Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.116 | Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists + Visiting the Samaritan Center!

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

Operation Walk New York: Bringing Mobility and Hope to Underserved Communities In this episode of Good News York, Mike Brindisi visits Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists to meet the team behind Operation Walk New York, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing free hip and knee replacements to underserved patients. The discussion features insights from team members Kim Murray, Vinnie Marino, Amelia Cerio, and Jim Colon, who share the organization's history, the planning and logistics involved in their medical missions, and the profound impact on the communities they serve, specifically focusing on their recent mission to Ghana. The episode highlights the importance of Operation Walk's work in improving quality of life for patients through mobility, and the team’s dedication to overcoming challenges related to funding, logistics, and cultural barriers. The episode also showcases the inspirational stories of patients and the unwavering commitment of volunteers, making a compelling case for public support and involvement. 00:00 Welcome to Good News York 00:18 Meet the Team at Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists 00:44 Introduction to Operation Walk New York 02:15 Operation Walk's Origins and Mission 04:32 Planning and Logistics of Medical Missions 07:57 Challenges and Rewards of International Missions 12:48 Impact and Stories from Ghana 25:11 Support and Collaboration with SOS 33:25 Pre-Screening and Patient Selection 34:41 Challenges in the Screening Clinic 35:59 Cultural Exchange and Gratitude 37:29 Future Missions and Support 40:16 Introduction to the Samaritan Center 43:56 Daily Meal Program and Community Support 50:36 Case Management and Outreach 51:44 My Place Program and Basic Needs Distribution 56:56 Volunteer Support and Community Involvement 01:00:32 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

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with the local communities. Local connections make exploring France easy. Tune into the Travels with Darley podcast on IHeart and wherever you listen to podcasts to hear about river cruising and Unirond's 50th anniversary summer specials. Welcome to Good News York, sponsored by Azonlego. Get Asylago.com. Mike for and to see you. not in studio. I wish this was our studio. It's absolutely beautiful. I am here today at Syracuse Orthopedic Specialists to meet some of the team. Also the team members for Operation Walk, New York, which is a nonprofit volunteer medical services organization providing free, hip and knee joint replacement for patients who are underserved. Kim Murray, Vinnie Marino, Amelia Serio, and Jim Cologne.

Did I say your name right, Serio? Serio. Okay, I got it read. So you guys do so much, and I want to get into all of that. But let's start. Just go around the table, introduce yourself, and tell us a little bit about what you do. So my name is Amelia Serio. I work at Aspera's a medical assistant. I'm the team. I was at patient care assistant, so helping out physical therapy and the nurses.

It was just amazing experience. Great. I'm the chief clinical officer here at Syracuse-SPIex Specialist and my role in Operation Walk, New York, inside and Maine Board member and the clinical director for the, program. And I'm Jim Kallon. For SOS, I am the director of ancillary service and some of the clinical departments, including radiology, and for Operation Walk, I'm the cargo logistics coordinator. I'm Vince Marino. At S.S. I am one of the physical therapists here, and in the department,

I also do operations supervisor. And then as part of the team of Operation Walk, I'm part of the therapy staff there, you know, getting people up day after surgery, getting walking, hit a moving. Awesome. Now, obviously, as, you know, employees of SOS, you do amazing things to begin with. You're providing medical services, but what's really exciting is Operation Walk, which is your non-for-profit where you provide medical services for people who are in countries that are under-trivelished. Recently, you guys did a trip to Ghana, and I mean, we could talk about that this entire time because it's amazing. Why don't you tell us a little bit about how Operation Walk came about and kind of what it is exactly that you do? Okay, sure. So Operation

War is a national organization. It was founded by a world renowned joint replacement surgeon in 1995, Dr. Larry Dorr. He has since passed away but left a great legacy behind being the Operation War medical mission program that he founded. So since 1995, He was based in LA. So the first Operation Walk chapter was Operation Walk, L.A. And they began going to, they started in Russia, but then they began going other places in the world to provide access to hip and knee replacement surgery where that was not available. Not available because they didn't have the skill set for the surgeons there and certainly not available

because they didn't have the implants and equipment need for the surgery. So when he launched that, it became very successful. And then over the course of the years, between 1995 and now, they have had other geographic locations. Denver, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, Chicago, Syracuse, which is expanded to New York, reach out to the L.A. organization and say, hey, we'd like to start our own chapter. So we function loosely organized with an overarching umbrella of Operation Wall. but then we have individual chapters that are our own independent 501C3 organizations that we take our show on the road with our own volunteers to go to other places in the world that don't have access to hip-inine replacement surgery.

That's amazing. So it's less about funding and just more about the skill set that they lack over there. You mean in terms of need? In terms of need, yeah. Yeah, it's both. So they don't have the skill set because they don't have the funding or the access to what they need to do the surgery. So no one would go down the path of developing that skill set when they don't have access to what they need to be able to do those surgeries. Absolutely.

That makes so much sense. How do you go about finding a team that wants to be a part of this and building that team? So we launched in 2010. our first medical mission trip was to Nepal. That was our orientation trip. So we fielded a team of about 50 people that went to Nepal. It was such a tremendous experience, and the volunteers had so emotionally overwhelming

with the good that we were able to do there, really seeing the outcomes in patients that each year, as we developed and strategize and plan for a new trim, the word, the power of the word of the volunteers, speaks for itself. We rarely have trouble filling positions because people want to return as a team member when they can. Sometimes life prevents them from doing that, you know, conflicts with, you know, time off, conflicts with, you know, weddings, life events and things like that. But most volunteers

always want to return. And then when we do have vacancies on the team, through that word of mouth and just telling our story, we have plenty of volunteers that want to jump on and become part of that team. I mean, how could you not want to? It's such an amazing thing that, you do and now with Operation Walk obviously we're going to talk about the trip to Ghana and you talked about Nepal what is what is everyday life in Syracuse like for Operation Walk what are some of the kind of things that you you do here on a daily basis yep so what are the I'm gonna let Jim talk about one of the biggest things but on an overarching kind of planning for a mission trip there's several

components to it the planning starts about a year out it's about a year-long process for a variety of reasons. The number one being financial support. Our team is completely a volunteer team. Nobody in Operation Walk in any chapter, including ours, draws a salary. Nobody, we have no administrative staff. It's really a hundred percent volunteer organization. And so everything we do to fund the trip really relies on the generosity of others, fundraising activities, spreading word of mouth, and trying to get the money we need to be able to field the trip. So that's the first thing. We have to get to a certain amount in our bank account in order to say, okay, hey, we have enough money. We can go ahead and start planning the logistics

of the trip. So there's the financial component. There's the operational component of fielding the team, you know, doing the logistics, working with whatever country we're going to, with the governmental relations, with all, with the hospital that we're going to be working with, with the healthcare providers that are queuing up the patients and getting them ready for us to see, and then actually just all the logistics that go along with the trip. The biggest piece, which I'm going to turn over to Jim to talk about, is the preparation of the supplies and cargo, and that's his lifelong activity for a year. It is, yeah.

So, like him said, you look at the bank account and you try to determine, is it realistic to take a trip in any given year. and then we start backdating and we say, okay, we have a target of an October trip. So we have to start counting backwards. We know how long it takes to get grants out, attempt to get granted implants and all the consumables. When we backdate, we start looking at, we have a local shipping partner here that's been great to us at Seco Logistics. and we look at a potential shipping date. It's a gentle cruising.

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So we set the date and when we started backdating, we realize typically, oh, we're late. And so then it's a lot of paperwork as fast as possible to try to get implant companies to donate the implants. And to start counting the inventory that's sitting at SICO on the shelves from the last trip, what's back to what's outdated and what's usable. You know, talk a little bit about it's a standalone operation, meaning that when we go to the destination, we bring, we're reliant probably 95% or greater on everything we bring in ship in advance. So a lot of Jim's role in his team, he has a team of local people that help with that, are getting the donations or purchasing the items. But just talk about the breadth of the items that you bring. Yeah, we have an inventory list, a par level list of what we would typically bring on any particular trip.

And we have the column of, here's what we have now, and the numbers are typically very low. Here's what we need to make the trip. And here's the balance. Here's what we have to acquire. And that's when we start begging, borrowing, maybe stealing supplies. And we get as much donated as possible until we finally get to the point of Kim gives you. okay, start placing orders. And we have a great partner over at our surgery center,

a couple of great partners at the surgery center who do inventory and procurement. That's their specialty. And we start placing orders, and they start showing up at the warehouse in my garage. And we ship 20 full pallets of products, and that goes into a 40-foot container, which is an 18-wheeler container.

And those pallets are all packed exactly at the maximum height of, well, I know it's to my fingertips. And those are full. We have a deadline to get the truck down to the port in New Jersey, where it then goes on the ship, and then we watch it go overseas and finally hit the port in Ghana. And then from there, anything goes.

We can get to that too. The interesting part is unpacking the, the container in Ghana. Pima 50 people unpack the truck in what, two, three hours we have. We van-marched it, you know, to where it needs to go and, you know, disperse its route to hospital. It's quite the event. That is amazing. And it's really, think about, like, the scope of what's brought, it's the band-aids to the implants

that are actually put in the hips and knees, and everything between. It's suture. It's the OR supplies. It's crutches. It's doggreens. It's everything. Everything. The only thing we do is there's certain things that, a small amount of things we purchase in country, because it doesn't make sense. Ivy bags are big, they're heavy. Why would we pack Ivy bags and send them over?

So we purchase those in country from that. It also supports their little autonomy when we do that. And then some medications you can't ship things we buy. But other than that, you know, Jim and his team, all the team of volunteers have really procured every single thing you can possibly need. for the trip. That's absolutely mind-blowing to me. I can't even go to the grocery store and remember everything on my list. I can't imagine having to prep for this kind of trip.

Are there any, because it is different countries, different laws, how do you deal with the legal side of things? Are there things that you kind of have to hurdle or work around or work with? Government relations in any country are challenging. So the foundation is having good relations, with your destination hospital, the administration of that hospital, and then the Minister of Health, the Minister of Commerce, all those ministries within a country.

And very honestly, that has been challenging because their government turns over quite frequently. And just when you forge the right relationships, you get the right paperwork in place, you think, okay, we're good this time. Okay, government turns over, and it's like ground all day you're starting. a little early, hey, we're Operation Walk New York. But again, Jim deals with a lot of that, and a lot of, especially the import paperwork, the, you know, everything we need to get those supplies in there because we can get the team in there pretty easily. But if the supplies aren't

there, you know, it's the mission's a no-go. Yeah. And, you know, before we get into the Ghana trip, real quick, how, what is the process of kind of finding out where there, where there is, you know, what countries are in need of these services. How do you go about choosing where you do these missions? Yep. So as part of the National Umbrella Organization, there are Established Slides. What it means by Established Slates, it means that those government relations have been forged, that you have an in-country host or angel, sometimes they call them.

It's willing to work with you at that end, to accrue the patients to the hospitals that the operations that the Operation Law teams work with have to virtually shut down their ORs for the time that we're there. So they have to have some level of agreement that they'll view that, that they'll support the patient care before we get there, and then after we leave, that they'll continue that patient care. So that's critically important, is that you have those relations. So there's probably 20 sites that we would call established operation walk sites, and all of the teams can rotate through those. We've been to other countries besides Gano, But in 2014, the L.A. kind of mothership reached out and said,

hey, someone in Ghana says there's a significant need there, which there is, and I'll let these guys talk about that, would you consider going to Ghana? So that involved probably two or three scouting trips to Ghana to make the right relations. That's what our team did, to make the right connections, to make sure you have the support that you had a destination you could go to, and that you had medical staff and administering. staff willing to do what they needed to do to bring us there. So we established Ghana in 2014. So that's kind of an Operation Walk, New York startup for Ghana. But then any Operation Walk team

is able to go there. So any Operation Walk team can go to any site that's established. But Ghana is really the one that we launched and the one we own. Yeah. And I think we've really so very committed to Ghana because it's where we can do the most good for the, you know, the most value, the most good with the people that need it the most, because the difference between Ghana and a lot of the other countries, the people are younger, so sickle cell. So in Ghana, the black Africans have sickle cell anemia, which causes they've actually necrosis of the hips. So we're working on young people there. Our average age of our hips are what, 30? Younger. Yeah, so younger. We go to other, we go to other countries. It's mostly untreated

trauma and arthritis and are older. So we're working on. young people in really changing lives in ways that doesn't happen in other countries. You know, we have people that come in and haven't, they haven't sat in a chair for seven years. They haven't worked. Their husbands or wives have left them because they can't have kids. And we fix that, and then they can hopefully give out to life. Some of the people we fixed in the past are now students and teachers. And so the good that we do there, that's what we've really committed to.

That's why we like Ghana. That's amazing. And if you guys don't know, It's a gentle cruising. You start to see the village, almost like a painting. Join me, travel expert Darley Newman, and Uniworld Boutique River Cruises L'Ik Bally, to learn about river cruising in France.

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at ASUonline.asu.org. you. Not a doctor. I know shopping. So, but I do wonder, you know, you're coming from a country where primarily your, um, your patients are, are older. And now you're going to a country where you just said they're, you know, 24, 25 years old. From a medical standpoint, does that change any procedures or in the way that they recovered? Um, is it, is it something that, that you have to kind to learn before you go? I bring a lot more crutches and want. Okay. Here they get walkers, there they get crutches.

All right. So we've learned that over the years that we don't need as many walkers. But there's challenges on the orthopedic side with the physicians and how they do the surgeries because the pathology is different. It's much more severe as far as just how bad the joints are compared to here and then their bones are different, right? Yeah. The skill surgical pain that we bring and we've got, you know, I would say one of our surgeons

that goes, has 40 years experience as a joint replacement physician. And he clearly still says these are the toughest cases I've ever done in my life. Because of what Vinnie identified, you know, the pathology is different, the age is different. But when you talk about the recovery, the recovery is pretty quick. You know, they're very hearty people that don't have antibiotic resistance because they don't have, take antibiotics like we do. They take very few medications. and they're really committed to having the surgery and getting up

and just starting in right away. Their recovery, they're... Resilitary people, very resilient, and this is so life-changing for them that they really don't hear that they're going to experience the pain of surgery or whatever. Six to ten hours after bilateral knees or bilateral hips, we'll have them up and walking, and they're smiling.

Oh, my God. It's really different. And then we learn a lot. they're, by what we do there out of necessity or out of just because of the pathologies a little different. We bring some of that experiences home and say, hey, we can do these things here in the States because we've seen at work in this situation. And Amelia, no, Amelia is out on the floor. So she's, you know, the OR people are doing their thing, recovery room, you know, PT,

but Amelia's at the end where she's seeing all of that. Pre-imposed it out. So that would be great if you could kind of, make sure it. No, it's so. The second day we walked in, it was amazing, just so I keep. walking around really, oh, take a second, let's help you out here and they're just running around and they're all saying. Everybody was taking videos of each other walking around and just so amazing.

A lot of them are going to university school even if any had said in different educational pathways that they weren't able to access before the surgery. So, so many questions about the trip itself, but real quick, do you all play a different individual role when you go over or is it kind of you're all on the, obviously you're all on the same team? you're all doing the same thing or does everybody kind of have a different a different role yeah yeah the team is made up of and all of the roles we need the traditional roles here in country of the surgical team which is surgeons and and acesia providers or our teams the recovery room teams physical therapy you know logistics cargo floor staff all of that but one of the big things is everyone you know functions within their scope of practice but also part of the onboarding for volunteers is we clearly see say you do what you're going to do within your role, but then you're going to do everything else.

Right. I like to say there I'm a physical therapist, but I also do whatever Kim needs me to do. You know, I've had physicians holding IV bags while I'm walking patients. Wouldn't happen here in the States. You know, or we had one of our volunteers is a director of HR of a hospital system, and he's a patient care system on the trip. Wow. You know, so, you know, everybody just jump on board and do what needs to be done.

There's always something to do. Yeah. Along those lines, so what does it feel like for the Operation Walk Team and go from a U.S. hospital environment to a Ghanaian context of limited resources? So how does that shift your perspective on things? Well, we've been there enough at the same hospital with a lot of the same phases. So we've adjusted, we've adjusted the equipment we go with, we adjust our expectations. but you know that you may show up in some of the surgical lighting doesn't work. Or much of the surgical, of course. So you bring everything you can.

Maybe it's lighting on tripods. Maybe it's, you know, hiking headlamps. Yeah, yeah. So we've learned and we're comfortable going there now, expecting the unexpected. But they do have. This is a big, old hospital. And they do know what they're doing.

They have biomed people there. I'm also supposed to be a biomed guy, but my extent is... We call it a diver. Yeah. Duct tape and batteries. He's got a paper clip and a rubber band. Well, when things go down, there are people show up. You know, we can talk about the auto clays

where you sterilize all of your equipment. Those things have to be up 100% of the time to get, for us to get to the finish line or else everything slows down and you start to find empty operating rooms that are clean and ready for the next patient we Kim will tell you we have to turn these over fast when there's an empty room for 10 or 15 minutes we all start worrying about the volume somebody's going to miss out on surgery because an auto clade may have gone down yeah but they know we're coming they have extra hands on deck we bring everything we possibly can fuses duct-tale you know, everything to try to keep going. And the experience has helped because we've been there. Your motto when you go there has to be, you got to work what you got. And I think that's one of the things we like is overachievers. And we love taking the challenge.

And like, if we don't have A, all right, we're going to switch to B. You know, out of all the inventory stuff, we lost the hand sanitizer this year. That's it. Because the only didn't make it on the trip was a hand sanitizer. Well, I guess, I mean, maybe you did already answer that. My next question was, you know, I think, you know, other than what you're actually doing, I think some of the most impressive parts of your mission is the logistics and the planning and everything. I'm assuming you guys have dealt with delayed cargo or transportation problems.

This is not like, oh, darn, our, you know, our shampoo has not arrived. We're talking about things that are helping to better people's lives. do you have an experience where that happened and how do you guys deal with that in the moment? We have multiple experience. So we don't mind the delay because we like the challenge in figuring out. The problem is it cost surgeries

and then we can help less people. So we've had years where we've had to cut the surgery schedule short because we've had delays based on delays in cargo shipping and those kind of things. You know, ironically one year, you know, it's usually as the foster recipients and with their government

in terms of, you know, delays or paperwork issues or things that delay. But one year, was it 2019 where our cargo got stuff in the U.S. port and they wouldn't release it to go. You don't expect that to happen on the U.S. side. Right, right. Yeah. It was horrible. We always have, again, we work with a professional logistics group here.

We always meet our deadline for when the truck needs to be at the port to get the container on the. ship but U.S. Customs they're doing what they need to do. They flagged our container. God knows where it went and they sat on it. And day by day we missed the first ship. We missed the next ship another week later. We missed the third ship all because the U.S. Customs just parked our container so. I don't know why. Yeah. It cost us an extra $40,000 that year to unload everything and send it by air. We had to fly everything there.

Thank goodness for our logistics partner. But you can't just cancel the trip. There's 45 of us that have planned our personal vacation time, non-refundable, very expensive tickets, flights. Hotels are booked over there. Dinners are booked over there. Patients are cute up to come. Yeah.

So they can turn it into a nightmare. But we have a partner on the Ghanaian side now who understands cargo and logistics. It's a profession. So he donates his time. He donates money to pay taxes that we're supposedly, we're supposed to have exempt. Right. And he does everything he can. This trip, we were honestly in the car driving to JFK.

And I finally got the picture with the cargo container on the truck heading to the hospital. It was that day we were getting on the plane. So it's exciting. So obviously you guys are employed by Syracuse orthopedic specialists, and Operation Walk is kind of its own thing under that umbrella. How much is SOS involved in all of this? Is this kind of like a, you know, hey, we're going to handle the Operation Walk thing or, you know, we've got it on our own.

Are they involved in any sort of aspect of that? Yeah. You know, SOS, the board of directors, the physician shareholders for the company, are many of them are members of our Operation Walk Team. They come with us. But they're also very supportive of the mission organization. They assist us with fundraising. They assist us with logistics.

You know, they let us use the physical plan to do storage of some things. There's many volunteers within the SOS walls that don't travel with the team necessarily, but there's internal SOS volunteers. They're helping with everything from fundraising to supply acquisition to the reams of paperwork and applications and things that have to happen. Social media, we have, you know, SOS volunteers that help with that. So SOS is extremely supportive of opportunity walk, New York, and all of our mission trips that we take, both from a, you know, a human support factor as well as a financial support fundraising factor.

That's wonderful. Every year we get a little less SOS because people start moving. And we have people now from Chicago, Boston, Tampa. North Carolina, Virginia, L.A. Saratoga, Saratoga. We actually changed our name. We were incorporated as Operation Walk Syracuse, and then we have a large number of volunteers

that come from, you know, a partner orthopedic practice or the New York, which is home-based in Albany and Saratoga area. We have a lot of physician, anesthesia, staff volunteers. So that's when, you know, a few years ago, we changed the name to Operation Walk, New York, to better reflect our membership. Love that. How often are you guys doing these missions?

This is a once-a-year thing or every couple of years? It's supposed to be every year. We've gone every year for many years, but then when the bank account doesn't get to the right amount, we have to delay. Yeah. And a couple more questions. I know you guys are very busy,

and I want to respect that, but this is so interesting. So you hear about major surgeries, like heart surgeries, brain surgeries, and we all think, oh my gosh, this is, this is so life-changing for these patients. But we don't understand always that mobility and independence is just as important. It's a quality of life. And you kind of, from my perspective, you don't appreciate it until something's wrong, right?

Like the first time I got a back injury. And I mean, I was in pain just laying there. You know, you start appreciating things like that. What part does joint replacement play in restoring quality of life, especially like when patients are youngker. Well, in Ghana, it's much different than the states. The states here is often just pain, function related to, you know, more recreational activities.

In Ghana, we're talking about life or death. And the ability to, you know, contribute to their family, contribute to their, you know, town and community, you know, they can't work if they, these hips and some of the knees and the trauma that we see are so profound that they, again, can't sit. They can't use a normal bathroom setup. They can't, you know, walk without an assistant device. We see a lot of leg lanes discrepancies that are really, really, really severe an inch or two. So they have, you know, severe, you know, gain, game abnormality. So there,

it's not even about function. It's about living and surviving to some degree. Yeah. I was using You know, we're repeat team members, right? Amelia, this is her first year here. So, you know, I'd love to hear you just talk about, you know, the patients. They want, what did you experience? What did you see and feel? Because it's highly emotional. On the floor, it was definitely emotional.

There was actually a woman that we had cared for who was homebound for many years. And she used to be in nursing school, and she had a job out because she was unable to walk from class to class and to actually care for patients. She had received a joint art basement in a crowd, which was in Ghana. And it was very expensive. She actually had to sell her family land to get the other hip replacement. And so it was amazing to hear that she was able to come in, follow the Facebook. She found us on there and get the other hip replacement.

And she was so excited to go back. And just little stuff like she was like, I love to dance. I used to dance. And I didn't get to any more. Oh, yeah. So I imagine you must come back sometimes with friendships. I mean, do you stay in touch for some of the patients? I did follow some patients on Facebook, and they were all excited.

And they also like to hear about the U.S., and we were just talking like a different stuff like that, that they were super interested in. All the things we take for granted. We've been there six trips, you said? And I think every time we have people returning who've seen us years before. And I think this year we had somebody come that's been there every year. Just to say thank you. Just to say thank you.

And he is. They're still doing one. And when we say come to see us, it's a 16-hour bus ride. Yeah. It's not, you know, get in your car and drive. driving down the street. So that's a really rewarding stuff thing for us to see that and to see these people year after year that they come back and say, hey, thank you. And you're doing great bird. You know, we see, especially working in social media, we see a lot of people out there

what we call keyboard warriors that think they're changing the world by making some posts on Facebook. And what you guys are doing, you really are changing the world. I mean, you are what we talk about when we say, how can we make a difference in the world? And you guys are doing that. And I'm honored to be here talking about it. As far as the training, you were talking earlier about, you know, one of the main reasons you do over to Ghana is not just for lack of funding or resources. It's the training. They don't, a lot of the doctors, they don't have the skill to do these kind of surgeries.

So while you're over there doing these, is there an educational aspect too? Are you also kind of teaching their surgeons, kind of what you do? We do. But the, you know, for the most part, trauma is what they deal with at the orthopedic hospital there. I mean, we could teach them to do joint replacement. We could, you know, accentuate their skill set with that, but they don't have access to the implants and what's needed to do that. So it would always be like a teaser to say, and let me show you how to you. We'll show you how, but you can't do it.

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These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds, because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help when you need it so your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates, potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations. So really we do a lot of education and engagement with the medical staff and with the hospital staff, but it's more about how do you prep the patients? How do you find the right patients that are going to get the most

benefit from what we do? And then how can we work in tandem after we leave for them? Because they're the eyes, ears, and hands on the ground after we leave. So we're in constant communication with them in terms of any patient issues that arise, any problems. The recovery process. Yeah. So they are completely responsible for the management of patients after we leave. So because of how important it is, the demand is, with what you do, do you find that when, when they know you're coming over, how do you manage the patient list? Because I would assume everybody's lining up, right?

This is kind of, you're coming for a short period of time. We've got to fit it in the, how does it come? I would imagine. Yeah. So the hospital administrator at St. Joseph's Hospital in Kofarigua is where we go. Kofaridua, Donna. We worked with him for most of the years, so when preceded him, but he's been with us for many, many years. He and his medical team accrue the patients is what we call it.

So as patients reach out through email, do social media, or present to their hospital saying, hey, would I be considered for a hip or a knee replacement, they manage that list, and they come up with a potential patient list. Sometimes we travel there to pick up the x-rays because they haven't really had an electronic pack system or the ability to transmit images electronically, which I think that's changing. But right now, they accrue the patients. We develop a patient list, which we get far in advance, even though more and more patients are added to the list because it's hard to say no to anybody to at least be screened. But we had, I think, 380 patients on the list to be screened,

view it or whatever for this trim. We do a lot of pre-work here, like looking at the x-rays, looking at the patient's medical condition, looking at things. Like, first of all, do they even need surgery? Some people have a lot of pain that isn't, they think it's their hip or knee, and it's not. It's their back or it's some other issue, in which case a hip or knee replacement is not going to help them. Right.

We also look to see what are their other medical conditions they have? Well, certainly the goal is to do a procedure, make them better, not cause any kind of complications because they're so medically unstable that something could happen during the surgery, like someone who's had a fresh heart attack or someone who has other major issues. So we try to have a good, robust medical data about them. And then we also look at, you know, core the candidates that are going to have the best recovery trajectory, as well as can get back to life in society in Ghana. And so as we go through that pre-screening process,

and then when we're there, screening clinic is just a crazy place and people show up beyond the number of people we said we would identify. And it's probably the toughest part, right? You know, Emilia and Vigy, we're there in screening clinic, and there's a lot of people that get knows. So, you know, talk about that. Yeah, it's definitely talk to sit there

and just have to facilitate that. Like, you know, I'm really sorry. you know, yeah, there's probably, you know, in our screening clinic we get there and it's kind of a big kind of warehouse set up with treatment rooms on the outside of it. And there's three, four hundred people milling around,

you know, families, people on our list, people not on our list. They'll kind of walk up to us with their x-rays and say, can you look at these? Kim has never said no once in our life. Any of those. I mean, we're just sitting there. Yes.

So we, you know, one of the great things about being there and not having to kind of live under the regulatory environment of the states is we can add on people. We can do things differently. We can know, all right, we have an extra case open for Wednesday. We had somebody. We can get them going right away. So, you know, but there's a lot of benefits to that there, too, that we can just. I focus 100% on patient care, which is really what we get to do there.

Those are incredibly selfless and amazing. I was told I need to wrap it up, but I have to ask this last question because it is important. The reflection of cultural exchange and gratitude, you guys are coming back from Ghana and you're working on these patients and you're working in a different healthcare system, your mindset must change, or at least your point of view. Can you talk a little bit about how you feel when you come back

maybe the first time and what you learned? Yeah, and so actually when I came back, it was just amazing to walk in and realize how great fly was for all the supplies that I've had and for just everything that I had ready for me even just your electronic health care system, everything, that computer, everything. Yeah.

It's amazing. That just one thing. That just reminds me of the picture of Nick. Nick was another SOS medical assistant that went with us. And a picture that really resonates. I think it resonates with everyone is so many things you take for granted, right? You know, there's, there is here we do cooling on patients post-op. That's a pain reduction, swelling reduction.

and there, cooering involves getting blocks of ice and then, you know, in the bag, he's got a hammer, and he has to chop the ice to get them in little baggies to use. He's dealing an ice machine with the wiring to make the ice. These are the things that every American needs to hear and see, because I think we all need a moment of pause sometimes to say.

We had it pretty good. Looking ahead, what are the, hopes for your next missions and how can people support Operation Walk, New York? Well, we're hopeful that we can go back to Ghana again in the fall of 2026, that that heavily depends. I know we have a very willing list of volunteers. They would pack up tomorrow and go if we could, but it always relies on funding and the ability to generate the money that we need to be with a fund to trip. So certainly any assistance with fundraising, no donation is too small. We have some grateful patients who might send in a $5 donation. Well, a lot of $5 donation of that up.

Yeah. So big or small, any way that individuals willing to give back or grateful patients can contribute, we very much welcome that. And we would go to Operationwalk, New York.org? All right. Definitely. Is it? It says OperationWalk, New York. Okay, and that's what it is. Yes. And there's a donation link on there December 2nd, I believe, is Giving Day.

We're we making a push for donations then. No one is too small, but we can use some really big ones, too. Because we're healthcare people, we are really bad at asking for money. Because we like to give. We don't like to take. So we need some help in that side of it. Well, when people

watch and listen to this interview, I think, I think you won't have a hard time finding people that want to donate because your story is amazing. I'm honored that I got to sit here with you guys. You truly are making a difference in the world. You're incredibly selfless. So with that, I want to just give proper outro here. Amelia Serio, Operation Walk, the Air Medical Assistant and Medical Assistant at SOS. Jim Murray, Operation Walk, New York Director and Chief Clinical Officer at SOS.

that Jim Colon Operation 1, New York Imaging, and Director of Incillary Services at SOS. And next to me, of course, Vinnie Marino, you are the physical therapist and physical therapy operation supervisor at SOS. Thank you guys so much for your time. And any last words? Yeah, come with us next time.

Yeah, come with us. We need social media people. We actually do have a social media contingent on our team. You ask my team over there. I'm the last person. It will throw me out of the plane. You break ice. I can break ice.

I can break in you post? Can you post? Can you post? Can't all we need. Sign me up. Let me and need to do surgery. No surgery. You can watch, but you can't do it.

That is another episode of Vigniardt, it's fond of Adeligone. Don't Get Adonlego.com. Syracuseeat, Peak Specialist, Operation Walk, New York. Amazing to be a part. Welcome to Good News York. It is Mike Brindisi with you without Matt. And he's really missing out because I am here. Because I am here, this is a very, very special interview,

executive director of the Samaritan Center, Mary Beth Fry. Thank you for being here. You're amazing. I am not. Yes, you are. You know, coming here, we knew as a team where we were going. We were going to a place that would help underprivileged individuals with food and other things. But I'm learning so much more even when I walked in.

You do much more than just feed the hungry. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and how the Samaritan Center came about and what did you do. All right. So the Samaritan Center has been in this beautiful space. This is unreal. For 10 years. But we've been around for over 44.

We started as a brown bag lunch program in downtown Syracuse and then slowly built our capacity and our organization to be able to provide over 120,000 meals to folks struggling with hunger and poverty here in Syracuse. use in central New York. We do that with nine staff and 1500 volunteers dedicated every month to making this place possible. We like to think of it as a community kitchen table, right? It's a place where if you think about your own kitchen table, it's where you come to take a breath, to share your struggles, to share your victories, to feel connected to something bigger, right?

To be part of community. And that's what we try to create here. You know, when you hear about, you know, food pantries and shelters, we all kind of have these preconceived notions about what it might look like. And I think it's important for everybody in this country and in the world to see what really goes on anyway. But when I walked in, I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. This is absolutely beautiful. And I feel like it's welcoming. You come in and you don't feel kind of like out of place. How does the renovation of the church come about and how long has it been as beautiful as it is? So this was actually the first cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Syracuse. So that's why it's so ornate and so beautiful. We were fortunate enough to be able to purchase it outright 10 years ago

and did a capital campaign made $1.2 million in renovations and created this wonderful home for the folks that we serve. And it does. It feels like. It feels like. a home. Now, what I was pleasantly surprised to know is you're not just what I don't know if this is the proper term, a soup kitchen of sorts. You guys have a daily meal program. You've got case management and agency outreach. You've got basic needs distribution. You have your My Place program, diaper distribution. I want to get into all of that. But before we do, how did you get involved with the Samaritan Center? So my background was in direct services within mental health. Went back to school. to do some more administrative stuff.

I worked at United Way for a long time doing granting and community investment, and that's where I became familiar with the Samaritan Center. For me personally, there was too much paperwork for me at United Way. And I came from a direct service place. So Samaritan Center is this beautiful mix for me of administration, program oversight, supervision, growth,

and direct service. So every day I get to see the reason I do all the all, audits and budgets and all that boring stuff. Sure. Every day I see the impact of all that work and what we make possible here. It's amazing. The Daily Meal Program, let's start with that. Now, obviously, again, we knew coming here that that was kind of the main deal,

was to feed the people that were underprivileged. But this is a little different. This is three, it says 365 days a year, no questions asked, you are. serving food, nine staff, over 800 volunteers. Tell us a little bit about that. So I think what makes us different is that no questions asked philosophy, right? If you're hungry, you're welcome. And then we try to get to know people, right? As Mary Beth, as Amanda, it's easier, right, to ask difficult questions. Like, I've never been homeless before. What do I do? My son is schizophrenic and I don't know where to turn. My husband is beating me and I don't know what to do.

You can ask those questions to marry back more easily than you can to someone who's saying, what's your Social Security number, where do you live, what's your income? Prove to me that you're hungry. So this place is really about relationships and it's about community and it's about connecting on a basic human level so that we're all there together kind of walking through really difficult days and trying to support each other through that. Do you find yourself during the daily meal, are we seeing you mingling? walking around, sitting with some of the people, or are you in the office, are you back in the kitchen?

What's it like for you during that time? My best days are when I'm out here during meal, right? Because that's where my joy is, right? That's what energizes me to do all the other stuff. So it's, yeah, best part of my day is when I get to talk with the folks that come here. Would you say a large percentage of the people that do come here are kind of regulars, for lack of a better term? Do you see a lot of repeat people that have been here a while?

So what I would say is where our population is really, if you look at law of thirds, right? The first third are folks that you might imagine when you think about a soup kitchen, right? There are folks you might see on the off ramps flying signs. There are folks that are in encampments under bridges. That's what people originally first think and imagine that's everyone that's here, right? Second third are folks that are going through some sort of crisis, right? They may have had a car breakdown. And if they don't fix the car, they lose the job, then they lose the house.

They may have a medical bill. They have to buy prescriptions. They may have a heating bill that gets extraordinarily high. They have to make these really difficult choices between food and heat, food and medicine. In that crisis period, they rely on us. So those folks we see for a very short period of time until they get through this crisis and they move on. The final third are folks that we see all the time. time. There are folks on fixed incomes whose resources are not going to grow, who in a competitive society, they have difficult time competing, right? They might be folks with disabilities,

they might be folks with mental health issues, they might be vets with PTSD, they might be seniors on a fixed income. We become part of what makes their budget work. Here is where they get their nutrition. And those folks we see over a very long period of time. I'm so glad you said that because, you know, especially with what's going on right now with the federal government and the SNAP benefits program, you know, I'm seeing on social media a lot. There really is a misconception about not only what it is that you do, but the people that are in need. It's not just people who don't have shelter. There are people who are working 40 hours a week and still can't afford.

Like you said, making those difficult decisions. they're living paycheck to paycheck. Those people are just as much in need or in need as well. It's a gentle cruising. You start to see the village, almost like a painting. Join me, travel expert Darley Newman, and Univoreau Boutique River Cruises L'Ik Bali to learn about river cruising in France.

As we have been sailing there for decades, we have been able to create deep connection with the local communities. Local connections make exploring France easy. Tune into the Travels with Darley podcast on eye heart and wherever you listen to podcasts to hear about river cruising and Unirold's 50th anniversary summer specials. Hey, it's Trevor from the Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show.

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I mean, there's minimum wage is not living wage. No, we need a living wage. If you think about the cost to rent an apartment in the city of Syracuse, it's outrageous. People don't have those sorts of resources, so they're stretched to their very end. Utilities have taken major jumps every single year and are looking for another one to come in January. Heap has closed down, right? Heep, which is an emergency heating assistance program federally, has also shut down and not been funded. So people are very concerned and very worried about what this winter will mean for them. There are families that rely on these supplemental funds to be able to feed their kids.

And we know that, right, the trick to good development, right, is solid nutrition. How do you focus in school as a kid if your stomach isn't full, right? How do you do anything as an adult or as a child when you're... You know, you're absolutely right. And another thing that I've learned along the way is that people don't think outside of the box, such as, you know, okay, so some food is provided for people in need, but the healthy stuff that's out there, the stuff, the nutrition that you're talking about, are sometimes more expensive.

Yeah. And harder to access. So. Yeah. And if you think about food deserts, right? It's a popular term, but basically it means access, not having access to grocery stores, to places where you can find affordable food. Right?

We talk a lot about you can get lottery programs in every corner bodega, but you can't get ahead of broccoli, right? So where is it that people are supposed to find healthy food? They can't. And the cheap stuff is, poor nutrition, high density calories. Exactly what I meant.

And, you know, it's so important. And with what is going on with the federal government, and this isn't political, this is just reality of what's going on, can you talk about a little bit of the direct impact it's had on this American center and the people that come here? So we've seen an increase of probably 50 people a day that are new to this program. Typically, if you think about our cycle of service, right, In the beginning of the month, we have a little bit of a slowdown because people typically get their SNAP benefits, they get their resources.

So it gets a little quieter. We have not seen that in November. So we're doing 600 meals a day between breakfast and lunch, which would have been more typically an end of the month experience. So people are more and more relying on pantries, our local nonprofit organizations and places like the Samaritan Center just to make sure they're able to eat. In addition to the daily meal program, I love getting into the rest of the, the things that you do because it's so unique and so so important. You also do case management and agency outreach, which is, you know, helping with unemployment, underemployment, housing issues, benefits, legal services, health care, the things that we take for granted. Talk a little bit about that program. So if you think about the reason someone might come to someplace like the Samaritan

Center, the variables are really complex and really varied, right? They might be literacy issues. They might be mental health issues. It might be substance misuse. They might be a legal issue. Any of those things can impact somebody's resources and their ability to provide for themselves. What we do is have case managers on site to hook people into the resources

that help address those problems. With the idea that we can help move people towards self-sufficiency, they don't rely on a place like this, but they become more focused on a more positive future and able to move towards their own goals. I love that because it's almost like, you know, you could look at the,

soup kitchen as okay we're addressing the immediate issue that's the band-aid you're hungry will feed you you're addressing the long-term issue which is you know basic needs and and and the transition into a new place which brings me to your my place program which is outstanding talk about that as well so my place came about because we had a Jesuit volunteer here it's kind of like a Peace Corps volunteer yeah for a year and she was working with an individual who had just gotten a new apartment and he can came to us so proud, he had his brass key, and then he said, but I don't have anything in there.

It was four empty walls. And what should have been this beautiful moment of positive transition became very lonely for him because he was going to a place that he could lock the door, but there was nothing there to make it a home. So this individual started our My Place program where we provide basic essentials. If you think about a kid going to college, it's sheets and blankets and dishes and silverware and a coffee pot and a little bit of, bit of art if we're lucky and we'll put in resources like here's the pantry that's near you here's the library that's in your neighborhood so that people start to feel part of a larger community and they go into this space with a box of community that says we're with you and we support you and this is

wonderful and you go forth that is wildly impressive that you are able to do that again thinking outside of the box we're not going to find you a place we're not only going to find you a place to live We're going to help give you the basic things that you need to live. And start to make it a home. Yeah. Everybody needs that. Everybody. And in addition, you're also the basic needs distribution.

And this is kind of along the same lines. Again, thinking outside of the box, we're hungry. We're going to feed you. But hey, oh, I don't have deodorant. I don't have talk about that. It's once a month you do the basic needs closet. Twice a week. Twice a week.

Twice a week. Twice a week, it's the basic needs closet, yeah. It's the idea of the dignity of self-care, right? If you can wash your hair, right? If you can take a shower, if you have the basic things to feel good about yourself, that changes your entire attitude and your ability to then go out into the world. We have a lot of folks that go to interviews, right, that need a razor and need a little shaving cream to clean up, right? That's pivotal to their success.

It feels small, but it's really here. huge. And I think that's the message of this place, right? It doesn't take $8 million. It doesn't take 50 hours of volunteer work. Every little bit that people do, people collect socks, people collect toilet paper for us. One role of toilet paper can change someone's day. God, of course. And it's those things that connecting on a human level and providing basic stuff changes a trajectory of a day. In addition to all these amazing programs, there's one more I want to talk about. It's your diaper distribution program. We all know that child care, child care in general is something that is hard to afford for anybody.

But outside of child care, some of the basic needs like formula, diapers, things like that. And you guys are able to provide that as well. So once a month, we partner with the CNY diaper bank to distribute diapers to over 100 children, 95-some families, to be able to give them not a full, you know, month's supply, but a little health. helping hand in terms of the supplies that they need to care for their children. What we know is that's another difficult choice that families are making. There's research about families reusing diapers trying to wash them out and reuse them. And the anxiety that creates, the health issues that creates is unreal. So this simple, simple resource allows moms to feel good about taking care of their

kids, makes kids feel wonderful, right, because they're more comfortable. And then we help connect them into other supports they might need, like healthy families and imagination library and all these other things that help a family thrive. You know, I never understood how it became politicized that basic need should not be a luxury. It should be a right, you know, and I've always believed that. Have you seen, have you experienced kind of any great redemption stories where you saw someone come here kind of down on their luck going through a lot and through your program made it out to the other side and succeeding today. There's a lot of those folks. It's pretty impressive. We have a few people now that are working. We got them hooked in with a manufacturing training

program through McNee, right? So we know that kind of in this community, many communities, manufacturing workers, right, are difficult to come by. So this is a particular program that was designed to reach out to typically untapped and underwent. serve populations to help them access employment opportunities. So we've been able to get a number of our folks into this training program where they're enrolled at OCC. They're going to get clothing to be able to make that next transition. They're getting the training and then they're guaranteed interviews at the end of the program

to try to hook them into jobs. Yeah. So that then ripples out. So you have income, then you get shelter and then you have self-esteem and then you're doing all the things that make us, you know, every day. feel kind of normal, right? These are miracle things for our folks. I don't know if there's a God, but if there's, you're doing God's work, Mary Beth. It's absolutely amazing. A few more questions. Now, it's astounding how many volunteers you have a month, over 800, if not more.

Did you, have you seen a change in, did you have to come from a place of like really trying to actively find volunteers? And now it's to a point where you're just blessed with an influx or how does how's that been for you, finding volunteers? We are always in need of volunteers. So it takes between 15 and 20 volunteers every meal and then another 10 to 15 to help prep all those things. So we are always looking for people that are interested spending a couple hours down here.

I will say this community is incredibly generous and incredibly supportive and incredibly kind. So we've been fortunate, especially with the current environment, to have a lot of people reaching out to say, how can I help? Whether it's a food drive, whether it's volunteering, whether it's donating funds. This is an incredible community that rises, right, when there's challenges like this. The way it should be. If somebody is in need of any of these things,

how can they reach out or what's their best course of action to come to the Samaritan Center and get the help they need? To get help, you just walk through the door when we're open. So we do breakfast Monday through Friday, 630 to 8.30, and then an afternoon meal, 7.8.3. And then an afternoon meal, days a week, 1 to 2.30. So you are absolutely welcome to come get a meal, share a kitchen table with us, and we'll get to know you and see how we can help. Outside of that, I guess I'd say an amazing resource here in Onondaga County is 2-1-1. So folks are in need of really any resource that they need to help support them in their life journey. If you call 2-1-1, there's professionals ready to answer and try to connect people to what it is that they need.

Amazing. And you know, Thanksgiving's coming up. I'm sure that's kind of a big, a big deal for this American Center and for the community. Do you do anything different on the holidays that you don't do 364 other days of the year? I think we cook a lot of food on Thanksgiving. I bet. Like everybody's holiday, right? Thanksgiving is a lot about food. So we start almost a week ahead, roasting turkeys and getting everything ready and baking pies and all that kind of stuff.

But I guess they would say not that a holiday is like every other day, but every day here is about love and acceptance and respect and just making sure people feel a presence here, right? I love that. What do you hope for for the Samaritan Center in the next coming weeks, months, years, and do you have anything kind of lined up along the way? I think right now we're trying to manage the environment, right? Right now it's really shifting and changing underneath our feet. So we're trying to make sure that we're stocking in the food we need as numbers increase,

that we're recruiting volunteers to help us support that increase in folks. Kind of longer term, we're looking at the possibility of mobile outreach for our meals. So are we able to take food into the communities that need that? This case management program, we just launched a new expansion. So we got new offices, two new staff to help address all those other issues in a much more in-depth way. So there's a lot of things kind of piling on and rippling forward for this organization. But I think my goal is always to create this place, of sanctuary, right?

Which is kind of funny because you're in a sanctuary, right? But this is a place where people can take a breath and think about what their next step is and then have the support around it. So with all the great schemes we might have, right? We wanna stay grounded in what it is that our guests need and where we came from and how we connect as humans. Wonderful. Last question.

I think there's a lot of, we talked about this, there's a lot of misconceptions with what it is that you do. And there might be some people out there who are in need, whether it be big or small, that might be even hesitant to reach out because maybe they're nervous or maybe they feel like, because you know, there is that window of, well, I make too much to get help, but I'm not making enough to live. And so you live in that window. What are some misconceptions that you might want to tell the people out there that that you can shed a light up? I think there's a couple of things, right? I think,

if we can set aside any judgment or preconceived ideas that we have and just see each other as humans, right, walking a difficult world, right? The world can be really challenging and really hard for any of us. Everybody deserves the opportunity to be seen, to be loved up, and to be heard and respected, right? So if we can just start from that place, a lot of the other stuff gets easier. But I think I would say come down here and see the focus. that come here to serve. See the folks that come here to seek assistance. And I think what we find is the line

between needing help and being able to provide help is razor, razor thin. And it can be absolutely any of us that the world takes us on a left turn and suddenly we're in a position of needing help. So if we're fortunate enough to be able to help, let's do that. I love it.

Mary Beth, where can people go to, if they are in need, to get a hold of you, to look things up, basically any of the plugs. And where can people go if they want to volunteer? Our website is samcenter.org. You can do a volunteer application right online and process it digitally. We'll get you on an app and it'll be super easy to get yourself scheduled. If you need help, again, I'd say come down during meal time and access to services that have here.

Look for a staff person. We'll be looking for you as a new space and try to make his comfort. as possible and see what we can do from there. And there's donate buttons and there's there's organizations throughout this community that are doing great work now and every day. What I would say is if you have an hour, if you have a dollar, if you have a pair of socks, there's somebody that can benefit from that. So that tiny little bit makes a huge difference. Mary Beth Fry, you are amazing. You are the executive director of the Samaritan Center. I can't thank you enough for your time. I'm honored to to be interviewing someone so selfless and who does so much

for the community. Any last words or plugs or anything you want to say? Come down and experience the Samaritan Center. You'll enjoy it. There it is. Mary Beth Frye, executive director, Samaritan Center. Thank you so much. Thank you. And with that, it's good news you are sponsored by Ads on the Go. Get Ads on the Go.com. It's a gentle cruising. You start to see the village, almost like a painting. Join me, travel expert Darley Newman and Uneworld Boutique River Cruises L'ouique Bali to learn about river cruising in France. As we have been setting there for decades, we have been able to create deep connection with the local communities. Local connections make exploring France easy.

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