Thank you POSNA

We all landed safe and sound and were actually allowed back in.  Weird people.

On behalf of the three of us we wanted to thank the entire POSNA community for the opportunity to represent you and we hope we made you proud, for the most part at least.
It was truly an honor and even more so to meet and make new friends and greet old ones as well.  We were received in every place with the warmest regards.  The discussions, presentations and clinic and OR visits were worth every second.
We became victims of our own success, as we were photographed by an Argentinian paparazzi. 

Last, but not least, the combined SAOTI, SLAOTI, EPOS and POSNA meeting was a success.  The attendance was impeccable, the presentations well-thought of and the discussions were all high level.

Well... that is it.
We leave you with a couple of additional photos.
From the words of our new mentor, Ron Burgundy and all of us in the Travelling Fellowship:
Ate logo Sao Paulo! No llores por mi Argentina (Don't cry for us Argentina) and
"STAY CLASSY SAN TIAGO"
and THANK YOU FOR STOPPING BYE.

                                             9th of July Avenue and the Argentinian Obelisk

                                                                      Colon Theater

Our presentations went well I thought.
The congress so far has been a huge success because of the hard work of SAOTI and the staff.  Congrats.

Lastly, we wanted to welcome and thank the newest member of POSNA.  Not everyone knows him, but we do.

Argentina. Casa Couto

The congress is  full steam.
Last night we were greeted by one of our incredible hosts, Juan Carlos Couto.  Amazing time and spectacular views.  Gracias Juan

 

today we give our presentations.  By now, we can probably wing each others' talks...

Interesting first day in Argentina

So, when we arrive Jay Janicki and I, Jose, got detained because we did not know about a fee that is needed to be paid prior to arriving in Argentina.  Long story.  Thank God, I started using my skills and swagger to  explain to them the whole situation.  It took us 2 hours to get cleared as we were not allowed to pay and Juan Couto got us out via email.  In the meantime, Jay was very worried, about what I have no idea.  Probably is iPad game.  See for yourself

 

Then, we get to the Panamericano hotel and we had no reservations bc it was the wrong hotel, fortunately ours was next to it.  Panamericano's reservation was for the meeting, so we had to move two days later.  We then get stuck for about 5 minutes in the elevator...

 

We then got greeted by Juan Couto and drove us to his clinic named FELNI, won't even try to translate, where we had a great discussion of very difficult cases with their staff and visitors from Venezuela and Costa Rica.  Dinner was amazing as always.

Yesterday we went to  the Garrahan hospital.  Great time in clinics and with the case discussion of many cases.  we had a nice stroll and went to the Recoleta cemetery.

 

 

 

The course started today and so far is packed and I bet it will be a huge success. 

Last day in Chile

Sorry, two very busy days.
We had a great last day in Chile. Sunday was wine country day. We had an amazing trip with gorgeous views and fine wine. We had a very typical "parrillada" and a buffet. Also, the Andes are spectacular when flying over them.

 

 

Santiago R&R time

Today was time to relax and enjoy the views. Chile is a spectular country. There is a great mixture of valleys and the Andes. The weather was great. We visited a winery for a nice tour and scenic views. The city of Santa Cruz also provided a museum with an interesting variety of artifacts and history. The displays of the Chilean rescue of the 33 miners trapped in 2010 is an inspirational one.
Our hosts here in Chile have been very welcoming and friendly. We really enjoyed the clinical and research project ideas. We also enjoyed their culture, cuisine and landscape. We are very greatful of Veronica, Juan Carlos, Sergio and the rest of the staff and residents that we met and shared ideas with.
Gracias.
Now Buenos Aires for our last leg.

Santiago, Chile

We landed safely and were picked up by a great host Sergio Vial.  We had a great exchange yesterday.  We went to their two public hospitals and saw a SCFE fixation and an adductor tenotomy for DDH.
Then, off to have fish, finally another protein for our arteries... a stroll around downtown and up the funicular for a spectacular view of the whole city.  Then back to work at the hospital Roberto del Rio for another talk and tour of the facility.
From there, straight to dinner at Buenos Muchachos.  Great show with folkloric dancing and yes, back to meats and else.
Today we have presentations to the Chilean Pediatric Orthopedic Society.  then, site seeing.  More photos to download.  Long day

 

26 September

We wrapped up the Brazil part of the fellowship today with a travel day.  Since we didn’t leave until noon, there was time in the AM to visit the art museum, the local bakery and generally go walkabout.  We reflected that the trip so far is teaching us about another health care system, about understanding different perspectives on pediatric othopaedics and about our own development as surgeons and educators.  On to Santiago!

Oh, for those of you wondering about the football match – we had a great time. The stadium was electric with excitement and loud unified cheering. The Corinthians had to have a win as their last hope of making the South American cup.  The match started well, with the home team dominating the action, but they were unable to find the back of the net on several strong chances.  The second half saw sloppier play and still no goals, with the game ending in a dreaded zero zero.  Perhaps the only thing as impressive as the level of cheering and excitement throughout the game to me as a novice fan was the suddenness and completeness of its ending when the ref blew the final whistle.  Despite the disappointing outcome, it was a very memorable experience for us.

these trees only bloom a few days a year

Sights of Sao Paulo

Go Corinthians!!

Wearing Jerseys given to us by our host Alexandre de Lorenco

Wednesday September 25

Today we visited the Hospital Santa Casa  hosted by Dr. Patricia Fucs and Dr. Miguel Akkari.  The hospital is historic, and has a completely different style of architecture from the other two we have visited this week. We joined their morning case conference which was very well organized and presented.  The morning clinic patients we saw had impressive pathology, and the staff have taken great care to try to maintain follow-up with their patients in order to track the true long term outcomes.  We saw two DDH patients aged 23 and 30 that had been treated by them as young children. It certainly helps give perspective as our profession tries to be more attentive to these results.  We had a very traditional Brazilian lunch of feijoada - rice and beans and pork.  Delicious, but it made some very sleepy for our talks and more case discussions in the afternoon.  Tonight is sure to be a highlight of this segment as we head out for an important football match for one of the local clubs, Corinthians.  Watch out for details soon.

Dr. Janicki enjoys a morning coffee

Beautiful historic architecture of Santa Casa contrasts with new modern hospital 

Santa Casa Hospital

Our gracious hosts from Santa Casa

23 year follow up on bilateral DDH presented at 6yo

Can you tell these are 'orthopaedic' shoes?
(note 2cm lift on left)

lunch of feijoada

24 September

On Tuesday we visited the Federal University of Sao Paulo with our very gracious host Alexandre Francisco de Lourenço.  We gave talks in the morning on Open treatment of sequelae of SCFE, Children’s Bone Health, and Obesity in Pediatrics. We saw interesting clinic patients and toured the hospital.  In the afternoon we visited the football museum, which gave a very cool presentation of the history  of football in Brazil, including their 5 world cup championships!  Dinner was at an amazing restaurant built around a giant fig tree. There were many discussions regarding how to address the almost universal problems in health care of how to match patient needs and locations to availability of physicians and resources.  After we solved that together, we moved on to more lighthearted discussion.  We continue to be grateful for the very warm reception of our hosts.

23 September

With hosts at State University of Sao Palo

Kids are Kids

Do we look like tourists?

Morning Conference at State University of Sao Palo

Interior of Medical School at State University of Sao Palo