Guatemalan Healing Hands Foundation
Mission helps improve the quality of life
by RIKKI CASON Reporter

The GHHF has helped more than 140 children since its founding in 2004. When McKee assisted during last year's trip, the group performed 43 surgical procedures on 32 children.

Dr. Desirae McKee, a local hand surgeon, has joined the Guatemala Healing Hands Foundation to perform surgery on those who need it.

"We take these kids and give them something better than they started with," McKee said. "If we have a baby with no fingers and they're all fused together, they're not going to have a normal five-finger hand, but maybe we give them two or three fingers and they can grip something or grasp something. It makes a huge difference in the quality of that child's life."

McKee explains how important that is, especially in a place like Guatemala, where there is not an office job available and people have to be manual laborers.

The foundation is a not-for-profit organization started in 2004 by hand therapist Lynn Bassini.

Each year, a group of hand surgeons, hand therapist and volunteers from throughout the country travel to Guatemala to take care of children who suffer from birth defects or have experienced some accident or injury that wasn't properly taken care of or taken care of at all. To date, the group has performed surgery on 145 children.

Dr. Desirae McKee will go on her second mission trip to Guatemala with the Guatemala Healing Hands Foundation from July 29 to Aug. 9. The group helps children in need by providing them hand surgery and care.

McKee will be taking her second trip to Guatemala from July 29 to Aug. 9. Her first trip was in 2007, when she and her group completed 43 surgical procedures on 32 children, evaluated 92 therapy patients and fabricated 87 splints.

She was asked on the trip by her former mentor, Leonard Bodell, who taught her about hand surgery during her general surgery training in Phoenix before she did her specialized fellowship.

One of the things McKee will always remember about last year's trip was when the power went out in the middle of two surgeries.

"We had to keep operating by flashlights until the generators were able to be repaired," McKee said. "So you never know what is going to happen. It is always a fun time.

The attitude of the patients is one thing that makes McKee want to return to Guatemala.

"The patients are grateful for anything we do. It doesn't matter if they wait all day for us to take care of them," McKee said. "They are so happy to have someone to take care of them."

McKee said some patients bring in handmade gifts to show their appreciation. According to her, even little children who don't usually understand things would say thank you to the doctors and hold still, even if it wasn't comfortable for them.

"There was a lot of very tragic injuries that we were able to improve on for these kids," McKee said.

This year's trip will bring between 35 and 40 surgeons, anesthesia providers, therapists and volunteers. Each year, different people come to help, and many return if they are able to. While on the trip the group performs surgeries for five days. This gives them a time period to prepare for the surgeries, and the group puts on a two-day conference.

"We don't just go in and operate and leave," McKee said. "We try and educate therapists; we work closely with some of the doctors that are from that area also."

She said that between 200 and 400 people came to the conference in 2007.

McKee has been on mission trips in the past and thinks it is important to continue going because the people have very little compared to people in the United States.

"We 're helping someone who doesn't have the means to otherwise get it," McKee said. "Hand surgeons are in demand, so to be able to get a group of hand surgeons who can donate their time is really fantastic in my opinion."

McKee's husband, Bryan, is supportive of his wife's desire to help and also hopes to go on one of the trips in the future to lend his assistance. McKee would also like to bring her two children, Nico and Jordan, when they get a little older.

"We 've had children on the trip as volunteers before who play with the children who are waiting for operations and things like that," McKee said. "So you can even volunteer as a kid."

The foundation brings its own equipment to Guatemala, and volunteers pay their own way. To donate to the cause, checks can be made payable to The Guatemala Healing Hands Foundation in care of Excelsior Orthopaedics, 3925 Sheridan Drive, Amherst NY 14226.

All donations will go directly for supplies and surgery. Those interested can also sponsor a child for a $200 donation, which covers the cost of X-rays, diagnostic tests, surgery, rehabilitation, medication and a toy.

To learn more about the foundation and its mission, visit www.guatemalahands. org.