Red Carpet Of Hollywood
IMAHelps.org
2021 | UNRATED | 9m
IMAHelps has resumed its international medical mission work after a year-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rancho Mirage, Calif.-based nonprofit completed a five-day medical mission with 45 volunteers today at Eugenio Espejo Hospital in Quito, Ecuador. “It feels great to be back doing the life-changing humanitarian work we love to do,” said Ines Allen, president and co-founder of IMAHelps, whose volunteers have provided free healthcare for over 100,000 patients in nine countries during the past 21 years, including more than 2,500 life-changing surgeries. The 45-member IMAHelps team in Quito included doctors, surgeons, dentists and support staff as well as a leg prosthetics team. Their patients included 33-year-old Blanca Marina Murillo, whose face was crushed in a motorcycle accident in 2013. Murillo not only lost her right eye in the crash, but the impact crushed her nasal passages, making it impossible for her to breathe through her nose. Her mouth was so disfigured so she could no longer close it, making it difficult for her to eat. Dr. Christopher Tiner, an IMAHelps plastic and maxillofacial surgeon from Pasadena, Calif., changed Murillo’s life by using one of her ribs to create a new nose for her. Dr. Tiner also opened Murillo’s nasal passages and repaired her mouth, enabling her to close it with her lips for the first time since her accident eight years ago. “This surgery will improve Murillo’s quality of life,” Dr. Tiner said. “She will be eating better, breathing better, and she will look better.” Murillo, for her part, said she hoped the surgery would improve her appearance so that she would no longer ostracized by people in her community or shunned by employers. Other patients included 28-year-old Patricio Aguilar of Quito, who lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident two years ago. Aguilar received a custom-fitted leg prosthesis from the IMAHelps volunteers that will enable him to walk normally again. IMAHelps plans to return to Ecuador for a seven-day mission in July with 120 volunteers, including general, orthopedic, OBGYN and plastic surgeons, as well as dentists and the group’s prosthetics team. The group also plans to provide training seminars for Ecuadorian medical students and doctors.