LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of its commitment to advancing pediatric orthopaedics worldwide, Rachel Thompson, M.D., of Orthopaedic Institute for Children, has traveled to Colombia to give children in that country the chance to grow well and play well as all children should. Dr. Thompson is associate director of the UCLA/OIC Center for Cerebral Palsy.
On her just-concluded trip, Dr. Thompson was part of an orthopaedic team of the Silver Service Children’s Foundation, a group of orthopaedic surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists and pediatricians who travel to the Colombian city of Buga biannually to evaluate and treat children with orthopaedic diseases. Since the organization’s founding in 1992 it has made more than 50 trips to Buga.
During this most-recent visit, they evaluated more than 200 children and performed 50 procedures on 36 children. “Many of these procedures gave children who did not have the ability to walk for more than a few steps at a time the ability to run and jump and play,” said Dr. Thompson. “Among those we treated were children with neglected clubfoot, untreated hip dysplasia, Rickets deformities and neglected cerebral palsy cases. In one case we constructed an ankle where there was none.
“It was truly an honor to have joined this team for the third time,” Dr. Thompson continued. “Each trip reminds me why I am a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon—to make kids better.”
Dr. Thompson’s visit to Colombia is but one example of OIC’s commitment to advancing pediatric orthopaedics worldwide. Through its acclaimed International Children’s Program, OIC has provided free, high-quality care to more than 150,000 children from Mexico and other countries who have orthopaedic conditions (the program includes physicians from OIC making multiple visits to Calexico and Mexicali each year to see children in need). Furthermore, Jennifer Beck, M.D., associate director of OIC’s Center for Sports Medicine, recently traveled to Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea as a recipient of a prestigious traveling fellowship; and throughout the year physicians from OIC speak at international conferences, share best practices around the world, host physicians from other countries, and go where it is needed to enhance orthopaedic care for children.
Dr. Thompson joined OIC in 2017 as part of an expansion of the cerebral palsy program on OIC’s downtown Los Angeles campus to complement its center housed at UCLA in West L.A. It is the only interdisciplinary clinic in Southern California that evaluates and treats people with cerebral palsy throughout their lifespan and is also heavily involved in research in the field. In addition to her role as associate director of the center, Dr. Thompson is also an assistant clinical professor-in-residence in the Department of Orthopaedics at UCLA. Her clinical and research interests are in cerebral palsy muscular pathology and in using gait analysis to improve surgical decision making and clinical outcomes.
About Orthopaedic Institute for Children
Orthopaedic Institute for Children was founded in 1911 as Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital. Focused solely on musculoskeletal conditions in children, OIC receives more than 70,000 patient visits each year. In alliance with UCLA Health and with the support of the OIC Foundation, we advance pediatric orthopaedics worldwide through outstanding patient care, medical education and research. Our locations in downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Westwood and Calexico treat the full spectrum of pediatric orthopaedic disorders and injuries. For more information, visit us at ortho-institute.org.
