Core Values

Vision, Mission and Values

BFIRST’s vision is of a world where reconstructive plastic surgeons and hospital staff in resource poor countries, together with teams including nursing and other related professions, receive training and have the necessary supplies to be able to perform reconstructive surgery and rehabilitate patients.

All our projects are compliant with standards that we have set up to ensure that BFIRST empowers local surgeons.

 

Our Mission

BFIRST’s mission is to train surgeons working in some of the countries with the fewest resources in the world. Through reconstructive plastic surgery, we aim to release some of the world’s most vulnerable children and adults from a state of poverty caused by a deformity or a disability. One example is that untreated burns frequently result in severe deformity and disfigurement, and a life of destitution and marginalisation.

 

Our Core Values

We know from our experience and training that surgery transforms lives for the better

We know that many deformities and disabilities can be corrected by reconstructive plastic surgical techniques. We know that untreated hand injuries, for example, result in loss of function, loss of income, and the ability to look after yourself and your family.

We want the benefits of our work to be sustainable

The main aim of the collaborations is to empower local doctors through training, so they can treat their own patients without our help in the future. It is important to us that we train surgeons locally and help to develop their infrastructure, so that they become self-sufficient in providing sustainable life-changing procedures for their own communities.

We understand that our efforts need to be coherent and strategic

BFIRST was established to build on and co-ordinate the fantastic individual efforts of many surgeons, to make it more coherent as a whole, and to attract a diverse range of funding to develop new initiatives to meet the enormous unmet needs for this often forgotten group of patients.

We know that we can learn, train and develop from working in countries with resource challenges

We understand that BFIRST’s work can be mutually beneficial. We become better surgeons ourselves from our experiences working to develop practices in resource poor countries. We will better be able to understand the basic importance of our work, will be better at working under pressure and more able to think laterally, and will form meaningful cross cultural teams built on mutual respect and understanding.

We want to improve the profile of reconstructive surgery

Reconstructive plastic surgery developed in response to the very large number of disabling injuries suffered by soldiers from the first World Wars, through to present conflicts, transforming countless lives. We want to ensure that the benefits of reconstructive surgery reach as many people across the world as possible, and that as many people as possible understand its importance and its potential to change lives forever.