DOCTORS OF INTEREST
80
The PLASTIC SURGEON
BY WILLI MILLER
After five years of resident training at the
University of South Florida, plastic surgeon
John Sarbak was convinced that Florida’s
sun and sand beat the snow and cold of his
western Pennsylvania home. He and his wife, Lisa,
found the pace and place just right for them in Vero
Beach, where he has his office on 11th Circle, close to
Indian River Medical Center. Sarbak is also medical
director of the White Orchid Spa at Vero Beach Hotel &
Spa on Ocean Drive.
The Sarbaks enjoy their boating vacations to the
nearby islands of the Bahamas, but the surgeon also
makes time each year for a visit to Peru. His first trip as
a volunteer to the South American country was early
in his residency. “I traveled with one of our attending
plastic surgeons to Huanuco, Peru, and after that I was
hooked.” The doctors perform surgery on people in
need who might travel for days to see them.
They perform procedures on cleft lips, cleft palates
and nasal deformities for patients as young as 4
months. “Usually on a given mission we have three
operating tables running for eight-12 hours for threefour
days.” A half-day is sometimes set aside for ear
reconstruction.
The trips are usually a year in the planning and are
put together by a colleague in St. Petersburg, who
organizes the supplies needed and coordinates efforts
with the team in Peru. Initially, the U.S. doctors carried
most of what they needed with them, Sarbak says.
When that became impractical because of customs
limitations, the Peruvian arm of the team arranged to
purchase supplies there.
Working conditions can vary. “At times we are set up
at a functioning hospital in their operative suite. There
are times when we are converting a normal, dusty old
room into a three-bed operating facility.”
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ED DRONDOSKI
Dr. John Sarbak and his wife, Lisa, find Vero Beach a great place to
ED DRONDOSKI call home.
Treasure Coast Medical Report