Spine Foundation Impacting Lives A World AwayA world away, in a small communist country in southeast Asia, people's lives are being changed.
Twin brothers, both doctors at Kosciusko Community Hospital, bring teams of medical professionals to Laos.
Three times a year, the team works to correct spinal deformities, many created by the spread of tuberculosis.It started several years ago, as Drs. Michael and David Hartman, twin brothers, were taking trips around the world.
"We like to travel to different countries and we always try to visit a hospital while we're there," said Michael Hartman who first attended Purdue University to become a veterinarian before realizing that work wasn't fulfilling for him.
Now, he said, the work he does in Laos is some of the most rewarding work of his life.
"When we go over there we don't have an agenda. No religious or political motives. We just want to give back," said Hartman.
While visiting Vietnam, the seed of doing work overseas was planted. A trip in 2004 to Laos cemented the idea.
First they had to jump through a lot of hoops. Red tape and bureaucracy were overcome when they were able to establish Midwest Spine Foundation in June 2007.
At that point the foundation could begin receiving donated spinal trays and instrumentation from Medtronic.
The first mission trip was in November 2007.
The doctors Hartman, along with nurses and a representative from Medtronic usually get into Laos on a Sunday night, once in March, June and October, and spend the week treating people with debilitating spinal issues.
In March, the team treated a 10-year-old boy whose spine was so damaged by tuberculosis that his spinal bones stuck several inches out of his back.
After a surgery performed by David and with Michael supervising the process, the child's back was repaired, his spine fused together and the disease was removed.
"We had another time where we had a 21-year-old who couldn't hold his head up," said Michael Hartman. "He came in and had to hold his head up with his hands."
Laos is a small, landlocked country in southeast Asia next to Vietnam and Cambodia.
A communist country, surgical procedures are rare. There are only two spine surgeons in the whole country and they doesn't have the tools to perform the procedures the Hartmans and their team can.
"Those people would die without those surgeries," said Michael Hartman.
While in country, they perform between 8 and 10 surgeries and consult with dozens more.
The equipment is outdated, the hospitals are packed and the wings aren't separated by age or gender.
Despite the limitations, every patient treated by the team has recovered fully.
Laos was a country ravaged by bombings during the Vietnam War.
While the Laotian people supported the United States for the most part, the war and subsequent withdrawl created some hard feelings.
Projects like the spinal surgery team have helped foster goodwill.
A member of the U.S. Embassy in Laos told the team that "Laos/U.S. relations have improved significantly" as a result of the work done by the surgical team.
"This has become a huge passion," said Michael. "But this isn't about me or anything. It's about letting people know what others are going through. Now these people have a chance at life."
