“As local surgeons screened their patients, we created a
folder on the cloud where they would upload images so we’d
be able to take a look at these kids and determine if their case
would be a surgical problem or not,” he explained. From there
he’d advise them if the patient required an MRI, additional
x-rays, and so on. “This hospital was able to do all these things,
and they didn’t charge anything to the patient,” he said. “They
basically provided the services for free for the poor who didn’t
have access to the healthcare there.”
The rest is history in the making, as Standing Straight
continues to grow and expand their services. Now doing
two trips a year, their most immediate goal is to add a third,
possibly at a different site in Southeast Asia, maybe Bangladesh
or Burma. Based on the needs, and where they can find an
appropriate facility with able surgeons who are on board to
partner up, only time will tell.
A true labor of love, all of the Standing Straight volunteers
pretty much pay their own way in regards to airfare, food and
lodging. They rely heavily on donations, and are always on the
lookout for capable volunteers as not everyone’s availability
allows them to attend every mission. “Whoever has spine
expertise, especially in spine deformities, we would love to
have on our team,” said Nirmal Singh, Mission Coordinator
for Standing Straight and Neurophysiologist at Kaiser in
Oakland. “Nurses, anesthesiologists, neurophysiologists—
anyone who wants to help us in any way, please do.”
One volunteer who just went on his first mission is James
Mitchell RN PNP, who also works at Kaiser Oakland as the
Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery and Pediatric Cardiac
Surgery. He’s been a financial supporter of Standing Straight
for a number of years after he heard Dr. Bains give a talk about
the organization. When he heard that they were in need for a
circulating nurse for their November 2017 mission, he jumped
at the opportunity. “I believe that we go on a mission like this
expecting to give a week of our time and we come back with
56 MARKETPLACECONTRACOSTA.COM MARCH 2018
so much more than we gave,” he said. “It is extremely powerful
to see these families that have so little and are so grateful for
what we do. Every single day we were there we feel like we
are the goodness of humanity.
Living in the United States we have access to some of the
best health care around, and when Standing Straight makes
these humanitarian missions to India, they strive to maintain
that quality we’re all so used to. “Whatever we would have
used here to do a successful spine surgery, we do our best
to implement the same standard in India when we operate
on those patient,” said Singh. “We basically brought Kaiser
Permanente hospital from Oakland, California all the way
over to India, helped people, and brought it all the way back,”
Mitchell added. “That’s was phenomenal to be a part of that.”
As most of us don’t have the medical expertise required
to be of much assistance on Standing Straight’s next mission,
what we can do is help spread the word, donate if possible, and
actively support their efforts. If you have something to offer,
Dr. Bains invites you to contact them by email, which can be
found at their website, www.standingstraight.org. There you
can also find numerous success stories from their missions,
and a video that gives you a little insight on what a difference
they’re making. Follow them on facebook@standingstraight if
you’d like a constant reminder that there’s plenty of goodness
left in the world.
On these missions, each surgery takes about 8-10 hours and
we run two Operating Rooms simultaneously. “I gave Dr.
Bains the nickname of ‘Superman’ because he’d be in one
case, he’d finish it, scrub out and immediately jump into the
next case and do it!,” said Mitchell. “And then once the patient
is stable in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit we would leave
go to the hotel, have a quick bite and get up early to do it all
over again in the morning,” Singh added, “yet he still got the
whole team moving, explaining to everyone what we’re doing
the next day—he is superman, there is no doubt about it.”