Healing the Children New Jersey sent a team of twenty-seven volunteers to Guayaquil, Ecuador in December 2022 to perform pro-bono corrective pediatric surgeries. Led by surgeons Bruce Schnall, Mark Engel and Brian Forbes, the team improved the lives of nearly one hundred children and their families. After a two-and-a-half-year pause, this marked HTCNJ’s ninth medical mission to Leon Becerra Hospital in ten years.

“Strabismus surgery for these kids is life altering. Not only does it change the way they see the world, it also changes the way the world sees them, giving them a chance for a better life,” said Dr. Schnall, Trip Chief. The trip was sponsored by the Prefectura del Guayas in Guayaquil and the Association of Surgical Technicians.