Newswise — During the most recent trip to Panama with Operation Walk Denver, Dr. Douglas A. Dennis and James Boyle, PA-C, were awarded the highest honor of Panama for their humanitarian efforts in that country. Dr. Dennis is an orthopedic surgeon at Porter Adventist Hospital and Colorado Joint Replacement, and Boyle is a physician assistant at both.
During a Nov. 14 reunion event to celebrate five years of Operation Walk Denver in Panama, hosted by Panama’s First Lady, Marta Martinelli, the Orden de Manuel Amador Guerrero, Panama’s highest medal for a non-citizen civilian, was presented to Dr. Dennis. She presented the medal to Boyle at the hospital the following day. President Ricardo Martinelli and the first lady also recognized the entire volunteer medical team for performing more than 450 total joint replacements for the impoverished citizens of Panama.
“This honor means a great deal to me and to Jim Boyle, who makes sure everything on these missions runs smoothly and successfully,” Dr. Dennis said. “But the award truly belongs to the entire team of volunteers who have worked so hard over these past five years to change the lives of so many people in Panama.”
Previous recipients of the award, which is named for Panama’s first president, include Queen Elizabeth II, Akihito, Emperor of Japan, Sean Connery, David Rockefeller and the Fire Department of New York, after 9/11.
A team of 63 volunteers including surgeons, internal medicine, anesthesiologists, physician assistants, nurses, physical therapists, instrument technicians and sterile processing crew traveled on the November mission, performing 76 total joint replacements on 54 patients.
There were several emotional stories that came out of the most recent mission, including that of Maria Valdez, a 22-year-old girl with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, who had been confined to a wheelchair for 13 years. After a bilateral hip replacement, she was able to walk out of the hospital. See the video here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Operation-Walk-Denver/119508498062033#!/video/video.php?v=175890919090667 .
Dr. Dennis serves as executive director of Operation Walk Denver, the Colorado branch of the global health campaign called Operation Walk. Boyle is the medical coordinator of Operation Walk Denver, which was founded in 2003. The volunteers travel twice yearly to numerous countries throughout South and Central America, as well as performing complex orthopedic surgeries on needy citizens in the Denver area.
About Operation WalkOperation Walk is a not-for-profit volunteer medical services organization that provides free surgical treatments for patients in developing countries and in the United States. These patients suffer from debilitating bone and joint conditions, such as arthritis, and do not have access to medical care. Operation Walk also educates local orthopedic surgeons, anesthesiologists, internists, physical therapists, and other health care professionals on the most advanced treatment of hip and knee joint diseases. Founded in 1994, Operation Walk teams have operated on hundreds of patients in Panama, Peru, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Russia, Cuba, Nepal, China, the Philippines, Mexico and the United States.
More information on Operation Walk Denver can be found at www.opwalkdenver.org, and at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Operation-Walk-Denver/119508498062033. Information on the Panama honor can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Manuel_Amador_Guerrero.
About Porter Adventist Hospital Porter Adventist Hospital is a full service, Nursing Magnet® designated, 368-bed acute-care referral center for complex medicine and surgery patients. In addition to being ranked No. 1 for 2010 in overall cardiac care in Colorado by a national hospital reporting company, Porter specializes in cancer care, joint replacement, spinal care and organ transplantation. Porter is sponsored by Adventist Health System and is part of Centura Health, Colorado’s largest hospital and health care network delivering advanced care to more than half a million people each year, across 13 hospitals, seven senior living communities, medical clinics, affiliated partner hospitals, Flight for Life® Colorado, and home care and hospice services. Porter’s and Centura's strength lies in the ability to offer a team of connected networks and shared resources to deliver accessible, reliable and cost-effective health care across the state. For more information about Porter Adventist Hospital, visit www.porterhospital.org or the Media Room at http://porter.mediaroom.com.
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