Healing the Children New Jersey sent twenty-three volunteers to Guayaquil, Ecuador on an orthopedic mission in January to provide free surgical care to impoverished children. The team, led by doctors John Katona and Ed Niewenhous screened nearly one hundred patients and operated on forty-seven children, many of whom had Cerebral Palsy and club feet. “The unique privilege to be able to help children born with deformities to live a more normal and acceptable life is transforming,” said Dr. Katona.

For the first time the team brought along a Prosthetist, Peter Buffington, who casted both surgical and non-surgical patients for braces. The braces will be made in New Jersey and delivered to the patients.

The team worked at the Hospital Leon Becerra, a charity hospital, that partners with international humanitarian organizations. The Trip was sponsored in memory of Susan Irene Friedman, the beloved sister of team pediatrician Dr. Jeffrey Bienstock, who passed on December 11, 2018.