The following two articles provide additional background information about Ruth Paz and the work she has done with the help of "Interplast" - the team of plastic surgeons and doctors that periodically visits Honduras for a week at a time during which they treat some 100 cases.
November 5, 1996
Longtime Detroit resident Ruth Allen Paz, who was twice named Woman of the Year in Honduras for her work with ill and orphaned children, died from a heart attack on Thursday, Oct. 24, 1996, in Honduras. She was 80.
Mrs. Paz, a graduate of Wayne State University, worked as the security supervisor at the Lincoln Park Sears store in the 1950s.
She retired to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, in 1964 with her husband, Juan Paz, soon after having her fifth child. While in Detroit, Mr. Paz was the Honduran consul for the Great Lakes region.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mrs. Paz underwent prolonged treatment for cancer, surviving nine major surgeries.
After her illness, Mrs. Paz dedicated much of her life to caring for sick and impoverished children in Honduras.
She became a ham radio operator and developed a network of doctors and medical professionals in the United States who would accept children for treatment. She brought many desperately ill children to the United States, where she convinced doctors and hospitals in this country to treat them free of charge.
Mrs. Paz then began working with Interplast, an organization founded at Stanford University with a chapter in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to provide free reconstructive surgery for poor children in developing countries. She hosted surgical teams that came to San Pedro Sula to treat children each year.
The physicians, who specialize in plastic surgery, treated thousands of burn victims and youngsters with cleft palates or other congenital defects. The International Women's Club, of which Mrs. Paz was a founding member, assisted in providing housing for the doctors.
Mrs. Paz also served on the board of directors of an orphanage in San Pedro Sula, which provides shelter for homeless children. The facility -- where she affectionately was called Doņa Ruth -- not only provides daily care, but also trains the older children in job skills such as automotive repair.
The Honduran government recognized Mrs. Paz for her humanitarian work twice in the last 15 years, naming her Woman of the Year. In special ceremonies in the country's capital city, Tegucigalpa, the then-Honduran presidents cited Mrs. Paz for her dedication to children.
"With Ruth's death, the children of Honduras have lost their greatest benefactor," said Dr. Roberto Palma, an Interplast volunteer in Fort Lauderdale. "Her influence, however, will survive forever in those who knew her and were touched by her special gift of human kindness."
Funeral services for Mrs. Paz were held in San Pedro Sula, where she was buried.
Survivors include her husband; three sons, Donald, William and Michael; two daughters, Linda Pavich and Mary Ann Kafati; 13 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Memorials may be sent to the Ruth Paz Foundation, P.O. Box 20107, New Orleans, La., 70141. The nonprofit foundation was set up several years ago to assist in aiding Honduran children.
Copyright 1996, The Detroit News
The following article from the San Pedro Sula daily La Prensa also provides insight into work provided by the Ruth Paz Foundation:
San Pedro Sula
Cerca de cinco mil pacientes hondureños han sido atendidos por el programa médico Interplast en sus 28 años de servicio, a través de las brigadas de especialistas que dos veces por año vienen a esta ciudad, informó ayer el director del hospital "Leonardo Martínez Valenzuela", José Samara Kattán.
Manifestó que con la última brigada realizada en esta comunidad, que concluyó ayer, la cifra de personas atendidas se aproxima a las cinco mil, mientras que los operados superan las tres mil personas, solamente de labios leporinos.
Interplast está conformada por un grupo de médicos que inicialmente sólo provenían de Estados Unidos, pero a medida que amplía sus actividades, especialistas de otros países de América y de otros continentes se han sumado a esa noble misión.
Para el caso, la brigada médica que recién acabó de practicar cerca de 180 cirugías en una semana, estaba integrada por médicos especialistas de Estados Unidos, Brasil, Ecuador y hasta de Australia.
El coordinador de la brigada de médicos de Interplast, el reconocido cirujano plástico norteamericano Donald Laub, famoso por sus intervenciones quirúrgicas en todo el mundo, manifestó que siempre es una satisfacción venir a Honduras a entregar parte de su conocimiento.
"Nos sentimos realmente contentos, porque ahora se han integrado médicos de otros países, como brasileños, ecuatorianos y hasta de Australia", señaló Laub.
Por su parte, José Samara sostuvo que en esta ocasión la brigada no sólo vino a atender pacientes, sino que hubo intercambio de conocimientos entre los médicos extranjeros y los hondureños, a través de un programa educativo que contó con servicio de circuito cerrado de televisión, mientras practicaban cirugías.
La obra benéfica de Interplast se viene realizando desde 1969 en Honduras, atendiendo entre 300 y 350 pacientes por brigada que viene, por lo que son miles de hondureños los beneficiados por ese programa internacional.
Entre las operaciones que realiza Interplast sobresalen las cirugías de labios leporinos y paladar hendido, hipospadia, cirugías de manos, cirugías reconstructivas de quemaduras y otras.
Samara explicó que junto con otras fundaciones sociales médicas, como la Camo, Casa Rosada, Ruth Paz e Interplast, se forma el comité inter fundaciones, para estrechar colaboraciones en sus diferentes actividades que realizan en favor de los hospitales hondureños.
Laub y los médicos extranjeros agradecieron todo el apoyo recibido en esta brigada, de parte de las empresas privadas, autoridades hospitalarias y personas de gran corazón, que colaboraron con ellos para que esta misión fuera un éxito.
© La Prensa Honduras, C.A.
1997 Derechos Reservados