In November 2006 Dr Cecil Rorabeck and Dr Robert Bourne assembled an international team of volunteers - under the banner ‘Operation Walk’ flew - to Antigua, Guatemala to perform hip and knee replacements for a population of virtually no access to procedures that are taken for granted here in North America.
With extraordinary support from Smith & Nephew and other corporate supporters, Operation Walk was able to perform 65 life changing joint replacements in four days. That number represents one third of such procedures done in the entire country of 16 million in one year.
The experience was profound for the Operation Walk team, and a commitment was made to return the each year. Operation walk is made up of surgical teams from Canada, Ohio, Arizona, Texas, Spain and the United Kingdom.
