ON A MISSION
Practicing medicine abroad benefits patients here too,
and the physicians who donate their time
Physicians at Scott & White
Healthcare often go beyond
the call of duty to provide
high-quality medical care
to people throughout
Central Texas. Some go
even farther, donating their
time and caring for people
living in remote places
under difficult conditions.
Medical missions overseas
are a way for Scott & White
to make a difference
globally. It also gives
doctors a valuable
perspective that benefits
patients here at home.
ou go somewhere else and realize
that we have it good here,” says
Robert A. Weber, MD, chief
of the Section of Hand Surgery,
Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic
Surgery, Scott & White Healthcare. “This
work both re-energizes me and tires me.
Short-term it is tiring, but long-term, it is
why I live.”
Supported by Scott & White and
Temple Bible Church, Dr. Weber went to
Estonia, and in 2003 helped establish its
“Y
first hand surgery program. He spent a
year seeing patients, operating and
teaching residents and medical students.
On annual return visits, Dr. Weber
continues to see patients and helps the
Estonian surgeons advance their program.
“When word got out about the program,
all kinds of people showed up,” he says.
Dr. Weber explains that Estonia’s location
straddles the former Soviet Union and
Europe. “They are organized differently,”
he says. “In the old Soviet Union, if
someone had a bad hand injury, they
would normally treat the bones and ignore
everything else. In the European system,
they would call in a vascular surgeon to fix
arteries, a neurosurgeon for nerves, an
orthopedist for bones and a plastic
surgeon for the hand. Now a hand surgeon
takes care of all of those things.”
Dr. Weber walking home after a day at the hospital
tonian surgeon
, training an Es
Dr. Weber, left
30
THE CATALYST Spring 09