Through the Treatment and Training programme surgeons, physiotherapists and other medical professionals from the UK and the USA volunteer to come to Eastern Europe to assist in treating children over a one to two week period.

On a typical visit anything up to 150 children are given thorough medical assessments in clinics held over a weekend. Many children identified as needing treatment benefit from physiotherapy or orthoses while others benefit from surgery. On average 10 operations are performed during the ensuing week. Through medical intervention the lives of many children are changed. Following treatment and in partnership with the local hospital, care plans are devised and cases are followed up by local medics, NGOs and F.R.O.D.O. staff.

The design of Treatment and Training allows for a rolling programme where the medical team can return to the same area at a later point to assess the children treated and identify new children who could benefit from medical care.

So far F.R.O.D.O. medical teams have focused on orthopaedics however our vision is to extend these to other specialisms including cardio-vascular surgery. Already we are working in partnership with CardioStart International and the Children’s Institute of Cardiovascular Disease and Transplantation in Romania to provide assistance for paediatric medical staff.

Alongside treatment goes training but our medical volunteers do not come to ‘tell the locals what to do’. They are able to give new insights and share experiences and the latest research with local surgeons and health professionals. The aim is that local staff can then spread their knowledge and ethos within their workplace, their country and further afield.