Steps2Walk Global Education
Education is of paramount importance and vital in order to achieve sustainability of our work and mission. By performing surgery, we can help one individual, but by training surgeons we can help literally thousands of patients who otherwise would never be able to walk painlessly, wear shoes, go to school, or find employment. Our vision is to make quality foot and ankle care available to all people in the world by giving everyone in need the “gift of walking”. While we are able to provide surgical care to an individual, improving his/her ability to stand and walk and enabling them to become an independent contributing member of society, we believe that the real and sustaining solution is to teach and train in-country surgeons and thereby multiply orthopedic care worldwide.
THE NEED
Robust educational opportunities exist for on-going education for orthopedic surgeons focusing on foot and ankle surgery in more developed countries; however, the are many underserved countries around the world where education in foot and ankle surgery is very limited or nonexistent. This is the market that Steps2Walk is targeting with the creation of the Steps2Walk Global Education. The program offers robust and diverse educational programs all with the common goal of providing on-going educational opportunities to those orthopedic surgeons in the countries we serve.
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
Steps2Walk Surgical Missions
Robust educational opportunities do not exist for on-going education for orthopedic surgeons in most underserved countries around the world where orthopedic surgeons trained in foot and ankle surgery is very limited or nonexistent. We provide comprehensive and diverse educational programs all with the common goal of providing on-going educational opportunities to those orthopedic surgeons in the countries we serve. We send a volunteer team consisting of four world renowned foot and ankle surgeons to our 5-day Mission Programs. Here surgeons can learn foot and ankle surgical techniques, hear educational lectures by our faculty, participate in case discussions, observe live surgeries, and in many cases participate in cadaveric training labs. Our volunteer team conducts between 15 and 20 life changing surgeries for the patients we treat on each of these mission programs.
Steps2Walk Telemedicine Training
In partnership with Ohana One, in addition to these “on the ground programs” we offer telemedicine programming to 6 countries at present using virtual “smart” glasses technology where we are able to take surgeons in remote regions of the world through surgery in real time. This has significantly expanded our ability to train surgeons, while alleviating the stress and the time of travel for our global surgeon volunteers.
One of our surgeon mentees on the telemedicine program using the Smart glasses being trained by Dr Mark Myerson remotely
Pediatric Training
We are developing increased ability to help children by recruiting surgeon volunteers with expertise in this all-important area. These children live in more remote regions of the in country and little ability to walk, wear shoes, and importantly, go to school. By treating deformities at an early age we give these children an opportunity to attend school, and live a more normal and productive life.
Resident and Fellow Training
Steps2Walk invites residents/fellows from both developed countries and from locations where our Mission Programs take place to introduce them to humanitarian work and further educate them on complex surgical cases. This is a remarkable opportunity for these younger surgeons to receive advanced education in this field, particularly for those who already have an interest in foot and ankle deformity correction.
The program in Windhoek, Namibia 2024 was made all the more successful with the attendance of 5 residents from Malawi, and Dr Roshmi Bhattacharrya a fellow from the USA. The international faculty included Drs. Jose Sanhudo (Brazil), Andy Molloy (England), Mark Myerson (USA), Anish Kadakia (USA), and Jacques Jonck (Namibia).
Steps2Walk Chat Groups
In addition to our on the ground programs, we continue with the education of these regional surgeons throughout the course of the year by constructing a chat group for each program site such that all surgeons globally are able to present cases and problems for discussion and advice from our international faculty.