals and build bridges between the two countries. I was fortunate enough to meet this group several months ago — a team of Americans from across the United States that make up the organization Kids First Orthopaedics (KFO).
I first connected with the organization through its leader, Dr. Billy Andrews. Dr. Billy is an orthopedic surgeon from Duke University in North Carolina who has practiced for nearly 50 years. Dr. Billy and his wife Peggy both love Mexico and have traveled to San Miguel de Allende since the year 2000. At that time, Billy was already a member of the organization and had done volunteer work in Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador and Brazil. On this particular trip to Mexico, on the last day of vacation he met with a San Miguel woman who ran a local rehabilitation center for children with neurological impairments. He returned multiple times over the next three years to meet with local officials, and in 2005, Kids First relocated to San Miguel.
Out of that visit, Kids First Orthopaedics found a community willing to embrace the team and help them make an impact. Since that initial visit to San Miguel 25 years ago, the organization has come back every year to help thousands of local kids. I had the opportunity to see the KFO team in action at a local hospital here in San Miguel and recently had the chance to catch up with Dr. Billy to ask him some questions about their work.
Travis Bembenek: Tell us exactly what your team does?
Dr. Billy: Our focus is on children’s orthopedics. We treat kids with neck, back, arms, legs, hands and feet problems. Some of them need surgery, while others we can help in other ways.
Who makes up the team that does the work?
We have a core group of 30-plus orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists, physician assistants, nurses, therapists — the entire team needed to provide complete care to the kids. Many have been members of the team since the 1990s. This continuity allows us to work more efficiently and to enjoy long-standing relationships in our team, which has essentially become a big family.
So everyone involved is brought in from the United States?
No. Not at all. We also have over 100 local San Miguel volunteers that help make it all happen. Everyone ranging from local healthcare staff, translators, people that donate their homes for us to stay in, drivers who take us to the hospital — it’s one big bicultural, bilingual team effort.
Do you use local equipment?
We bring in from the U.S. all of the equipment and items we use. The local hospital (Hospital Joya) provides the space and local resources. We provide the equipment and the orthopedic team.
Explain how it works each year.
Each year the process consists of two separate trips, each of about 10 days. On the first trip, in May, we review and assess the kids in need. In that one week we see over 250 kids! Our orthopedic team then gets to work and does the surgery on those that need work to be done. (Some are still too young, or don’t need surgery.) On our May trip this year, we did a total of 105 operations on 43 kids. The second trip, which takes place in July, is for us to go back and review progress with each kid and do any follow up work needed.
So the members of your team take significant time off of work and miss several weekends from their families to do this volunteer work? It’s one thing to do it one time for one year, but another thing to do it year after year. That’s amazing.
We have an awesome team with wonderful people. They love doing it.
What an act of kindness and selflessness. Why do you think they do it?
The joy and satisfaction that our team gets in working together to help kids that otherwise likely would not have received care is a reward that is impossible to describe unless you have seen or experienced it first hand.
I actually went to the hospital in May and saw your team first hand in action. It was like a symphony, each team member knowing their part — where to go, what to do and how to do it. I saw them working with each other, with local staff and with kids. It was truly beautiful to observe the whole process of the team working together and the impact on the kids and their families.
That’s why we do it. Many of these families come in from rural areas in the countryside. We work to help them, give them hope, and correct their problems or at least make life more manageable for them.
You and your wife didn’t have any direct connection to Mexico or Mexicans. Why do this here?
Mexicans are our friends, our colleagues, our neighbors. They have an enormous impact on the United States. This is our small way of helping to have an impact on the people of Mexico and their country.
You have been doing this for many years. How will you ensure that the work continues when you ultimately step down?
We have an incredible team that is totally committed to our cause. We have already incorporated the next generation of KFO team members, many much younger, that are stepping up to ensure that the work of our organization continues long after I am gone.
Seeing the work of the Kids First Orthopaedics team first hand was touching, inspiring and motivating. While there, I was able to follow the progress of a young boy, probably 8 years old, being worked on by the team. I saw him carted to the recovery area in his bed, patently waiting and resting. After a few minutes, his mother came in and stood next to me. The boy saw his mom and gave her a thumbs up and a big smile. It brought tears to the eyes of both of us. As I wiped my eyes, a little embarrassed, Dr. Billy said to me with a smile, “I’m so glad you are here to see this.”
Check out this video to see the great work and great people of Kids First Orthopaedics:
And remember, as evidenced by Dr. Billy and his team, regardless of how you feel about the current policies of the U.S. government towards Mexico, there is always something that you as an individual can do to make a positive impact on our Mexican friends and neighbors.
Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.
