One such story was recently shared with Cesar Garrido, WFH President.
Hello friends,
Like many of you, I’m looking forward to the Comprehensive Care Summit. We are a global community that works to help people at the local level, which is inspiring. At this May’s Summit, people from all around the world will come to network and share ideas. These ideas will then trickle down to other countries, cities, towns, and communities. In that way, our global reach makes it to people everywhere. This is what the WFH is all about!
Recently I was told about a story which got me even more excited for our Summit, because it’s the perfect example of communities coming together to support a person with a bleeding disorder (PWBD). The person at the centre of this story has severe hemophilia A, and he had been suffering all this life. He would wake up every morning with pain in both ankles. He also couldn’t extend his right arm because of chronic arthropathy in the elbows.
The man attended a WFH event about two years ago, where he met an orthopedic traumatologist from a WFH hemophilia treatment centre (HTC) in Buenos Aires. The orthopedic traumatologist realized very quickly that he was able to help, and invited the man to his clinic, which is known to offer world-class care.
There, the patient was cared for by the orthopedic traumatologist, hematologists, two orthopedic surgeons, and members of the local national member organization (NMO), the Fundación de la Hemofilia. The procedure was successful, and the patient is now enjoying a much greater quality of life.
What struck me about this story was the dedication, thoughtfulness, and compassion of everyone involved. The fact that the patient went to a WFH event and met someone there from another country that could help him—and more importantly, was eager to help him—is proof of the strength of our global family. The WFH is affiliated with HTCs all over the world. They are all provide very professional care, in part because of the training and services that the WFH provides to them. We should all be proud of this fact.
I hope you found this story as inspirational as I did. It’s such a great example of the network and community that the WFH has built around the world. I hope to see you in Buenos Aires in May so that you can be part of this community and be inspired to continue working towards our shared Vision of Treatment for All.
Thank you,
Cesar Garrido, WFH President
The WFH Comprehensive Care Summit: New Developments in Bleeding Disorders & MSK will be co-hosted by the Fundación de la Hemofilia (The Hemophilia Foundation of Argentina). This global summit is open to all members of the international bleeding disorders community and will take place in-person from May 10 to 12, 2023. Simultaneous interpretation will be available in Spanish and Portuguese for the multidisciplinary track and all plenary Sessions. To find out more about the Summit, click here or contact the WFH at [email protected].