‘Now that you have seen, you are responsible.’ Why this Columbus doctor travels to teach

Steps2Walk, Inc. isn’t a faith-based organization.

But Dr. Leland McCluskey, an orthopedic surgeon at St. Francis-Emory Healthcare in Columbus, believes his spirituality and Christian faith nudges him forward when he participates in Steps2Walk’s missions.

Steps2Walk is an international organization founded by world-renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mark Myerson in 2000 with the goal of increasing access to care for foot and ankle deformities in underserved communities around the world.

They treat everyone no matter their background or financial situation. Bringing people together like this is beautiful, McCluskey said, but it’s also humbling.

During one of his first trips, he brought his four sons with him to Kenya. He wanted to teach them what the real world was like. But the impoverished Lunga Lunga community in Nairobi made McCluskey realize he had a lot to learn.

A sign hanging in a church in Lunga Lunga continues to remind the Georgia doctor why he’s continued these missions for 15 years.

“Now that you have seen, you are responsible,” it read.

It is for this reason that McCluskey leaves Columbus for Sri Lanka in early February on another mission with Steps2Walk providing surgical treatment for complex foot and ankle deformities and training local surgeons in the specialty.

Importance of a specialist

One of the most common deformities the organization treats on its missions is clubfoot, McCluskey said.

This is a deformity in which an infant’s foot is turned inward, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, and it is one of the more common foot deformities.

A baby born with clubfoot in Columbus would immediately get casting and the right treatment to resolve the issue, McCluskey said, usually without surgery.

“I’ve been here for 30 years now,” he said. “So, I’ve seen some of the little babies I took care of when they were born, now 30-years-old.”

There’s not as much of a stigma in the United States for these types of disabilities.

But in some of the underserved communities around the world that Steps2Walk serves, these children have a harder life because of the disability.

“(A child) has a hard time to go to school there because they can’t walk to school,” McCluskey said. “And they’re even felt to be cursed in some communities.”

Several of the countries McCluskey visited, like Niger, have no orthopedists. General surgeons do orthopedic work, he said, and the care isn’t available in a lot of places.

“They mostly do the trauma, like car accidents, motorcycle accidents and things like that,” he said.

But for congenital problems like clubfoot, McCluskey said, there isn’t much care.

This is where Steps2Walk missions can step in to provide free surgical care to all the patients they treat during the trips. And more importantly, Steps2Walk provides training to doctors in the community.

“There’s an exponential impact with the teaching part,” McCluskey said.

Making friends with local physicians

Steps2Walk envisions a world where everyone has access to safe, affordable foot and ankle care, McCluskey said.

The general surgeons from the communities Steps2Walk goes to look forward to foot and ankle specialists teaching them, he said, because it’s difficult to learn what they need to know. The internet helps with some instruction, McCluskey said, through YouTube videos and other methods.

But in-person instruction is valuable.

“If we scrub together, we can just teach better,” he said. “That’s how we teach the best. Examining patients where they can see the way our thought process works.”

Another important factor is they’re able to build connections and friendships with local doctors. Steps2Walk trips can be short. McCluskey’s trip to Sri Lanka will take place Feb. 5 through Feb. 9.

On a typical trip like this, approximately 25 to 30 local doctors participate, McCluskey said, and they’re able to handle about 20 cases.

After establishing a relationship, local doctors can email him cases and ask questions, he said.

“Like going to Sri Lanka coming up,” McCluskey said. “These people I’ll be around will be friends of mine now.”

It’s fulfilling to see the impact of their work after a trip, he said. One of the hospitals he worked at in Kenya did not have an orthopedic teaching program when he first started to go there. Now, the hospital has an orthopedic residency and training orthopedists.

“Now, we just go and teach some,” McCluskey said. “But they really have a self-sustaining thing there.”

McCluskey is one of four volunteer faculty headed to Colombo, Sri Lanka for this program. Steps2Walk has 18 programs planned for 2024.

Individuals interested in supporting the program can learn more about donating online.

This will be the first time he will travel to Sri Lanka, he said, and he’s looking forward to the lessons he will learn there.

“It’s healthy to get out of your comfort zone and to stretch yourself a little bit that way,” McCluskey said. “You go learn new things and keep your mind open. You can teach and learn at the same time.”