Behind the scenes of an AO Alumni Chapter

The AO in Croatia

What is unique about the AO Foundation, and possibly its greatest strength, is the fantastic work that so many medical professionals around the world do voluntarily to further the AO mission. All over the world, in the 56 AOAA Chapters there are people doing great work on top of their own professional and private commitments.

To shed some light on what this really entails in terms of time and effort, AO World News picked one AOAA Chapter to give an inkling of what involvement in a Chapter really involves. We interviewed two people behind the recent formation of the AO Alumni Association Chapter in Croatia – the Chairman, Bore Bakota, and the Secretary, Mario Staresinic. The AOAA Chapter Croatia was established on February 9, 2008. It currently boasts 31 members in the Trauma Chapter, two in CMF, two in Spine, and one in the ORP section. There are also eight Croatian international faculty members (six in Trauma and two in CMF).

Mario Staresinic (left) and Bore Bakota pictured at the AO Davos Courses 2008

What do your jobs as AOAA Chapter Chairman and Secretary entail?

Bore Bakota: We do a lot of things such as planning courses, informing orthopedic and trauma surgeons in Croatia and within the AO Middle Europe Region about AO activities, helping prepare our Chapter for courses in Davos, Greece, Romania, and Austria and so on.

Since the establishment of the Chapter, we had a lot of work to draw up the bylaws and register the Chapter officially at a Croatian court.

It’s a lot of work. You must remember, we’re working full-time as well.

We had four board meetings in the first 10 months, and besides these we’ve had a lot of meetings with orthopedic and trauma surgeons. Ante Muljacic, the President of the Croatian Trauma and Orthopedic Society is Co-Chairman of the Chapter and has also given us a lot of support. A board member and another Co-Chairman is Tedi Cicvaric from the University Hospital Rijeka.

We also have the full support of the former AO leader in Croatia, Prof Korzinek, a friend of Prof Willenegger’s who he used to work with closely, not only in organizing AO teaching activities, but also at a research and documentation level.

Prof Korzinek gave us the whole archive of AO activities in Croatia, which was the basis for the article on AO history in Croatia. We would like to digitalize the archive for posterity. It’s amazing to see the pictures taken many years ago of the older Croatian AO members who are our leaders now.

Mario Staresinic: Other members include Dr Marijan Cesarec, who is President of the Croatian Orthopedic and Trauma Society, Assistant Prof Slavko Davila from the University Hospital Center Zagreb. Additionally, we also have excellent support and cooperation from Assistant Prof Domagoj Delimar and his team from the Orthopedic University Hospital Zagreb, as well as from most of the Trauma and Orthopedic units and clinics from hospitals all over Croatia.

How did you both come to be on the newly formed committee?

There was an unfortunate hiatus in AO activity over the last seven years once Prof Korzinek retired. The last AO Courses in Croatia were held in 2002. We realized that it was important to restart the AO in Croatia again. For Croatian surgeons interested in education, research, and publications – the AO is the organization which both parties can benefit from.

We really enjoy being part of the AO Family.

At the start we went on AO Courses, taking holiday time for this and paying for it ourselves. We did this because we are so enthusiastic about the AO. We went to AO educational events in England, Austria, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

Luckily our enthusiasm for the AO was noted and I was promoted to the role of table instructor at the AO Principles Course in Turkey in 2006. I was also a discussion group moderator in 2007.

Mario Staresinic: Both of us were in Graz, Austria, in 2007, where we took part on four AO Courses. Prof Michael Wagner, now Chairperson of the AO Trauma Board, was the course chairman then.

Bore Bakota: I was a table instructor and moderator in Davos. In 2008, we both served as faculty members in Graz, Davos, and Greece.

Mario Staresinic: We do our AO work outside of our hours in hospital in one or other of our houses. Our young children play with one another while we discuss AO teaching and educational organizational matters.

How much contact do you have with the AOAA in Switzerland?

Bore Bakota: We are in full and constant contact. We have a very good relationship with them and have dealings with AO people such as Piet de Boer, Joachim Prein, Clint Miner, Esther Stoop, and Claudio Gubser. We met with the AO Foundation President, Paul Manson, during the AO Davos Courses 2008 to introduce the Croatian Chapter to him.

We will have AO Principles and AO ORP Courses in 2009 in Zagreb. These will be arranged around the Croatian Trauma Congress. We are coordinating and planning this now. We try to offer our members any assistance we can.

How has being a member of the AO Middle Europe (AO MID) Region helped you?

Bore Bakota: We have very good contact with the AO MID Region, in particular with Rami Mosheiff with whom we enjoy very good levels of cooperation. We participated in the AO MID Regional Courses. We usually represent AO Croatia at AO MID board meetings.

Dr Teddy Cicvaric is a faculty member who has also done the AO Tips for Trainers (T4T) Course. The three of us organize AO Croatia activities. Dr Cicvaric was also in Turkey, and he represented AO Croatia at the European Faculty Seminar.

Ivan Dobric was also present as faculty member at the seminar in Davos.

Mario Staresinic: The AO MID Region is a great spur for us activity-wise. We are a good team. We try to offer one another our full support as well as attempting to keep our members fully informed. We communicate every step we make to them.

Bore Bakota: In addition to AO surgeons, we have a large database of orthopedic surgeons who we also communicate with.

Not only that, we have many contacts with other Former Yugoslav Republics (FYRs). We share information and tips with one another. There are hopefully going to be more Alumni associations established in this region of Europe. The AO presence is getting stronger and stronger in the FYRs which we are happy about of course.

Mario Staresinic: By participating on courses we come into contact with surgeons from the region and this opportunity to network helps to strengthen our links.

What does the future hold for the AOAA Croatian Chapter?

Bore Bakota: Our goal is to promote the AO in Croatia. For example, this spring we promoted the University Hospital for Traumatology in Zagreb to an AO Fellowship host clinic. I firmly believe that the ‘AO spirit’ is important to nurture. It’s a great aspect of the work we do in the AOAA Chapter. We hope to establish yearly courses because Croatian surgeons deserve the high level of education that the AO can offer.

Mario Staresinic: The hope is that we will have the opportunity to improve our skills and knowledge, and that we will fully re-establish the AO in Croatia. Developing levels of friendship with other associations is also a goal.

We are a small country but our patients deserve the same level of care as in other countries.

Bore Bakota: The AO is a mix of friendship, education, exchanging experiences, and knowledge – our involvement will raise our levels of expertise in all areas.

Mario Staresinic: We are happy that the AO Foundation recognizes what we do, we have been warmly welcomed and supported by the AO. The AO is an organization which is open to people all over the world. We want to take this opportunity to thank the AO for all the help they have given us.

Thanks to Drs Bakota and Staresinic for this interview. Good luck to you and the AOAA Chapter in re-establishing the AO in Croatia.