Preparing for Can Tho: Bruce's View

Bruce Lehnert, DPM and Jenni Lehnert, RN

The International Extremity Project and our team have evolved since my first medical mission in 1998. This will be my eighth trip to Vietnam and my seventh to Can Tho. It's my sixth mission with my wife as nursing director

This is the seventh trip for Dr. Jeff Spanko, the fifth time Dr. Jonah Mullens has joined us in Vietnam, and the fourth with Flecher Fleudujon as our documentary filmmaker. Henry Duvalsaint is joining us for the third time, now handling logistics from travel to communications with the hospital to many details in Can Tho. Kim Austin has been handling our website and blog over five missions and will be joining us in Vietnam for the first time this year.


As time has gone on, more people have joined to support what we do. We fine-tune our organization so dramatically after every trip, which really demonstrates our efforts, dedication, and experience.

This will be the second mission on which my children have joined us and our first to include college and high-school volunteers as part of the team.  

I am really excited about our upcoming trip and know that this will be the best mission trip yet. I am really thankful to all our volunteers. I encourage you to explore their bios and their postings to learn more about their roles within our organization, their experiences, and why they've chosen to be part of IEP.

Jenni has really filled her Nursing Director shoes and has been just fabulous with organizing the medical portion of this trip. She has been on the phone and the computer securing equipment and medicine donations as well as working with our volunteers. I know when she hits the ground in Viet Nam, there will be nothing stopping her. I am really proud of her.

Henry Duvalsaint has been deemed irreplaceable. He has worked arduously to arrange all the fine details our mission. His knowledge of Viet Nam and his local contacts have helped us to secure discounts on items we have to buy locally, from medications to crutches and other medical supplies. He has also worked to arrange the transportation our very large group from Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area to Can Tho by plane, bus, and car. Henry has also pulled together some of his friends to help with donations.We owe many thanks to Henry.