CBS News Reports:
LIGA International - Flying Doctors of Mercy, helping the less fortunate. Featured on CBS News.
Since 1934, LIGA has been dedicated to improving the health & well-being of the people of Sinaloa Mexico by providing free health care & education. Aloha Foot & Ankle is proud of our involvement with LIGA as we travel to many places around the world to offer free treatment for those who cant afford it. The CBS News feature shows how important it is to be part of such a benevolent organization...
Since 1934, LIGA has been dedicated to improving the health & well-being of the people of Sinaloa Mexico by providing free health care & education.
Every month, doctors, interpreters, pharmacists, nurses, pilots and other interested volunteers fly to Mexico to provide free healthcare. Over 300 people are usually seen. Adults and children get services they would otherwise never get. In addition to medical treatment, they also receive health and nutrition education. For many patients, this is their only access to medical care.
Guatemala
IRVINE PHYSICIAN FULFILLS DREAM OF A LIFETIME House Call Spring 1994
On February 15, a young
boy from Guatemala arrived in
California with the hope of
undergoing a surgery that would
change his life.
16-year-old Miguel Angel
Chu Ortiz, a native Mayan
Indian, was born with his right
foot turned inward and back
underneath his leg, a deformity
known as a clubfoot. Because of
his clubfoot, Miguel has never
been able to walk normally, wear
normal shoes, or play soccer-a
sport he loves.
I t was not until last October,
when a group of doctors organized
a trip to Guatemala, that
Miguel had hope for a normal
life. The doctors, including
Victor V Cachia, D.P.M., anesthesiologist
Jay J Rindenau,
neurologist Bob Cleermans and
pediatrician Annu Sharma,
examined and treated more than
90 children in Guatemala.
Sadly, Miguel was not one of
them. At the time of the mission,
Miguel had a minor infection
in his foot which made his
surgery impossible. When told
of the cancellation, Miguel was
d~vas tate d. He believed he was
missing his only lifetime opportunity to have his foot corrected.
Fortunately for Miguel,
Dr. Victor Cachia and Dr. Jay J
Rindenau, did not forget him.
"We realized that if we don't
operate now, the kid will never
have a shot to walk normal,"
Rindenau said.
"This young nun has everything
going for him, except he
has an untreated deformity in his
foot," said Cachia. "By fixing
this, it will allow him to enter
into adulthood as a normal
young man." READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
Mexico
CALIFORNIA DOCS GO SOUTH OF THE BORDER TO TREAT POOR MEXICANS
People Magazine: By ZACH TAYLOR, Staff Writer
Once a month, Victor V. Cachia,
DPM, of Irvine, California, takes
Friday off and flies south for a weekend
in western Mexico. But he
doesn't make the trip to drink margaritas
on the beach or admire the
black-eyed senoritas.
He goes as a dedicated member of
an all-volunteer medical team that
treats poor Mexican children from
dawn to dusk in a hot, stuffy clinic in
rural San Blas.
Dr. Cachia is among several west coast podiatrist who are members
of LIGA
International, a
medical relief
organization that
operates seven
clinics in the
Mexican states of
Sonora and
Sinaloa. Ever
since he finished
a two year surgical
residency in
1987, he's wanted
to help his southern
neighbors."I've always
been interested in working in Mexico,"
said Dr. Cachia, who first worked with
the Baja Crippled Children Project in
Enseneda, just south of the border. But
those clinics were already so thoroughly
staffed that he didn't feel he could contribute
all that much.
"So I started looking for another
group t hat really need ed my s kills,"
Dr. Cachia said. When he walked into
a meeting of t he LIGA International
one evening, he found what he was
looking for.
"I had him on a plane going to my
clinic so fast, his head was spinning," recalls Jackie Hanson, a nurse who
directs Lingam's clinic in the small hamlet
of San BIas. Since that day, Dr.
Cachia has made the trip most every
month (excluding the summer, when
oppressive heat raises operating room
temperatures to 140 degrees), to work
a full weekend before returning to his
Los Angeles-area practice. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
YOU SHOULDA BEEN THERE
by Victor V. "Vito" Cachia, DPM It all started for me about four years ago. With a preexisting
love of the Baja, a love of the surf, and a need
for speed, all I required was an invite from my good
friend and neighbor Nick Baldwin, Off-Road racing
champion, to be all over a trip to the Horsepower Ranch
just outside Ensenada, Baja California Sur. The HR is
owned and operated by my now good friend Todd
Clement and his partners, and is a staging point for tours
of the Baja peninsula in purpose built off road race cars,
as well as being a revered meeting place for off-road
racers before SCORE sponsored races on the Baja
peninsula.
This first trip was an amazing introduction to the
sport that now has me hooked. We gathered at the HR
and spent a relaxing afternoon in the Mad Dog saloon,
a rustic Mexican style pub with colonial style furnishings,
and adorned with photographs and posters of many
of the sports' heroes and villains. As you enter the environment,
you gradually feel your adrenalin rise. What
sets you off, however is the sound of horsepower when
the trophy class pre-runners and the Baja challenge cars
are ignited in the distance, knowing that you soon will
be at the wheel, or navigating through one of this
world's last true and great frontiers. READ FULL ARTICLE HERE
Russia
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In fact, having cared for so many physicians and their families over the years, the Aloha Group has become "the doctor's choice" for podiatric medicine. Perhaps it's because they trust the skill of the Aloha Group, or because they know of their commitment to making providing the best treatment.
Designed to give our patients affordable and convenient access to the products we recommend by our associates in our office. Offered by Condition, by Product Type, or by Manufacturer. The best place to get correct fitting shoes and other approved Foot & Ankle items.
In fact, having cared for so many physicians and their families over the years, the Aloha Group has become "the doctor's choice" for podiatric medicine. Perhaps it's because they trust the skill of the Aloha Group, or because they know of their commitment to making providing the best treatment.