Physicians at St. Luke’s have gained a reputation for providing high-quality medical care to their hospital patients.  Many people don’t realize, however, that numerous St. Luke’s physicians also reach out to the community beyond the hospital – and sometimes even outside the country – to improve the health and well being of others.  Among these dedicated health care professionals are orthopedic surgeon Dr. Dave Atkin and OB/Gyn specialist Dr. Michelle Bourgault.

Atkin serves as the president of Operation Rainbow, a nonprofit organization that provides free medical and surgical care to needy patients in countries around the world.  He has made numerous medical volunteer trips to countries such as El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Philippines.  He believes his two affiliations with St. Luke’s and Operation Rainbow share a common purpose: to provide high-quality medical care to underserved communities.

Bourgault’s outreach to the community stems from her own life experience as a breast cancer survivor.  A member of Bay Area Young Survivors (BAYS), Bourgault actively promotes greater awareness of breast cancer, focusing on the fact that more and more young women are being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Here are their stories:

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Operation Rainbow Makes a Difference in El Salvador

By Dave Atkin, MD

Senora Zavala Reyes was worried. Her husband had died just four months ago as a result of complications from diabetes.  Her two-year-old son Alejandro was developing a worsening deformity from his congenital clubfoot, making it harder for him to walk. She knew that an Operation Rainbow mission was coming to San Miguel, but she didn’t have enough money for the bus fare. Not surprisingly, she did what most mothers would do. Determined to give her son a better future, she sold one of the family’s last remaining chickens and she got on the bus.

On Sunday, September 25, Dr. Eric Kashnow examined Alejandro. The boy was sickly and had a cough, but Kashnow and physician assistant Catherine Cusic determined that with an inhaler and antibiotics, he might be ready for surgery in a few days.

Alejandro’s mother waited by his side, and three days later the surgeons corrected his deformed left foot.  Willie Williams, the orthopedic tech, deftly placed the final cast on Alejandro’s small foot, and he was brought to the recovery room where Sue Locati, RN and Marta Espinosa waited for him with open arms.

In six weeks, Alejandro’s cast will come off, and for the first time in his life he will walk with a normal, flat foot.  Soon he will join the other children in sports and school and eventually as a productive worker in his village.

During our mission to El Salvador, we treated over 100 patients and performed 40 surgeries. To date, Operation Rainbow has treated more than 7,000 children in Central and South America, as well as in the Philippines.  We have delivered more than $57 million worth of surgical services with less than $4 million dollars of donated funds because our organization is extremely efficient.  For example, an average child's surgery, such as Alejandro's, costs only $400. To learn more about Operation Rainbow, please visit our Web site at www.operationrainbow.org.

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Awareness Is a Professional – and Personal – Concern

For St. Luke’s OB/GYN Dr. Michelle Bourgault, promoting breast health awareness is more than just a professional matter.  A survivor of breast cancer herself, Bourgault considers it a personal goal to increase women’s awareness of breast health issues.  Proof of her dedication to the effort is the fact that Bourgault recently took part in a fundraising event called “The Climb of Our Lives,” a hike up Half Dome in Yosemite by a group of young women living with breast cancer.

“The idea for the climb originated with a group called Bay Area Young Survivors (BAYS), a group that formed in response to the fact that more and more young women are being diagnosed with breast cancer,” Bourgault says.  Bourgault joined the organization after being diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago at age 41.  “We made the climb partly to raise money, but also to put a ‘face’ on young women with breast cancer, particularly those who are mothers of young children.  My daughter was six years old when I was diagnosed, so I know firsthand that the challenges of coping with breast cancer are different for young mothers.”

Six other women joined Bourgault in her one-day, 20-mile hike up Half Dome.  An additional group of approximately 20 women – many of whom are still in treatment for breast cancer – took a less-taxing three-mile hike to and from Vernal Falls.  The event raised an estimated $36,000 to benefit five local nonprofit organizations:

• Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic – A provider of alternative medicine treatments, including acupuncture and Chinese herbs, to poor and low-income women living with cancer.
• Breast Cancer Action – A grassroots organization that seeks to inspire changes necessary to end the breast cancer epidemic through such efforts as increased research into the causes of breast cancer.
• Circulo de Vida – A provider of services to Latinas living with cancer and their loved ones, most of them low-income immigrants without health insurance.  Services include translating for patients and physicians at time of diagnosis, in-hospital and in-home support during surgery and treatment, Spanish-language support groups, as well as case management and resource referrals.
• Bay Area Young Survivors – A support and action group for women under age 45 who are surviving breast cancer.
• Bravery – Young Women Living with Breast Cancer Multimedia Project – A project by Emmy Award-winning photographer Stefanie Atkinson to document the lives of young women living with breast cancer.

“The climb up Half Dome was a daunting experience,” Bourgault notes.  “We covered the entire distance up and back in about 12 hours.  The views were amazing, with the waterfalls still going strong.  Two of the women in our group were still undergoing chemotherapy.  Our group sentiment was that if we can battle breast cancer, we could conquer Half Dome.”

Many staff members at St. Luke’s sponsored Bourgault in her climb.  Anyone wishing to make a tax-deductible contribution to the event can send a check to:

Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic
c/o The Climb of Our Lives
5691 Telegraph Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
Please note “The Climb of Our Lives” in the message field of the check.

For more information about the event or the sponsoring organizations, please call Bourgault at (415) 285-0448.

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