A LOCAL group of caregivers is to travel to Central America to volunteer its medical skills and administrative experience to a community of severely disfigured and extremely poor persons.

Representatives of the group Project Change Bermuda first ministered to those in the Lactacunga region of central Ecuador last February.

Now a Bermuda-registered charity, the group is to return to the region next month as part of its world-wide commitment to areas in need. Because the caregivers must take all medical supplies with them, they are hoping residents will donate to their cause, enabling the purchase of such necessary items as aspirin and IV solutions.

"Our aim is to provide free plastic surgery to Third World countries," explained Ianthia Wade.

A health administrator, she runs Summer Haven, a home for the island's physically disabled and was a member of the seven-strong team that journeyed to Ecuador last year to aid persons afflicted by gross disfigurements caused by environmental and genetic problems.

"The first time we did 80 surgeries. We changed 80 lives," she recalled. "We talk about surgery as life-changing for the people involved but I felt this was a life-changing experience for me. My friends have started calling me the missionary and that's exactly how I feel.

"I always do as much as I can in Bermuda. I was always one of those people who heard about fundraising drives for people overseas and wondered why they weren't focusing on our needs at home.

"But we're very fortunate. We have places like the Shriners Hospitals For Children, places that will do everything for free. (Our children) have the opportunity to have the best level of care without having to worry about cost.

"These people earn between $100 and $150 annually. The cost of surgery is about $60. For people in Third World countries, that's prohibitive. And so for me, to know that I was helping to give them something they would never have had access to, that I was able to reach out just a little further and touch the lives of people who wouldn't have had these opportunities, the trip means a lot."

Project Change Bermuda evolved from the charitable efforts of Christopher Johnson. Now a plastic surgeon with the Elan Clinic, he first became affiliated with Project Change as a surgeon in training at the University of Massachusetts.

The American institution makes it compulsory that students specialising in reconstructive medicine engage in the programme. Such was the impression made on the physician that he has travelled to the region three or four times a year for more than a decade, using his skills to improve such irregularities as cleft palates, webbed fingers, six-digit hands and deformed ears.

The defects have been ascribed to poor nutrition and the fact that, as Asians, Indians in the Americas are prone to higher amounts of facial congenital abnormalities.

"On our first trip, we had a lot of support from the people of Bermuda," Mrs. Wade said. "As it is, we already have boxes and boxes of medical supplies and people keep calling and asking what they can do to help.

"In terms of items, things that are still needed are Children's Tylenol, vitamins, pens, pencils, toothbrushes . . . we're not trying to collect much in terms of clothing as it takes up a lot more space and we have to take all our medical supplies down."

Accompanying Mrs. Wade and Dr. Johnson is a group of nurses, anaesthetists and administrators, who will all volunteer their services, spending long hours involved in back-to-back surgeries.

"We literally take every single thing down that's needed for surgery," Mrs. Wade said of the need for community support.

She added that plans were already in the works for a second journey this year. The group is hoping to head to Tanzania in August with orthodontist Deborah Tuzo to assist in the work she does there with another charity, Project Ahead.

Project Change Bermuda's visit to Ecuador will span February 4 through 12. To donate to the cause, please contact Mrs. Wade at Summer Haven on 293-2099, or on 535-2388.