Numbers tell part of the story behind the volunteer work of Dr. Andrew Jacono. They show a surgeon who has made charity care a steady part of his practice for years.
Start with 100. That is the minimum number of domestic violence survivors whose faces he has reconstructed at no charge through FACE TO FACE, a project of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He serves as its senior advisor.
Hundreds of Children, Several Countries
Next comes 750, the number of children he has treated on international missions. Working with three organizations, Healing the Children, the HUGS (Help Us Give Smiles) Foundation, and THAI Children, he usually makes two trips a year.
Those trips have covered at least four countries by name: Colombia, Ecuador, Thailand, and Vietnam. Patients there have cleft lip and palate, microtia, facial tumors, and burn scars.
Three mountains also figure in. Dr. Andrew Jacono has climbed Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Cotopaxi in Ecuador, and Elbrus in Russia to fund missions and support survivors.
Years of Commitment
The timeline matters too. In 2006, the Center for the Women of New York gave him a “Good Guy” Award. Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy also commended him in the Congressional Record. In 2011, Facing Trauma premiered on Discovery Fit & Health before airing on the Oprah Winfrey Network. And for nine years, he chaired ABOUT FACE: MAKING CHANGES, a yearly benefit for survivors.
He holds two board certifications and several academic titles: Fellowship Director for the academy, a post at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Section Head of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at North Shore University Hospital.
Still, Dr. Andrew Jacono measures success by something figures cannot fully capture. Each number stands for a person who faced a different future after surgery, a child returning to school or a survivor no longer reminded of abuse every morning. That, more than any statistic, explains why he keeps going. Refer to this article for related information.
More about Dr. Andrew Jacono on https://x.com/DrJacono