Firestone Hosts Children’s Surgery International (CSI)

A medical team under the banner of Children’s Surgery International has arrived in Liberia to perform free surgical operations on afflicted Liberian children at the Firestone Medical Center in Duside, outside Harbel.

The team which touched down on Wednesday, January 25, 2012, at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) in Margibi County was met upon arrival by an array of senior teammates of Firestone Liberia headed by Mr. Jorge Pezzimenti.

Speaking upon arrival in Harbel, Lora Stege Koppel of the Board of Directors of Children’s Surgery International said she is very excited to be back in Firestone.

She noted that she’s proud because CSI has a positive working relationship with its counterparts at the Firestone Medical Center. The CSI Board Chairperson described the partnership with Firestone Liberia as one of the best partnerships CSI has, saying “we feel welcomed when we come here.”

The CSI team comprises doctors, surgeons, nurses, other medical and social workers. The CSI medical personnel, in close collaboration with their Liberian counterparts, will render free surgical services to kids with facial deformities and other types of pediatric conditions.

The Firestone Hospital currently treats over 9,000 patients each month. In addition, Firestone Liberia is partnering with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and UNICEF to store and administer vaccines that help to protect Liberians from a range of diseases. The hospital also works with the Ministry of Health for the control of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

The medical team is expected to be in Firestone from January 25 to February 3, 2012. While in Firestone on similar mission about the same time last year (2011), CSI personnel and their Firestone counterparts performed over one hundred surgical operations.

The Management of Firestone Liberia says it is providing accommodation, feeding and transportation for the visiting medical team as well as for the kids and their parents. According to the company’s management, it is also providing additional logistical support to CSI as a means of making the medical mission a resounding success. During the visit, the team is expected to tour several facilities of the company and other places of interest in Liberia.

It can be recalled that the Firestone Medical Center was reopened in 2008; and is one of the best medical facilities in Margibi County and the Republic of Liberia. The three hundred-bed in patient facility located in Duside, has won the admiration of the citizens of Liberia and the international community.

Meanwhile, the Children’s Surgery International medical team is further expected to conduct training and provide practical insights for some of their Liberian counterparts.