Courtesy of Hope for Tomorrow  -  Dr. Jeffrey Meilman examines a 1-year-old Vietnamese child for cleft lip / palate as Hope for Tomorrow Foundation donates plastic surgery in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

A small dedicated group of doctors in Western New York have combined their efforts to bring services and hope to needy individuals around the world through the organization named Hope for Tomorrow.  The founder of the group, Dr. Jeffrey Meilman, started the organization 18 years ago in order to serve underprivileged people who could not otherwise afford costly operations.

“Our organization is about helping kids,” said Meilman.  “They’re poor kids, and if we hadn’t operated on them, they wouldn’t ever have had it.”

Meilman, a plastic surgeon who works out of Kenmore Mercy Hospital, recounted the beginnings of the group.

“My first patient with Hope for Tomorrow was Margaret Orlowska, a girl from Poland,” said Meilman.  “She was introduced to me through the Catholic Church.  After the operation we took her to the Vatican, and we had a private audience with Pope John Paul II.  He suggested we do this every year, and so through the years we brought many kids to see him.  We saw him 15 times in all.  Once we were in Poland, and we didn’t arrange time to see the Pope ahead of schedule, so we went to the bishop and archbishop to request an audience.  We were declined, but we decided to line the streets where the Pope was scheduled to come.  The Pope stopped the motorcade to speak with us for 15 minutes.”

Every year Meilman arranges to visit a country with a group of doctors to perform surgeries for those in need, but he also brings people back to the states who may need extensive surgery here.

“It’s been my policy to bring back one or two kids a year,” added Meilman.

Dr. Hratch Karamanoukian is another doctor who joins Meilman in serving the needy.  Karamanoukian started going on the trips five years ago, and most recently even brought his mother on their trip to Vietnam this year.  

“This year I performed 42 procedures on our trip,” said Karamanoukian.  “I worked on varicose veins and ulcers in the legs mostly in young women ages 30-55.  One of the most rewarding parts of the trips are when I can teach the technology to the staff in the countries we have visited.  It’s better to teach them than just perform the procedures myself because now they can continue the work on their own.  It’s very fulfilling.”

Karamanoukian said that many of these people need the surgeries in order to make a living, and in many cases for survival.

“They have no chronic wound care where we travelled – they can’t afford it.  They don’t come to me for cosmetic reasons. It changes people’s quality of life.”

Dr. Robert Smolinski went on the most recent trip with two other orthopedic surgeons, Dr. Mark Anders and Dr. Craig Blum.

“This is a great opportunity for me to help people,” said Smolinski.  “Coincidentally, we adopted a child from the same orphanage in Poland in which a child lived that Dr. Meilman had operated on 10 years ago.  I wanted to give back in some way.”

Smolinski described some of the procedures he performed in Vietnam.  
 

“Many of the procedures I performed weren’t taken care of earlier because the families were poor and didn’t have insurance,” said Smolinski.  “We think our insurance system is bad but these are things that would have been taken care of here regardless.  There I was doing procedures for people from the ages of 15-25 which should have been done when they were infants.  This included things like club foot and extra digits on hands and toes.”

 

Courtesy of Hope for Tomorrow  -  Dr. Jeffrey Meilman examines a 1-year-old Vietnamese child for cleft lip / palate as Hope for Tomorrow Foundation donates plastic surgery in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

A small dedicated group of doctors in Western New York have combined their efforts to bring services and hope to needy individuals around the world through the organization named Hope for Tomorrow.  The founder of the group, Dr. Jeffrey Meilman, started the organization 18 years ago in order to serve underprivileged people who could not otherwise afford costly operations.

“Our organization is about helping kids,” said Meilman.  “They’re poor kids, and if we hadn’t operated on them, they wouldn’t ever have had it.”

Meilman, a plastic surgeon who works out of Kenmore Mercy Hospital, recounted the beginnings of the group.

“My first patient with Hope for Tomorrow was Margaret Orlowska, a girl from Poland,” said Meilman.  “She was introduced to me through the Catholic Church.  After the operation we took her to the Vatican, and we had a private audience with Pope John Paul II.  He suggested we do this every year, and so through the years we brought many kids to see him.  We saw him 15 times in all.  Once we were in Poland, and we didn’t arrange time to see the Pope ahead of schedule, so we went to the bishop and archbishop to request an audience.  We were declined, but we decided to line the streets where the Pope was scheduled to come.  The Pope stopped the motorcade to speak with us for 15 minutes.”

Every year Meilman arranges to visit a country with a group of doctors to perform surgeries for those in need, but he also brings people back to the states who may need extensive surgery here.

“It’s been my policy to bring back one or two kids a year,” added Meilman.

Dr. Hratch Karamanoukian is another doctor who joins Meilman in serving the needy.  Karamanoukian started going on the trips five years ago, and most recently even brought his mother on their trip to Vietnam this year.  

“This year I performed 42 procedures on our trip,” said Karamanoukian.  “I worked on varicose veins and ulcers in the legs mostly in young women ages 30-55.  One of the most rewarding parts of the trips are when I can teach the technology to the staff in the countries we have visited.  It’s better to teach them than just perform the procedures myself because now they can continue the work on their own.  It’s very fulfilling.”

Karamanoukian said that many of these people need the surgeries in order to make a living, and in many cases for survival.

“They have no chronic wound care where we travelled – they can’t afford it.  They don’t come to me for cosmetic reasons. It changes people’s quality of life.”

Dr. Robert Smolinski went on the most recent trip with two other orthopedic surgeons, Dr. Mark Anders and Dr. Craig Blum.

“This is a great opportunity for me to help people,” said Smolinski.  “Coincidentally, we adopted a child from the same orphanage in Poland in which a child lived that Dr. Meilman had operated on 10 years ago.  I wanted to give back in some way.”

Smolinski described some of the procedures he performed in Vietnam.  
 

“Many of the procedures I performed weren’t taken care of earlier because the families were poor and didn’t have insurance,” said Smolinski.  “We think our insurance system is bad but these are things that would have been taken care of here regardless.  There I was doing procedures for people from the ages of 15-25 which should have been done when they were infants.  This included things like club foot and extra digits on hands and toes.”