The Right to Heal UK Premiere-Imperial College London

Imperial College Surgical Society (ICSM), in partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS), hosted the conference entitled "Global Health and the Surgeon." The conference premiered the first UK screening of "The Right to Heal" on Nov. 17, 2013 at the Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Student Union, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, United Kingdom.

Interesting fact:  The venue was named after Sir Alexander Fleming- the man who discovered Penicillin whilst working at one of the Imperial College London campuses 30 minutes away from the building.

This event, in its second year, brought together medical and high school students from various interdisciplinary fields to bring to light the realities of the global burden of disease and the role of surgery in the humanitarian response.  The conference goal was to inspire the next generation of medical thinkers and global pioneers to examine the frontiers and potential of global medicine. The screening was held at the close of the event.

Key speakers for the event were; Professor Parveen Kumar, co-author of the medical textbook "Kumar & Clarke's Clinical Medicine", Lord Ian McColl, Chairman of Mercy Ships and Dr. Meena Cherian, Head of the Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Rele Olugunde stated that the screening was, "Very well received, thought provoking and very much enjoyed".   We would like to thank organizer Prashant K.  Bohra, Treasurer, Imperial College Surgical Society (ICSM) and Rele Ologunde, 5th year medical student, Imperial College School of Medicine, for their invitation to premiere our film, and for their support in furthering the film's message to increase global access to Essential Surgery.

Trinidad and Tobago screening at WCSOTA and WHO GIEESC

"The Right to Heal" was screened at the World Congress of Surgery, Obstetrics, Trauma, and Anesthesia  and held on October 16-17, 2013, at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The World Health Organization Global Initiative for Emergency and Essential Surgical Care (WHO GIEESC) held their annual meeting in conjunction with the inaugural meeting of the WCSOTA. WHO GIEESC attendees from over 50 countries reported their progress on bringing surgical care globally. 

The goal of the conference was to share knowledge across professions to advance surgical, obstetrical, trauma and anesthesia care.  

The film was screened to a large audience of medical professionals and global health leaders and stimulated much discussion, providing many points for collaboration among this learned body. Comments included: “Your film was absolutely fantastic.”

Many were visibly moved and reached out during the conference. Key participants who held leadership roles and who were passionate about the cause communicated their desire to spread the word about the need for surgical care in developing countries and their inspiration as a result of the film, and offered to host screenings of the film in their own countries, universities, societies and to the medical community. Feedback included their impression that this film and movement includes the lay community which makes it far reaching. They embraced the film's message, and concurred on the urgency and need to spread the word and want to contribute directly to bring essential surgery to the forefront of the global health discussion.

University of Washington, Seattle

Stephanie Edlund, Dr. Jaymie Ang Henry, and Dr. Charlie Mock

On Monday October 21st, the UW Global Health Resource Center, the Global Health Group, and the Surgery Interest Group co-sponsored a screening of The Right to Heal at the Medical Sciences Building Health Sciences Center at the University of Washington campus, which brought together over 60 medical students, residents, and faculty with a focus on global health.  The screening, initiated by Stephanie Edlund of the University of Washington’s Global Health Resource Center, was our gracious host and event organizer.

An introduction was given by Dr. Charlie Mock; Professor of Surgery, Epidemiology, and Global Health at University of Washington School of Medicine and School of Public Health, and former technical officer of the World Health Organization, Violence and Injury Prevention Department. Dr. Mock spoke about his experiences working on various research projects, education and training in Ghana and about the need for increased attention and support from international health organizations and programs in developing nations.  

Dr. Jaymie Ang Henry highlighted her personal and professional journey in seeing the poorest populations in her native country,  the Philippines, where the lack  of medical and specifically surgical care in rural areas  inspired her to embark on her quest to create awareness around surgery in developing countries.  

After the screening, there was a facilitated discussion between Dr. Mock, Dr. Henry and the medical students  who became actively engaged in the issues surrounding the surgical deficit globally and were particularly interested in the role of clinical officers in workforce training and the delivery of surgical services along with wanting to know more about the challenges surrounding infrastructure and equipment gaps. Their interest lie in career advancement opportunities in this area, and how they will be able to contribute in this stage of their lives and careers to effectively join this movement.

Proactively, they asked, “What can I do now and what can I do to prepare for the future?”.  Our answer was to acknowledge that,  “The problems that limit access to surgery are very complicated, due to the requirement for a transfer of knowledge.  The actual basic surgical procedure that needs to be deployed is something that is already known but delivering surgical care, creating political will around it, rallying resources, and creating the framework for a global strategy requires the effort of all the stakeholders in surgical care and not just surgeons themselves. It also requires the commitment and collaboration of the global health and international health community in tandem”.  Dr. Henry emphasized that the problems in surgical care are not simply medical in nature,  and must also be focused on the need to strengthen the supply chain/process.  She brought up the challenge of how we transport this technology into an area where there is none. Dr. Mock shared his personal experiences working as a surgeon in Ghana for four years and encouraged the students to follow their interest in the field of surgery, for that's where they will be most well-placed to make a difference. 

The evening ended with students thanking the organizers for taking the initiative to bring awareness of this growing problem.  Some expressed interest in wanting to spread the message and promote the film and we welcomed their collaboration as the film and the movement grows.

The Right to Heal at the International Orthopaedic Surgery Summit in San Francisco

The Right to Heal was screened at the closing of the 3-day International Orthopaedic Wound Management Summit on September 16, 2013 at San Francisco General Hospital, hosted by the Institute for Global Orthopaedics and Traumatology, IGOT.

Over 50 surgeons from 17 countries like Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and the Philippines attended to learn more than 20 techniques in orthopaedic wound care. Jaymie Ang Henry, M.D., M.P.H and producer of The Right to Heal, spoke after the screening on the need for a WHO policy change so that surgery is made a global primary health care concern and emphasized the message of the film's patients and caregivers who demonstrate how surgery will, and does, change the lives of those who have timely access to it.

The surgeons, in a discussion sparked by the film, acknowledged that while surgery is accessible in the larger city hospitals in their countries, the rural areas, which are admittedly under resourced, would greatly benefit from localized healthcare education to inform the patients and the traditional bone setters of the need to make timely orthapaedic referrals for surgery.

A request was made for information about locating and partnering with non-government organizations so that medical providers and town leaders are able to reach out for assistance and the surgeons are able to locate the right organizations to contribute and participate.  Dr. Henry urged the surgeons to maintain contact with IGOT as well as The Right to Heal, speak to their governments and Ministers of Health, provide data sets, pass along their knowledge by teaching, and to join in moving global surgery policy forward until it takes its' rightful place on the world stage.

Several surgeons from different areas in the Philippines who had just met at the summit joined together in response to Dr. Henry's request to affect treatment for one of the film's subjects. Rodney is a 7 year old boy, now 8, living in the Philippines and unable to attend school due to complications of living with clubfoot. In this way, the film is achieving notable goals, in bringing treatment to Rodney, who would have otherwise gone unnoticed and without care.

The Right to Heal looks forward to continued exposure from future screenings and thanks the surgeons that attended the summit for viewing the film and for joining them in support of this global surgery movement.

Special Thanks to Amber Caldwell,  Director of Development at Institute for Global Orthopaedics and Traumatology (IGOT) for our invitation to screen The Right to Heal.

The Right to Heal Film Premiere

"The Right to Heal", a film about essential surgery, made its United States Premiere at the Inaugural Bay Area Global Health Film Festival at Public Works in San Francisco, California on July 12, 2013.

The first year festival was co-organized by Amber Caldwell, Director of Development at Institute for Global Orthopaedics and Traumatology (IGOT), Jaymie Ang Henry, M.D., M.P.H., Founder & Executive Board Member, International Collaboration for Essential Surgery (ICES), and Zak Armitage, Marketing Manager at LIM Innovations. The festival attracted an audience of over 300.

Amber Caldwell kicked off the event with a warm welcome and introduction to guest speaker, Dr. Thomas Weiser from the Department of Trauma Surgery & Surgical Critical Care at Stanford University, who delivered a global health message focused on a new paradigm in bringing surgery to the world stage.  Dr. Jaymie Ang Henry spoke of how the film 'The Right to Heal' aims to shed light on the neglected issues in surgical care globally and the need for concerned individuals and organizations to unite in bringing international attention to issues in providing essential surgery to poorly-served areas of the world.

'The Right to Heal' gave us an intimate look at the lives of individuals in need of essential surgery and their incredibly inspiring and innovative providers who are looking for solutions and change in global surgical care.

Dr. Jaymie Ang Henry, co-producer and Director, along with James Carroll and Alemberg Ang, brought us compelling storytelling and beautiful images of people affected by disabilities that are easily treatable, such as cleft lip and clubfoot, and women affected by the consequences of not having timely, safe, and appropriate cesarean section resulting in fistulas, the appalling life they are submitted to, physically and socially, and those who are disabled for life as a result of little or no access to essential surgical care.

Filmed thus far in developing rural areas in the Philippines, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, and Bangladesh, they will grow their film by adding stories from their upcoming filming in Ecuador, Cambodia and Mongolia.  www.therighttoheal.org.

Brought to us by San Francisco filmmaker, director and writer Mike Seely, “The Most Distant Places” follows Dr. Edgar Rodas and his team to the far reaches of Ecuador, interweaving intimate portrayals of the challenges of providing health care for impoverished people located far from adequate medical facillities. www.themostdinstantplaces.com

Also screened at the event was "Losing a LIMb-Life without your Own 2 Feet" by Doctor's Ray and Andy Burson.  The filmmakers are brothers and surgeons whose mission is to empower, educate, and train communities about prevention, management, and the consequences of diabetes and amputation. www.own2feet.org

Global Health Organizations partnered for the event were:  IGOT Institute for Global Orthopaedics and Traumatology, ICES International Collaboration for Essential Surgery, Own2Feet, A little4alot, LIM Innovations, UCSF Global Health Sciences, Samahope, ReSurge, and LifeBox.  To connect please visit: http://bayareaghff.org/about/partners/

The event created exposure for 'The Right to Heal' to the surgical and global health care community and highlighted the need for global essential surgery which has resulted in invitations for screenings at festivals and organizations throughout the US and abroad in the coming weeks and months which will serve to promote the filmmakers message to increase awareness. Please visit the film's website at www.therighttoheal.org for upcoming events/screenings.