OPERATION AIRWAY
The Benjamin Harry Peikin Foundation provides financial support for its medical mission initiative, Operation Airway, in partnership with Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary. Our medical teams address children with Juvenile Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis ("JRRP") and remove papillomas and collect tissue samples and perform critical airway reconstructive surgery and provide post-operative care for children who suffer from JRRP and a host of medical conditions that make it extremely difficult or impossible for them to breathe or speak independently.
Complex airway surgeries are performed at the Shiners Hospital for Children in Boston, Massachusetts and in a number of countries internationally. The majority of these surgeries are performed on children who have tracheotomies due to Vocal Cord Paralysis, Subglottic Stenosis, Tracheal Stenosis or a variety of congenital or acquired respiratory issues.
OURIMPACT
Through surgeries, these children, who range in age from newborns to teenagers, often for the first time in their lives, WILL be able to breathe well, swallow, and speak clearlY
When medical missions are conducted abroad, the medical teams aim to educate local physicians on surgical and medical care of these pediatric patients facing complex medical issues. Our doctor training program helps to ensure that when our mission in a country (usually 3 to 5 years) is complete, the local doctors will have the ability to perform the necessary surgeries themselves in their own children’s hospitals.
The Benjamin Harry Peikin Foundation also secures the donation of necessary medical supplies so that surgeries may be performed with high standards in hospitals during and following the medical missions.
Our medical teams consists of pediatric otolaryngologists, anesthesiologists, intensive care unit doctors, nurses, and speech and language pathologists.
Our medical mission leaders are Dr. Christopher J. Hartnick, M.D. of Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary and Dr. Phoebe Yager of Massachusetts General Hospital.
For more information, please contact The Benjamin Harry Peikin Foundation's Operation Airway Mission Coordinator Evelyn Zablah at: