Humanitarian Organizations

We recognize the voluntary work in Hip and Knee Surgery that our members provide without compensation to help those in need. If you would like your total joint arthroplasty organization listed on this page, please complete the application or contact Chiara Rodgers, Research Manager, at crodgers@aahks.org.

Faith In Practice

Faith In Practice (FIP) is a medical mission team that provides pro bono medical care in Guatemala which has grown to be the second largest health care provider organization in that country. Learn more about Faith In Practice.

FEMR

AAHKS Member Matthew L. Jimenez, MD has established the Foundation for Education and Musculoskeletal Research (FEMR), a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity serving Chicago-area residents. FEMR’s mission is to become a community resource to increase osteoporosis awareness and prevent disabilities related to bone trauma.

Medicus Christi

Medicus Christi, Ltd. (MC) is a nonprofit organization founded to provide the means for people in underserved areas to develop their own health initiatives autonomously. By jump starting the process, MC aims to establish self-sufficient and self-sustaining hospitals and adjoining learning centers in regions of limited financial resources.

MC has the support of a number of orthopaedic societies, corporate sponsors, private philanthropic organizations, and caring individuals. Their first project is an Orthopedic Hospital and Educational Center in the West African country of Ghana. MC is applying for financial assistance from the U.S. government as well as the government of Ghana and the United Nations.

There is extreme need for good orthopaedic care in these regions and no limit to what can be accomplished with help from specialists in the field. Learn more about Medicus Christi, LTD., and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

Operation Walk

Operation Walk is a private, not-for-profit, volunteer medical services organization which provides free surgical treatment for patients in developing countries (and occasionally in the US), that have no access to life-improving care for arthritis or other debilitating bone and joint conditions.

Operation Walk Maryland

Operation Walk Maryland was established in 2007 by Harpal S. Khanuja, MD and Maria Khanuja, CRNP and is supported by a dedicated team of colleagues and volunteers. The mission of Operation Walk Maryland is to improve the quality of life of disadvantaged patients around the world suffering from joint diseases. Operation Walk Maryland uses the best-trained and skilled health care providers to deliver the highest level of care. There is no cost to the patient or community they serve, and all time and supplies are provided through donations.

Operation Walk Virginia

Founded in 2006 by Gerard A. Engh, MD, Operation Walk Virginia has led teams on surgical missions to Nicaragua and Ecuador and plans to expand its volunteer efforts to other countries in the future. Dr. Engh’s unique vision is to bring doctors from the host country to the United States to learn by observing the surgical techniques involved in knee and hip replacement. The doctors will then be able to take these skills back to their own country perpetuating the help for years to come.

Operation Walk USA

The mission of Operation Walk USA is to encourage and enable joint replacement surgeons to restore mobility and improve quality of life for uninsured and underinsured patients in the United States who suffer from disabling arthritis of the hip or knee. Operation Walk USA will become the leader in joint replacement care for economically disadvantaged patients in the United States. Since 2010, Operation Walk USA has given back to our communities $15,500,000 in pro bono medical care services and helped 574 patients.

Saint Vincent Infirmary Medical Center

Saint Vincent Infirmary Medical Center is a Catholic Health Initiatives Hospital in Little Rock, AR. Once a month, AAHKS Member D. Gordon Newbern, MD accepts a patient who needs hip or knee surgery, often a hip or knee replacement, but sometimes arthroscopy from the Saint Vincent Free Community Clinics for the Medically Uninsured. These are patients who have no insurance and no means of paying for costly medical care themselves. If surgery is needed, then Dr. Newbern does the surgery at no charge and the hospital does not charge for its service either. They donate all the hospital care, or time and implant cost, pharmacy and staff time.

Volunteers in Medicine/Motion – An Operation Walk Team

AAHKS member Brian A. Jewett MD works in Eugene, Oregon at Sacred Heart Medical Center. Sacred Heart and its main organization, Peacehealth, has operated a volunteer medical clinic known as Volunteers in Medicine.

Walk Strong Foundation

The Board and support team of the Walk Strong Foundation is on its fifth trip to Veracruz, Mexico, and have five more to go. AAHKS members Michael Christie, MD, David DeBoer, MD, Jeff Hodrick, MD, Doug Jackson, MD and Craig Morrison, MD provide hip and knee replacements for impoverished patients, training for orthopaedic residents and hospital staff, and million of dollars in donated medical equipment and supplies to their cause. They are committed to establishing a self-sustaining total joint program in Veracruz – providing resources and training twice a year for ten years. Their hope is that by their tenth trip to Veracruz, that the physicians and nurses will no longer need them.

Women Orthopaedist Global Outreach – An Operation Walk Team

The mission of the Women Orthopaedist Global Outreach (WOGO) is to empower, educate and engage women and their larger communities in developing countries. AAHKS members Dr. AudreyTsao, MD, Rinelda Horton, MD, Robyn Hakanson, MD and Audrey Tsao, MD, head up medical mission trips to Nepal, Guatemala and Tanzania as an Operation Walk team. They perform total knee arthroscopy surgeries for those in need, associate with educational programs for medical professionals and surgical training, distribute clothing and shoes to those in need and in Guatemala and Nepal, and support girls’ schools with sister schools in the US – often in the form of computer labs. WOGO has also participated in multiple sites with the Perry Initiative in exposure of ORIF on sawbones for high school girls.

2010 Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts

A group of AAHKS members worked in Haiti following the devastating earthquake of 2010.