Pittsburgh Plastic Surgeon Works For FreeSurgeon Gives New Life To Patients A World AwayPOSTED: 5:46 pm EST November 11,
2008 PITTSBURGH -- A local surgeon is changing lives around the world.Fourteen years ago Dr. Jack Demos founded Surgicorps. The group goes to developing countries and helps those who have nowhere else to turn.  Pittsburgh Plastic Surgeon Works For FreeDemos just took his medical team of volunteers halfway around the world to Vietnam.The work in Ho Chi Minh City wasn't easy, but it's rewarding. And now Demos is working to expand his charity.Demos just retired from his plastic surgery practice, which he had for 27 years. Now he's focusing on Surgicorps.Demos said the days are long and the work is tiring. But he said it's also a life-changing experience for both the patients and the Pittsburgh medical team.Whenever Surgicorps arrives in a country, the patient's problems are obvious as they desperately line up, hoping for help."From my standpoint what we do is we allow people to attain dreams," Demos said.The work is grueling. The medical team made up of 27 people who will spend 12-hour days in the hospital.Anita Harnish volunteered her time to document the trip with Mind Over Media, a local production company. Harnish said she has many stories from the trip, like one little girl who couldn't afford help."And this little baby had a bilateral cleft lip. And at the end, just all smiles. Just a real rabble-rouser at the end. And they're just so grateful. They're just so grateful," Harnish said.But there are many children who must be turned away. One child caught a cold and the medical team had to say no to surgery. Those are the faces that haunt him, Demos said."The people you remember are not necessarily the 45 patients you did, the 50 patients you did. You're going to remember the little child in Vietnam who had a horrible facial deformity. A cleft lip that extended up towards the eye. Who developed a cold just before we were to operate on him. They couldn't be operated on," Demos said.Since there is more work to do, Surgicorps is expanding. Demos is moving into a new office, hiring someone to collect donations and upgrade the website so they can have the opportunity to change more lives."This is why you go into medicine. To treat somebody without the hassle, without the red tape. To look at a child, at a mother afterwards. To see the tears on the mom's face. To simply see her smile at you and maybe just nod in thanks. That's what it's all about," Demos said.Surgicorps next trip is planned for Bhutan in April. The Vietnam trip cost each person $3500 for airfare and hotel. All of the medical volunteers donated their time and work.If you would like to learn more, visit www.surgicorps.org. Related Links:
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