Surgery on Sunday - East Tennessee: Changing Lives, One Surgery at a Time
Surgery on Sunday – East Tennessee (SOS-ET) provides essential outpatient procedures at no cost to income-eligible individuals who are uninsured or under-insured and do not qualify for federal or state assistance. Surgery on Sunday – Lexington, Kentucky, was the first program of its kind in the United States. The long-term goal of SOS – Lexington is to help communities across the country by expanding the Surgery on Sunday model. Studies show that around 25% of current patients awaiting surgery from Lexington, Kentucky were from East Tennessee. With this understanding in mind, Surgery on Sunday – East Tennessee was created to implement the Surgery on Sunday program in the East Tennessee area for those unable to afford expensive surgeries. This Knoxville-based organization will implement the already successful Surgery on Sunday model that holds volunteer surgeons, nurses, translators, and support staff, working together as a team to provide free surgeries for the East Tennessee area.