UToledo Resident Trades Vacation for a Week of Life-Changing Surgeries in Guatemala

UToledo Resident Trades Vacation for a Week of Life-Changing Surgeries in Guatemala

UToledo Health orthopaedic resident Dr. Jacob Alexander took a weeklong vacation this spring, not to relax on the beach, but to perform hip and knee replacements for those who are less fortunate.

Alexander traveled to Antigua, Guatemala, as a part of Team Hope in Motion, a surgical missions initiative partnered with the nonprofit Faith in Practice, joining a group of 60 medical professionals offering orthopaedic procedures to patients who would otherwise never have had access to care.

He said the need there was unlike anything he encounters in a UTMC operating room.

"Some of the patients we saw have walked on a femoral neck fracture for 15 years and are forced to live with the injury, as they don't have the access," Alexander said. "Whereas here, you come to the ER and your hip is replaced within 24 hours."

A specific case he was able to treat has vividly remained with Alexander.

A 21-year-old man had fractured and dislocated his hip in a fall at a car wash. Without access to surgical care, the injury had gone untreated, leaving his hip joint displaced from its socket, rendering his leg unusable.

"We gave him a brand-new hip, and he was walking within two hours of surgery," Alexander said. "It was just remarkable the things that we were able to do."

Over the course of the week, the team performed 105 procedures on 100 patients: 60 total knee replacements, 18 total hip replacements and 27 foot and ankle procedures.

All implants were donated by Zimmer Biomet. Alexander was directly involved in 16 of those operations, along with assisting in translating for other patients.

Alexander first traveled with Faith in Practice in 2022 during a research year in Columbus, connecting with the nonprofit through his mentors at JIS Orthopaedics, Drs. Adolph Lombardi and Keith Berend. After matching into residency at UToledo Health, he reached out again, knowing that, as a resident, he could now contribute in the operating room as a first assistant while also serving as a translator.

Alexander said the experience recalibrated his perspective on medicine and how these surgical procedures can have a life-changing impact on the patients.

"I wish that everyone could get that experience," he said. "I feel like here, through no fault of our own, healthcare is very 'get in, get seen, get out.' But sometimes it can be more of a robotic thing because you're just going with the system.

"But when you get there, you see someone who hasn't walked in 10 years, or you see someone whose knee is significantly deformed at a 45-degree angle. You finish surgery, and in mere hours, they're walking."

Alexander said he expects to volunteer for another Team Hope in Motion trip and hopes that others from the UToledo Health family can join him.

"It's so gratifying, it's very fulfilling," he said. "It just gives you a different perspective, not only on the healthcare world, but on life. It really opens your eyes to the fact that there are people in 2026 who live very differently than we do."