Neurosurgeon Richard Wohns, MD, founder and president of Nashville, Tenn.-based NeoSpine, has shared his talents in spine surgery by volunteering his services in Nepal and the Maldive Islands.
He spoke about his time volunteering through the Foundation for International Education in Neurological Surgery and his advice for surgeons considering their own trips at the Becker's Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-driven ASC virtual event.
Here are three quotes from the conversation:
On his perspective on U.S. healthcare: "We take so many things for granted in the U.S. and in other developed parts of the world. Everything is available at all times, latest technology and approaches to the spine. Everything we do is cutting edge. But in much of the world those sorts of medical devices approaches and technology simply are not available. It's just a wonderful thing to realize that we are very privileged and get away from that situation and be able to bring your knowledge, talents and experience, and some medical devices, and bring this to another part of the world where it just doesn't exist. So that's been an eye opener for me, and it's just extremely gratifying."
On one of his memorable cases: "It was a patient who had tuberculosis of the spine who was treated medically, but the spine continued to deteriorate, collapse and compress her spinal cord. She was not able to walk for nine months and was in bed. She was a wife and a mother with kids. We saw her and we brought the type of technology that was necessary to decompress and fuse her with neuromonitoring, and literally she was able to walk within a week of the surgery and get back to her family with an incredible outcome."
On why neurosurgeons should consider volunteer trips: "My pitch would be, you will fall in love with it. The first moment you go over to a wonderful place like Katmandu or the Maldives, or there's obviously numerous other places in the world where you can volunteer, the experience is so monumental in so many ways. Professionally, you realize that you yourself are a treasure trove of information, and you can put your energy, knowledge and experience to use in a whole new environment where you're well-respected and your endeavors are highly valued. You meet new people, and you create a new relationship with the place and the people and the patients that you are totally engaged in. You want to continue this, and you want to invite your friends. My pitch is if you try it once, you'll never look back. It'll be one of the major things in your life."
View Dr. Wohns' full conversation here.