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- Aug. 25, 2017 -in GUATEMALA CITY, Steve Moore, retired music executive and founder of The Shalom Foundation was recognized as a Peace Ambassador by the Ministry of International Affairs on August 25, 2017, in Guatemala City. The prestigious award is presented to citizens or foreigners who have significantly contributed to peace in the Central America nation.
During an official ceremony attended by the First Lady Morales, Moore shared, “I thought I was going to Guatemala to change the lives of others, but it was my life that was changed.” Moore was also given the honor to participate in The Rose of Peace Ceremony, a symbolic act of changing a white rose on the Palm of Peace monument which signifies the signing of the ceasefire to end the Guatemalan civil war in 1996.
Moore was honored for his work with The Shalom Foundation, a Franklin, Tennessee based Christian nonprofit focused on providing medical and surgical care to impoverished children living in Guatemala. He first visited Guatemala nearly 20 years ago. Through the years, the organization built homes and schools, sponsored educational programs, installed clean water systems, helped combat chronic malnutrition and much more. The mission shifted to address the significant medical needs of underprivileged children by establishing the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center in 2011, where its focus remains.
The Moore Center, located in Guatemala City, is a 12,000 square-foot modern facility with three operating rooms and 20 inpatient recovery beds. The foundation organizes medical mission teams from across the United States to provide medical care and life-changing surgeries to impoverished children in Guatemala. The Center partners with local doctors and nurses to prescreen patients and provide follow-up care.
“Steve Moore’s accomplishments to provide surgery to the children of Guatemala are monumental. The next generation of children will be healthier and more productive than prior generations because of his effort,” said Ken Moore, MD., Medical Director of The Shalom Foundation. “No one can put a monetary value on the influence he has had on the Country of Guatemala and its people.”
The Moore Center is the only one of its kind in Guatemala. Without it, these children would not have access and would go untreated. Steve Moore questions, “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” Since its inception, the Moore Center has provided healing and hope to thousands of children and focused its attention on a country where critical medical care is widely unavailable to the 59 percent of the population below the poverty line.
Reference - Globus Relief Newsletter July 2014: http://www.globusrelief.org/File/View/nib072014.pdfv
- 2010 – A large team went to Guatemala and worked at the same pediatric hospital as in years past. Drs. Steven Warnock, Jason Blocksom, and Galen Perdikis worked hard and performed plastic and reconstructive surgery for a total of 73 patients (92 procedures) during the week. Fifty-five of these children had cleft lips or palates or both. Anesthesiologists Alan Patterson, Thayne Wilson, Michael Taylor and David Lind provided anesthesia for the children. Dr. Moreno Robins, the pediatrician assisted in pre and post-op assessments and directed the care given by the Guatemalan nurse and doctors. Nurses staffed the operating rooms, recovery room, pre-op and post-op care units and provided discharge education for the parents and children. Trip assistants also contributed by cleaning and sterilizing instruments, translating for the team and patients and providing the muscle needed when moving 21 cases and 25 duffels of equipment and supplies. During our clinic, we screened 100 patients. The clinic was held at the FPG Clinic on Sunday, February 14 and surgery was performed Monday through Friday. While we focused on cleft-related problems, we were able to offer surgery to almost every child we screened that had a surgically correctable condition. Most days the team worked until 8 PM or later with the exception of Friday, when we finished at 5 PM. We were able to operate on 74 children, performing 91 different procedures. These surgeries included 20 primary cleft lip repairs, 6 secondary cleft lip repairs, 9 primary cleft palate repairs, 21 repairs of nasolabial or palate fistulas from previously repaired cleft palates. We also did one primary microtia repair and completed secondary microtia repairs on two children who had their primary microtia repairs accomplished by our team last year. We were able to successfully repair scar contractures on 12 children. Other procedures included repair of syndactyly of a hand, bilateral polydactyly of the feet, and a septoplasty. Seven children had frenulectomies for tongue-tied condition. Patient ages ranged from 3 months to 26 years.
- 2009-In Mexico, we helped 28 patients, 33 procedures that included 10 cleft lip or palates, 8 frenulectomies, 1 hemangioma, 2 microtia, 4 hand or foot surgeries, 1 major scar revision, 5 nose revisions, 1 hairy nevus excision, 1 skin tag removal.
- 2009 – A smaller than usual team went to Guatemala and worked at the Fundacion Pediatrica Guatemalteca Hospital Nino Jesus. The team and the work consisted of two surgeons, 4 surgical days, 42 patients, 62 procedures, 32 were cleft related, 30 non cleft related that included 2 primary microtias, 12 burn scar/contracture releases or revisions, 4 frenulectomies, 1 syndactyly, 2 polydactyly, 2 otoplasties, and several miscellaneous cases. We also had a speech therapist with us who gave 22 speech therapy sessions. We could have done more work, but nine children were cancelled this year due to illnesses. We had a unique experience helping one of our patient, Mirna Rivas. Mirna was missing her nose. One could seeright into her nasal passages. Because of some difficult surgery in the past, she did not want to have more surgery. We made a Plaster of Paris mask of her face, took it home and asked Paul Tanner a facial anesthetist from Huntsman Cancer Institute to make her a nose. This he did. When we sent it to Guatemala and to Mirna, it was fitted perfectly and now she looks wonderful!
- 2008 – The team consisted of surgeons Faizi Siddiqi, Steven Warnock, and Galen Perdikis, anesthesiologists, nurses and trip assistants.
- 2007 – Three teams traveled to Guatemala. Two new surgeons, Drs. Faizi Siddiqi and Jed. R Bindrup, joined Dr. Charles Stewart. Over 50 children benefited from our expertise and caring.
- 2006 – Dr. Stewart and nurse Angela Chamberlain traveled to Los Angeles to operate on a young Hispanic man who still had his cleft lip and palate.
- 2006 – Check YouTube or Facebook “Dr. 90210” – Humanitarian Episode. It is in late January featuring Dr. 90210 (Dr. Robert Rey) and the Hirsche Smiles Surgical Team in Mexico.