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Sunday Offering: Surgery For The Needy
by Leslie Askew
March 07 |
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In the 1950s, when Dr. Andy Moore's father was the first plastic surgeon in town, many residents didn't have health insurance. But Dr. Andrew Moore Sr. believed that medicine was about service.
"He would accept all kinds of things in payment. People would bring chickens or a bushel of apples or a piece of furniture that they'd made," his son recalled. "He wanted them to be able to maintain their dignity."
Moore says he inherited his father's conviction, as well as his love of medicine.
Moore, who shares a plastic surgery practice with two of his four brothers, started a program that provides outpatient surgical care to Kentucky's uninsured -- for free.
On the third Sunday of each month, Surgery on Sunday opens its doors at the Lexington Surgery Center. Since 2005, when Moore persuaded a hospital to donate space and recruited volunteer staff members from across the state, SOS has treated more than 3,100 patients.
"In this economic time, the people that need this are our friends, neighbors and family," said Moore, 61, a Lexington native. "They can't wait till we get some sort of solution from the national government. They need this health care now."
Volunteers arrive bright and early -- the first surgery is at 7:30 a.m. -- and leave in the early afternoon. On an average Sunday, the group cares for 25 to 30 patients. Volunteers include anesthesiologists, nurses, receptionists and other surgeons.
"The joy for me is not only taking care of the patients but to see my volunteers getting a lot out of what they're doing," Moore said.
Surgery on Sunday clients are the "working poor" who don't qualify for federal programs and can't afford insurance.
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