Cleft palate surgery team works in Tulkarem, Jericho

On November 13, a  nine-member team of doctors and nurses from the USA arrived in the West Bank for a week of plastic and reconstructive surgery on patients at the Thabet Thabet Hospital in Tulkarem, as well as the New Jericho Hospital.  Let by Prof. John van Aalst from the University of North Carolina, the team included surgeons Dr. Libby Wilson, Anesthetist Dr. Ron Herrin, ENT specialist Dr. Josh Demke and Dr. Laura Swibel, and nurses Bobby Silvers, Tim Hatcher, Cindy van Aalst and speech therapist Susan Duncan.  Most of team members have volunteered in Palestine with the PCRF in the past and have helped to treat hundreds of children with burn injuries, congenital defects and other malformations, as well as train local doctors.