Twice a year, Dr. Andrew Jacono leaves his Park Avenue practice behind to operate in countries where reconstructive surgery for children remains largely out of reach. Over the course of his career, he has provided surgical care to more than 750 children across developing regions, treating conditions that would otherwise go unaddressed for a lifetime without intervention.
He conducts these missions through organizations including Healing the Children, the HUGS (Help Us Give Smiles) Foundation, and THAI Children. His travels have taken Dr. Andrew Jacono to Colombia, Ecuador, Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries where families often cannot access specialized surgical care regardless of the severity of their child’s condition.
A Range of Conditions, One Common Barrier
The deformities he treats on these trips include cleft lip and palate, microtia, or malformed ears, facial tumors, and burn scars. Each condition carries its own set of functional complications, from difficulty eating to trouble breathing, but they share a common social burden as well. A visible facial difference can prevent a child from attending school or participating fully in community life, compounding a medical problem with a social one that follows the child for years.
Building a Team, Not Just a Trip
Dr. Andrew Jacono typically brings fellow surgeons along on these missions, and at times family members as well, expanding the reach of each visit beyond what a single surgeon could accomplish alone. Dr. Andrew Jacono missions require considerable logistical coordination, from securing surgical equipment in remote locations to managing patient recovery in settings without the infrastructure of a major hospital. Local medical staff, translators, and community organizers all play a role in identifying children who need care and preparing families for what surgery and recovery will involve. Despite those obstacles, two trips annually over many years have allowed him to reach children who would otherwise carry untreated facial differences into adulthood, a scale of impact few humanitarian surgical programs achieve on a comparable schedule. Read this article for more information.
Watch for more about Dr. Andrew Jacono on https://www.youtube.com/c/drandrewjacono