PORT TOWNSEND — An orthopedic surgical clinic funded by the Port Townsend Kiwanis Club is saving lives, said Conrad Oien, who led a dedication ceremony for the facility in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, last month.
“This is an amazing operation. It provides a service to Third World countries that they previously couldn’t afford,” Oien said Thursday on the eve of the annual Kiwanis Wine Dinner, which will be from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. today at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St.
The dinner and auction, which costs $90 and will have a few tickets at the door, will raise money primarily for other projects — school supplies and Christmas gifts for foster children and a donation to the Edensaw Community Cancer Fund, which helps Jefferson County residents undergoing cancer treatment.
But last year, the annual dinner raised $12,000 for the surgical clinic — the largest share of the construction budget.
The clinic in Dar es Salaam — at more than 4 million people, the largest city in Tanzania — is one of about 200 centers worldwide that use a procedure developed by a former Vietnam MASH surgeon, Dr. Lew Zirkle of Richland, said Oien, who spearheaded the club’s fundraising effort for construction of the facility.
All of the centers are part of the Surgical Implant Generation Network — or SIGN — founded by Zirkle.
The implements used in the procedure are developed in the Tri-Cities area, Oien said.
Surgeons can set a bone for about $100 by inserting a sterilized stainless steel implant, referred to as a surgical “nail,” at the fracture point that holds the bones together.
Doctors don’t need X-rays to use the technique.
“They do the surgery with specialized tools” and so “don’t need the medical imaging technology like we have here that they can’t afford,” Oien said.
“Otherwise, people could be lame because the bones didn’t heal properly — or they could die from infections,” he said.
“More people in Third World countries have died from this kind of trauma than from AIDS or tuberculosis combined,” he added.
The Port Townsend Kiwanis Club raised $20,000 over four years to build the clinic, Oien said.
The clinic opened in 2009. Oien was there from July 9-19, one of about 15 Kiwanis Club members from the Pacific Northwest, though the only one from the North Olympic Peninsula.
“To finally get to see it happen over there was pretty cool,” Oien said.
He was in the operating room when surgeons used the procedure to set a compound fracture of the femur of an 11-year-old boy.
“He was back on his feet in three days,” Oien said.
“I saw this done in pictures and in video, but to see it done in person was amazing,” he added.
The clinic has a staff of about 40 and is busy, performing some five to six of the surgeries daily and some 12 to 16 each weekend, Oien said.
Traffic wrecks are the biggest cause of broken bones in the city, Oien said.
“Dar es Salaam has infrastructure for 750,000 people, with 4 million people living there,” he said.
“I’ll never complain about Seattle traffic again,” he added.
Oien, a wine distributor who has lived in Port Townsend for 16 years, is a past Kiwanis president who made the support of the clinic “my personal project.”
Tonight’s dinner will feature five courses catered by The Belmont and nine imported wines.
Both a silent and live auction are part of the evening’s festivities.
Big-ticket auction items include two trips to the California wine country.
In addition to some being available at the door tonight, tickets can be purchased by phoning Oien at 360-643-3501 or 360-379-9633.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach contributed to this story.
