UPPER MACUNGIE TWP., Pa. — A Lehigh Valley physician is lending a hand to those in need in other parts of the world. The orthopedic surgeon is preparing to embark on his 13th mission trip.
"I learn something every time I go and it's just been a really neat experience,” said Dr. Jay Talsania, an orthopedic hand surgeon at OAA Orthopedic Specialists in Upper Macungie Township.
Giving back by offering free medical treatment is something he’s done for nearly two decades now.
“I basically functioned as a fellow to my mentor and got involved and I actually took my wife and both my children at the time, who were 12 and 10, and I haven't stopped going since," he said.
Talsania has made the trips a family affair.
"It's kind of defined a lot of my family," he said. "Both my kids are in medicine. My son is an orthopedic resident and my daughter's a dentist."
In April, with his son by his side, the physician will head to Guatemala once again to offer free health care to children through the Guatemala Healing Hands Foundation. Talsania said his team will prioritize the most severe cases to treat during the week.
A range of cases
"We bring most of our own equipment. We have a lot of our things stored there off-site with our dressing supplies or bandages, plates and screws that we haven't used over the past, drills,” he said. “ You name it, surgical instruments, I take a lot of surgical instruments from the local hospitals, surgical center of Allentown."
He said the team operates on everything from broken bones that have been left untreated, to cleft palates, to many cases of Apert syndrome — where fingers and toes are webbed together or conjoined.
"It's 24/7 hand surgery, which I find very fascinating."Dr. Jay Talsania, orthopedic hand surgeon, OAA Orthopedic Specialists
"All the kids are screened by pediatricians on-site. Our anesthesiologist will screen them all to make sure they're safe to have surgery, evaluated by our therapists that we bring. They'll have the appropriate X-rays done,” he said. "It's 24/7 hand surgery, which I find very fascinating."
While the U.S. doctors are there, they also hold a conference to educate local therapists and surgeons. They also follow up with patients they’ve treated on prior missions, and visit with the villagers who live close by. Talsania said he’s even sponsored the education of some of the children and he brings shoes to the village every time he visits.
Community support
Patients travel hours to get to the hospital in Guatemala for surgery, he said. He and his team visit about once every year-and-a-half.
"To me, it's a reset mentally, and it is so much fun to spend 10 days with people with the same energy of just, you know, working hard all day long," he said.
The trip is funded through a $30,000 grant from American Society for Surgery and donations from the Lehigh Valley community.
"Patients come by, they drop off an envelope of 20 bucks, 50 bucks. A patient came by with a check for $1,000. They're very generous,” he said. “All the money goes toward the surgery. We have to rent the hospital and pay for the medicines. We pay our own hotel and airfare.”
The orthopedic surgeon used his mission trip experience to start a similar program domestically called Helping Hands, which provides free hand surgeries to people who are uninsured or underinsured and veterans in the Lehigh Valley.
Talsania said he hopes to hold that program again in the near future.
