MISSION

PROGRAM

LEAP TRANSFORMS LIVES.

 

Children with facial abnormalities like cleft lip and palate are often shunned by their communities with no hope for a productive future. They have no access to quality medical care in their own countries and no resources to pay for the surgical procedures required to correct their deformities. Our free surgical services restore their features and empower them to return to their communities as welcomed, participating members.

LEAP is committed to developing long-term relationships with our patients, their communities, and other partners involved in our missions.

By returning to the same countries, we are able to build trust, offer ongoing education, and continue caring for those who need long-term medical services.

It is our prayer that LEAP’s devotion and service to our patients is seen as an example of the selfless love of Christ.

If you are new to LEAP and interested in traveling on a mission trip, please visit our Volunteer page to submit a Volunteer Application. 

WHY WE SERVE

In this brief video, learn why LEAP mission volunteers serve the organization and continue doing so year after year. The hours are long, the work is hard, and while they use their vacation days to serve, missions are anything but relaxing.

Dominican Republic

LEAP first started with a single mission trip to the Dominican Republic in 1991 and maintains a presence there. LEAP was invited to the National Palace, equivalent to the U.S. White House, and received an honor by President Lionel Fernandez for our incredible service to the impoverished of this country. The Dominican Republic is also where LEAP advanced to include transporting patients to Dallas for complex reconstructive surgical care, now LEAP’s Landmark Program.

NEXT MISSION: TBD
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Belize

LEAP has been providing reconstructive surgical services in Belize since 1995. While the main focus in Belize remains children born with facial deformities, LEAP has diversified to meet the needs of a country that has no plastic surgeons of its own by providing surgical care in eye, hand, burn reconstruction, and ocular prosthesis. We also helped to start an indigenous limb prosthetic program, and more recently, a dental team was added to the team to offer preventative and restorative care.

Next Mission: June 12 – 15, 2020
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Haiti

LEAP’s work with Haiti started in 2010 when Dr. Hobar responded on Day 4 of the devastating Haitian earthquake. Accompanied by Drs. Ale Garcia and Ian Mitchell, they worked around the clock, amputating gangrenous limbs and repairing facial injuries of earthquake victims pulled from the rubble in Port-au-Prince. A six-month commitment of sending rotating surgical teams followed. Subsequently, because of the high need for surgical care, LEAP developed a close relationship with Hopital Espoir (Hope Hospital) and travels biannually to Haiti, providing plastic, ENT, urology, and general surgery. LEAP funded and built a Pediatric Ward in 2014 and built an expanded Emergency Room and Outpatient Clinic in 2016 to meet the needs of this geographic region.

Next Mission: April 16 – 20, 2020
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India

In 2003, LEAP made their first trip to Damoh, a very remote and impoverished part of India untouched by development and modernization. On this visit, the team was nearly overwhelmed by the immense need for surgery with approximately 650 patients awaiting with cleft lip and palate deformities. Subsequently, LEAP funded the build of a hospital surgical facility that now has four operating rooms. LEAP travels in partnership with Central India Christian Mission for plastic and general surgery care as well as orthodontic care. Each trip, the LEAP team is met with hundreds of overjoyed patients who travel great distances to receive much-needed care.

Next Mission: February 13 – 23, 2020
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Zimbabwe

After a severe cholera outbreak swept through the nation, killing tens of thousands in 2009, LEAP made its first mission trip to Zimbabwe. Through a partnership with Celebration Health (a Christian Mission organization associated with the largest church in Zimbabwe) and the University of Zimbabwe’s Department of Surgery, LEAP performed almost 50 surgeries on its first trip. In addition, the inaugural trip included formal lectures and surgical teaching of local surgeons, laying the foundation for an ongoing education program for medical students, young physicians and nurses. Given the country’s significant surgical needs, LEAP funded a third operating room in 2014 and a fourth operating room in 2018 at our partner pediatric hospital, Harare Children’s Hospital.

Next Mission: August 27 – September 6, 2020
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International Disaster Relief

We pride ourselves on being nimble enough to offer and quickly gather surgical teams that travel to areas impacted by natural disasters. Through a unique partnership with ISAPS (International Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery) following the 2010 Haiti earthquake relief efforts by LEAP, these select missions help offset the often forgotten people who require surgical relief in the aftermath. In the past, ISAPS-LEAP Surgical Relief Teams© have provided disaster relief assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.

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2019 FACTS

122

Surgeries

239

Patient Evaluations

108

Dental Patients (Belize)

Mission Volunteer Travel Documents

Please fill out all forms and submit all required documentation listed below ONLY if you have been selected to travel with us. If you have been selected to travel with us in the mission field, we will need current information from you to travel with us, which will need to be updated annually

Curriculum Vitae or Resume

Current License Information

Current Passport Photo Page

Release and Liability Form
VIEW AND SIGN

Team Photography Release Form
VIEW AND SIGN

Mission Volunteer Travel Guidelines

Mission Participant Code of Conduct
VIEW AND SIGN

Mission Trip Guidelines and Team Expectations
VIEW AND SIGN

HIV & Hepatitis C Exposure Protocol
VIEW AND SIGN

Other Important Information

Trip Preference Form
VIEW AND COMPLETE

Post-Mission Trip Evaluation Form
VIEW AND COMPLETE

Next Mission:

India

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