Getting a project done has always been easier for me when a friend or colleague pitches in. On April 24th, so many people pitched in to help us repack our cargo, that we were done working in half the time I anticipated.

This all dates back to winter of 2019. Operation Walk had a mission scheduled for March of 2020 and our cargo was being collected, packed, and prepared to ship out in early March 2020. We pack about 9,000 pounds of cargo. Some of the items have expiration dates. The countries that we help have strict regulations on what they can accept. Medications must be “good” for 6 months from entry into the country. Things like gloves and catheters and IV tubing are subject to failure if the plastics and rubber they are made of get old or hot and they start to disintegrate. Some of these fragile items are inside of “packs” that come in sealed boxes, so each box has to be checked to see if items inside will expire or spoil.

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Dr. John J. Callaghan is the Lawrence and Marilyn Dorr Chair Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of the Department of Orthopaedics and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Iowa. He obtained an undergraduate degree from Loyola University. After serving in the Army at Walter Reed Medical Center, he was on the faculty of Duke University before returning to the University of Iowa where he practiced for 28 years.

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The events of 2020 presented Operation Walk Los Angeles with greater challenges than we had previously encountered. While no corner of our planet was untouched by the pandemic, it seemed to hit our organization particularly hard.

In March of 2020, when we made the difficult decision to cancel our scheduled trip to Nicaragua, we were frustrated. In October, when we finally decided to call off the fundraising gala, we were disappointed. In December, the passing of our founder and great leader, Dr. Lawrence D. Dorr left us heartbroken. Now, in March 2021, I am encouraged that Operation Walk is alive and well.

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I have become a master of procrastination. I am sure many of you have too, over the past year. I spent two hours visiting the dermatologist last week, having put off an appointment for well over a year. The pandemic has been a very convenient excuse for putting things off. Now I will have to deal with the consequences; Mohs surgery for a big basal cell cancel and topical chemo for squamous cell patches that grew faster than my online shopping list! What have you put off over the past year? Do not put off those health checks. Doctors offices and clinics have safe, organized setups to accommodate their patients. Don’t let a small problem turn into a big one like I did! Read more