Building Sustainable Scoliosis Care in Honduras: A Model for Global Impact

When Dr. Anthony Scaduto, president and CEO of the LuskinOIC, and Dr. Richard Bowen, director of the Center for Sports Medicine, traveled to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, they brought more than surgical expertise—they brought a vision for sustainable, locally led scoliosis care that will transform lives for generations to come.

The multi-day mission, organized in partnership with World Pediatric Project, assembled an international team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, surgical support staff, and a spinal cord monitoring electrophysiologist from Los Angeles, Boston, Buffalo, Vancouver, and Austin. Working at Ruth Paz Foundation Hospital alongside local spine surgeon Dr. Tomas Minuesa and his team of Honduran physicians and medical students, the group evaluated patients, identified 15 children for surgery, and executed a carefully planned five-day surgical schedule.

Education Drives Long-Term Impact

While the surgical interventions provided immediate, life-changing care for 15 children with scoliosis, the mission’s most transformative work occurred through operating room instruction and bedside teaching delivered to young Honduran surgeons. This educational component is not an add-on to the mission—it is the cornerstone of its long-term strategy.

“One of the most important parts of the mission trip is to make scoliosis surgery sustainable in Honduras by educating local surgeons,” the team emphasized. Rather than creating dependency on annual visiting teams, the mission prioritizes knowledge transfer and skill development, empowering Honduran physicians to provide advanced scoliosis care within their own communities year-round.

Dr. Scaduto shared clinical decision-making frameworks, surgical techniques, patient selection criteria, and postoperative management strategies—the full spectrum of expertise required to build a sustainable scoliosis program. By investing in the next generation of Honduran surgeons, the mission creates a multiplier effect: the 15 patients treated represent just the beginning of what these newly trained surgeons will accomplish in the months and years ahead.

A Collaborative Model for Global Health Equity

The mission drew significant attention from Honduras’ medical and governmental leadership, with the minister of health for all of Honduras visiting the clinic alongside board members and the president of World Pediatric Project. This high-level engagement reflects the mission’s strategic importance—not just as a charitable endeavor, but as a catalyst for strengthening Honduras’ pediatric orthopaedic infrastructure.

The collaboration between LuskinOIC, World Pediatric Project, Ruth Paz Foundation Hospital, and local Honduran providers demonstrates how international partnerships can create sustainable change. By combining immediate surgical care with rigorous physician education, the mission addresses both urgent patient needs and systemic healthcare gaps.

Building Futures, One Surgeon at a Time

For Dr. Scaduto and Dr. Bowen, the Honduras mission embodies LuskinOIC’s core values: delivering world-class care while building capacity that ensures every child has access to expert treatment, regardless of geography or economic circumstance. The 15 children who received surgery will live healthier, more active lives. But the young Honduran surgeons who trained alongside Dr. Scaduto will carry forward that expertise, treating hundreds or thousands more children in the years to come.

This is the true measure of the mission’s success—not just the lives changed this week, but the futures transformed by physicians empowered to lead scoliosis care in their own country.