Dr. Woods: Check your children for deformities

Local Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Charles Woods is calling on parents to have their children checked out when ever they notice conditions like bow legs and deformed feet, even if they don’t think something is wrong.

Woods was speaking to SEARCHLIGHT HEALTH at the end of the one-week medical assistance mission by personnel with the International Hospital for Children. Dr. Woods hailed the mission a great success.{{more}}

He explained that many of the children who visited the special clinic had not been seen before and he is concerned that many parents are ignoring these conditions and unintentionally robbing their children of the necessary medical attention. “There are lots of children with similar deformities out there,” suggested a concerned Woods.

During the team’s visit, eleven children were operated on and a further seven have been earmarked to be treated at the hospital’s headquarters in Virginia due to the severity of their condition.

According to Dr. Woods, many parents have accepted the age-old cliché “he will grow out of it” and so children who should undergo corrective procedures are denied them, only to be confronted with the gravity of the condition when they are older and it is more difficult to correct. “Children who should have been seen as babies are brought at the advanced ages of five and six.” Meanwhile he commended the work done at the district clinics, as many of the patients he sees are referred by the doctors and nurses based there.

Woods is counting the blessings that he has received through the humanitarian work of the International Hospital for Children.

“It was a very productive week for me , I was able to get some experience and have some interaction with Dr. Sharps which was very beneficial to me as well,” stated Dr. Woods. He was referring to the lead Pediatric Orthopedic surgeon with the team, Dr. Chester Sharps. Dr. Woods will be overseeing the follow-up care to the patients operated on by the medical missionaries.