Third Saturday Surgery Day Held Aug. 22, 2009

Because of gallstones, Berenice has been to the emergency room more than seven times in the past 12 months. Her primary care physician told her she'd end up needing an emergency cholecystectomy, an expensive and dangerous procedure, if she didn't have her gallbladder removed soon. On Aug. 22, 2009, Sandra L. Freiwald, MD, of Kaiser Permanente, performed a low-risk, outpatient gallbladder removal, thereby relieving Berenice of the pain and discomfort associated with gallstones and allowing her to spend her days caring for her children.

Berenice's surgery was donated as part of the San Diego County Medical Society Foundation's third Saturday Surgery Day, held Aug. 22, 2009, at Kaiser Permanente's Otay Mesa Outpatient Medical Center. Saturday Surgery Days are an ongoing partnership between the SDCMS Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, and the Alliance Healthcare Foundation. Since December 2008, 98 patients have received donated procedures, including cholecystectomies, hernia repairs, lipoma removals, colonoscopies, and flexible sigmoidoscopies. A variety of specialty surgeries have also been donated, including cataract removals, ovarian cyst removals, carpel tunnel surgeries, and septoplasties. All patients are low-income, uninsured San Diego County residents who are referred to Saturday Surgery Days by their community clinic physicians. Kitty Bailey, executive director of the SDCMS Foundation, states, "Twenty-five percent of San Diego County adults do not have health insurance of any kind. For people in these circumstances, trying to arrange for non-emergency but necessary surgery can be a long and frustrating process. Through this partnership, patients are able to get the surgeries they need so they can get back to caring for their families and working."

The patients are extremely grateful for these life-saving and life-enhancing surgeries and procedures. Thank-you notes from patients include the following:

• (translation) "I want to thank the Foundation for giving me this opportunity to receive a free surgery and for all of your excellent services. I also want to thank every single person that makes this project happen that helps people like me with low economic resources that can't pay for a surgery. Thank you very much! May God bless you for your good heart." — Berenice Vasquez (patient)
• "What a pleasant experience! Everyone was kind. We were overwhelmed with kindness." — Marcenna Wilson (patient)
• "This is a blessing I never thought was coming." — Curt Laird (patient)
• "I give thanks to the doctors for giving her this surgery. I didn't think programs and people like you existed." — Son of Isabel Hernandez (patient)
• "For everyone, the doctors, nurses, thanks again, and may God bless you all for what you are doing." — Magdalena Sanchez (patient)
• "I give thanks to Kaiser for their great attitude and quality of work. I'm very thankful that there is a project like this in the community that helps people like us with our medical problems." — Norberto Quezada (patient)
• "Thank you for helping my mom with her surgery! Thanks to all of you, she won't have that pain anymore." — Daughter of Rosa Espinoza (patient)

As an offshoot of Saturday Surgery Days, Beckman Coulter, Inc., has donated 2,000 Hemoccult SENSA fecal occult blood tests to screen eligible adults for colorectal cancer for free at Neighborhood Healthcare in Escondido. Any patient that has a positive screen is automatically enrolled into the next Saturday Surgery Day, scheduled for December 5, 2009, for a free colonoscopy. Mary Guan, senior marketing specialist with Rapid Testing, Business Center, Beckman Coulter, Inc., states, "Our company is dedicated to improving patient health and reducing the cost of care. We are happy to be part of this worthy project that may help save lives of medically underserved individuals through early detection."