Surgeons lend hand to needy
Orthopaedic Associates of Allentown will offer operations to uninsured and veterans
Sometimes you settle with the pain.
Without insurance, that’s how Tina Alotta copes with her arthritis and hand pain.
On bad days, she has to use a small towel to dry off after a shower because it hurts too much to grip a large one. And on those days, she can’t hold a brush to comb her long hair or tie her shoes.
Her troubles began almost two decades ago when she was in an car accident that seriously injured her hands, preventing her from working in her profession as a hair and nail stylist in Allentown and Bethlehem, and from making enough money to buy health insurance.
“When you don’t have insurance, you really can’t go and get the help,” Alotta said.
She may get relief soon through a global hand surgery project that provides free operations to people across the world who can’t afford it. Allentown is one of about half a dozen cities in the United
States where patients like Alotta can get hand surgeries at no cost.
The Touching Hands Program launched in 2014 to provide hand care to people abroad. Soon after, the group provided the charity in the states, said Dr. Don Lee, a surgeon at Vanderbilt University and volunteer for the program in Nashville.
In the Lehigh Valley, the service is being offered not just to the uninsured but also to veterans, whether or not they have coverage, said Dr. Jay Talsania, a hand surgeon at the Orthopaedic Associates of Allentown and organizer for the event. This is the first time OAA has offered the program. Four surgeons from the Allentown group will partner with therapists from the Institute for Hand and Upper Extremity Rehabilitation, and anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists from the Surgery Center of Allentown.
The 40 volunteers will evaluate patients on Nov. 2 and Dec. 7. The surgeries will be performed on Jan. 25 at the Surgical Center of Allentown on Cetronia Road in Upper Macungie Township. Followup care is free as well.
There are about 20 patients signed up, but the group can see up to 80 on each of the evaluation days. And up to 40 surgeries can be performed.
Alotta plans to get evaluated in November. Money is tight for her and her husband and she’s saving up for a root canal, so she wouldn’t be able to afford hand care.
“You can’t put a price on it if you ask me. So many people are suffering,” she said.
Talsania knows that hand injuries can make life hard for people.
“As soon as someone loses hand function, whether it be as simple as a trigger finger where their hand gets stuck every time they try to grab something, it can be a problem,” he said. The fix sometimes takes a matter of minutes, he added.
Talsania treats hand injuries from accidents, carpal tunnel, arthritis, ganglion cysts and other conditions. Many of those surgeries can be completed in under 30 minutes, he said.
It frustrates him when patients cancel needed surgeries because of costs. He said that at times, he’s waived the cost.
Talsania traveled to Guatemala to operate on people who rarely see doctors. But he knows his skills also can benefit his own community.
“People say, ‘Why do you spend $10,000 to go to Guatemala?’” Talsania said. “Why don’t you just help people here?”