Story Photos
 Longview’s Dr. Joe Clawson and his daughter, Jennifer Trubenbach, hold an Ecuadoran child with a two-sided cleft lip in January. Trubenbach is executive director of her father’s Operation of Hope medical mission group. Courtesy photo
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Operation of Hope: Media attention at all-time high as Longview surgeon's medical mission heads to Zimbabwe
Thursday, April 3, 2008 6:26 AM PDT
By Barbara LaBoe
Printable version
E-mail this articleDr. Joe Clawson always knew he wanted to give back, but the retired Longview surgeon had no idea his first medical mission trip would lead to more than 1,800 charitable surgeries in 20 years.
Clawson, 75, and a group of volunteers left Wednesday for Zimbabwe to conduct 80 facial surgeries in two weeks. It’s the third trip to Africa for Clawson’s Operation of Hope organization, which also has led missions to Ecuador for 20 years.
This year, though, in addition to surgeons, nurses and others, Clawson’s group has a high-profile addition. Reporters from both “People” and Oprah Winfrey’s “O - The Oprah Magazine” will accompany Clawson.
Clawson’s work has been written about before (including an award-winning 2002 special section by Daily News photographer Greg Ebersole), but not on such a national stage. He’s hopeful the attention helps boost his charitable organization to even greater levels. “People” alone has a readership of 60 million people a week, he said, so the exposure is priceless.
Each of his trips cost about $35,000, and Clawson is able to make about three a year. More exposure, though, means the chance to attract more donations and volunteers and thus help even more children, he said.
“There’s just so many things happening to us that we never thought would,” Clawson said earlier this week. “When we started out it was with a pencil, a clip board and a large eraser.”
Shoestring budget, priceless results
Clawson said he knew he wanted to volunteer and help others even before he came a doctor. The idea grew as he worked as a surgeon and he made his first overseas trip in the late 1980s, shortly before he retired. Clawson worked with an already established group, but eventually he went out on his own, saying he had learned how do more with less.
Operation of Hope is based on three goals: being as cost-effective as possible; always ensuring patient safety; and having fun.
Clawson repairs cleft lips and palates and also conducts other facial reconstructive surgeries for people in need. Clefts happen when tissues in and around the mouth don’t form properly before birth. In addition to health and feeding problems, the disfiguring birth defects often lead to children being teased or shunned.
With the work of his all-volunteer crews and much of the medical supplies donated, each operation costs about $300, Clawson said. In an American hospital the cost would be several thousands of dollars.
Support for Clawson’s work ranges from individual donations to a Cowlitz Bank account to support from large organizations such as the World Children’s Fund. A large network of doctor friends also supply medical equipment and supplies.
Clawson started his work in Ecuador but said this week he may soon halt trips to the country. Government officials have been so much more welcoming and helpful in Zimbabwe, and the need in other African countries is so high Clawson said he’d like to focus his work there. Several other medical groups, he noted, are now working in Ecuador and could handle some of his case load.
“They’re such a gracious, grateful people (in Zimbabwe),” Clawson said. “This has been one of the greatest functioning retirements that any human being could have.”
Spreading the Word
The “People” article about Clawson is focusing mainly on the story of Beloved Jefeti, a 16-year-old Zimbabwe boy who Operation of Hope brought to America because he needed extensive surgery. When he was 10, a land mine damaged much of his jaw and mouth.
Beloved lived with Clawson’s daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Ted Trubenbach in California, and an off-shoot of Operation of Hope called Operation Beloved is still raising money to cover part of the $187,000 cost of his surgery. But the results of the surgery are priceless, Clawson said.
“He doesn’t put his hand over his mouth any more and he talks like a magpie now,” he said. Before, the boy wasn’t even allowed to attend school because his deformity was considered such a distraction.
Oprah’s magazine is focused on the all-female surgery team accompanying Clawson on this trip. By sheer chance, everyone from the surgeon to the anesthetist is female and will run the second operating room, with Clawson in charge of the first.
The magazine learned of the project when Trubenbach, a Mark Morris graduate and now the executive program director of her father’s charity, was picked to attend a leadership weekend with Winfrey.
Both articles tentatively are scheduled for this summer, but exact dates have not yet been set.
Unexpected dividends
Clawson usually goes to Africa in October, and will return again this year. But the last time he was there the need was so great he agreed to make an additional trip this spring.
“When we left (last October) there still were a lot of children left behind,” he said. “So we thought we’d try to catch up with this trip.”
In addition to the life-changing surgeries, Clawson’s group also has helped innovate combined cleft palate and nasal procedures, he said. Doctors used to think that surgeries on the nose had to wait until a child was older, meaning at least two operations. But Clawson’s doctors have had good success with the combined operations. They’ve also shared their information with the University of California-Davis medical school in Sacramento, where Clawson consults and recruits volunteers for his trips.
“It’s been a real win-win situation, both for the children and for the medical school knowledge in the U.S.,” he said.
In addition, Clawson has been thrilled to see a number of Peace Corps volunteers go on to medical careers after helping with his visits in Ecuador. Seven have become doctors, and another three are in the process. Others work in orthodontics, medical illustration or as nurse practitioners.
“It’s been a very nice thing,” Clawson said. “You do something good and it just gets something better. Good begets good.”
Editor’s note: Dr. Joe Clawson will send reports about his latest medical mission trip to The Daily News. Start looking for them next week on tdn.com. For more information about the Operation of Hope charity, or to donate, visit www.operationofhope.org
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