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Surgeons Féted

Published:Sunday | September 11, 2011 | 12:00 AM
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Dr Carl Bruce (right), consultant neurosurgeon, the University of the West Indies, exchanges ideas with Dr Fermamdo Helo, one of the honoured guests at the reception.
Deveta McLaren greets Dr Carl Bruce, consultant neurosurgeon, University of the West Indies.
Godfrey Boyd (left), chief executive officer of Bustamante Hospital for Children, in discussion with Donald Farquharson, chief executive officer of Kingston Public Hospital.
Joylene Griffiths-Irving (left) makes her point to Debbie Clue (right) and Rochelle Dixon.
Lyttleton Shirley (right), chairman of the South East Regional Health Authority, chats with (from left): Dr Victor Samdoval of Mexico, Winfield Boban, managing director of Medical Technologies; Dr Fermamdo Helo of Colombia, Joylene Griffiths-Irving of Scotiabank and Dr Ian Neil, head of orthopaedics, Kingston Public Hospital, at the welcome reception held at Redbones the Blues Café. - Contributed
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Friday, September 2, saw the chairman of the South East Regional Health Authority, Lyttleton Shirley, and Scotiabank Foundation playing host to two consulting orthopaedics surgeons from Colombia and Mexico. The occasion was to thank them for taking the time to visit Jamaica to perform free scoliosis surgeries for young Jamaican patients who could not have otherwise afforded it.


Cocktails were sipped over light conversation at New Kingston's Redbones the Blues Café and the doctors then worked through the weekend to complete the surgeries.

The Scotiabank Jamaica Foundation's scoliosis care programme is designed to finance surgeries for children up to 18 years oldwho are suffering from the disease. The programme facilitates surgeries for significantly deformed children whose families are unable to cover the cost of the material used to perform the operation.

Financial assistance

Joylene Griffiths-Irving, executive director, Scotiabank Jamaica Foundation, said that the organisation's interest in this disease originated in August 2006 when it responded to the plea for financial assistance from the mother of 12-year-old Nicola Noble after her surgery was postponed several times due to a lack of funds. "We were alarmed at the cost of the surgery and felt we needed to help those families who were unable to afford it and those children who were in such excruciating pain." She said this led to discussions with head of orthopaedics at the Kingston Public Hospital, Dr Ian Neil, and the eventual creation of scoliosis care.

Scoliosis is a 'c' or an 's' shaped curvature of the spine often seen in adolescents which causes them to be bent over, or cause one shoulder to appear much higher and more pronounced that the other. Adolescent scoliosis is most common in Jamaica, affecting teenagers between the ages of 10 and 16 years old. These patients experience severe pain and respiratory complications, and are unable to participate in normal activities, including attending school.

If caught early, scoliosis can be treated through physiotherapy and braces. The most efficient and effective method of correcting the spine is connecting vertebrae to vertebrae by way of titanium screws and rods, taking up to 20 screws, in an operation lasting up to 12 hours.