Trip was 5th Mission for Dr. Levens
It has become a summertime father-son tradition: A rigorous week in Ecuador for Coral Springs physician, David J. Levens, MD, a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, and his son Ben, a college student, participating in a medical mission to correct birth defects and disfiguring injuries for local Ecuadorean children and teens.
The former Chief of Surgery at Coral Springs Medical Center is part of a volunteer American medical team organized by Community Cares for Kids (Shavertown, PA) and the James Correa Foundation (Miami, FL). Dr. Levens has completed five medical missions with the group; this year was the third that he and Ben have shared the experience. Ben, a premed sophomore at University of Florida in Gainesville is a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Coral Springs.
The group worked out of the Naval Hospital of Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, located at the head of the Gulf of Guayaquil which flows into the Pacific. A team of three plastic surgeons worked 14 hour days, performing 55 surgeries to repair cleft lips and palates and deformities of the ears, nose and eyelids. The surgeons also corrected congenital hand deformities, treated burn scars and removed tumors.
Ben Levens participated once again as one of the non-medical volunteers on the mission team, assisting patients and their families before and after surgeries and at surgery, helping with photography and supplies.
“We worked closely with the host Navy medical personnel who helped with triage, surgery and aftercare and now will be able to provide close follow-up for our patients to assure good continuity of care,” Dr. Levens says. “The families that we treat have limited health options, especially in the area of reconstructive plastic surgery. Their gratitude for our attention is so touching, even in cases where there is no surgical solution for the problem.”
In practice in Coral Springs since 1989, Dr. Levens performs plastic, cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. He earned his bachelor’s degree at MIT in Cambridge, MA, his medical degree at Columbia University in New York City, and completed his residency at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center in Bronx, NY. He also competed a fellowship in hand surgery at Orthopedic Hospital/USC in Los Angeles. He has been voted Top Cosmetic Surgeon in Coral Springs by the readers of the Coral Springs Forum and was named a Top Doctor in Castle Connolly’s national ratings for 2010.
