Guest Blog: ReSurge International

Each year, ReSurge International gathers medical volunteers from all over the country—and even the world—to help developing world surgeons with their backlog of cases. These volunteers also help train local medical professionals in the reconstructive surgical skills they need to treat patients in their local communities year-round.
Elise Gettings, PACU nurse from Boston, explains to a local recovery nurse in Vietnam how to treat burn wounds, while the young patient’s mother listens.
Our volunteer programs offer volunteer plastic surgeons, anesthesiologists, operating room and recovery room nurses, pediatricians and therapists the ability to work with their colleagues abroad while helping provide direct service to children and adults who need it the most.
Elise Gettings, a ReSurge volunteer since 2002, is a great example of the type of medical volunteer we love working with. She has been a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston since 1986 and currently works as a full-time case manager and a part-time PACU nurse there. With advanced degrees in nursing, public administration and public health, Elise is well-equipped with a wealth of practical knowledge that has served her well in a wide variety of experiences.
Elise has been on several surgical team trips with ReSurge International, beginning with a trip to Vietnam in 2002. Looking back on that trip, she says, “It was so rewarding to see the immediate surgical improvement for the child and the pleasure this brought to the parents.”
“Most of the parents of the pediatric patients expressed themselves with a simple touch or expression on their face that conveyed sincere gratitude,” she continues. “The Vietnamese nursing staff spoke very little English, but we discovered that we didn’t have to speak the same language to communicate. I felt an overwhelming bond and sense of comradeship as we all worked together in care of our patients.”
Since that first trip, Elise has continued to volunteer her time with ReSurge, giving up vacation time and comfort to help transform lives. She also was deployed to Haiti in 2010 to provide surgical care after the devastating earthquake in that country with the International Medical Surgical Response Team.
“To serve as a volunteer and help others less fortune is truly a fulfilling experience,” Elise explains. “The work is greatly appreciated, and it carries its own rewards. You give of yourself and your time, but unexpectedly you get back so much more.”
To learn more about getting involved as a medical volunteer with ReSurge International, visit www.resurge.org.