Operations Performed
Countries Served
Patients Treated
Volunteers Mobilized
Serving Beyond the Operating Room
For Dr. Anthony Gonzalez, surgery has always been about more than treating disease—it has been a calling to serve others.
For more than three decades, medical mission work has been an integral part of his professional and personal life. Through thousands of volunteer hours and hundreds of charitable surgical procedures, Dr. Gonzalez has remained committed to providing high-quality surgical care to underserved communities throughout the Caribbean.
His mission work reflects a lifelong commitment to faith, compassion, education, and service.
Where It All Began
Dr. Gonzalez’s first international surgical mission took place in the 1990s, when he traveled to Managua, Nicaragua with his church. There, he provided surgical care to patients with limited access to healthcare while also collaborating with and educating local surgeons in several hospitals.
That experience ignited a passion for international medical missions that continues today.
A Special Connection to Haiti
Dr. Gonzalez’s dedication to Haiti is deeply personal.
His mother was Lebanese and born in Haiti, and as a child, Dr. Gonzalez spent many summers visiting the country. Those early experiences created a lasting connection with the Haitian people and inspired a lifelong desire to return—not as a visitor, but as a physician committed to serving those in need.
In 2006, Dr. Gonzalez partnered with Living Hope Haiti Christian Mission and Baptist Health South Florida to establish an ongoing surgical mission program serving communities in northern Haiti.
For nearly two decades, surgical teams traveled to Haiti up to three times each year, providing life-changing operations and compassionate care to patients who otherwise had little or no access to surgical services.
Living Hope Haiti Christian Mission
Living Hope Haiti Christian Mission exists to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ through education, compassionate medical care, and community outreach.
Working alongside local healthcare providers and missionaries, the organization has established medical clinics dedicated to improving the health of children, mothers, and families in northern Haiti. These clinics have provided free medical care, health education, prenatal services, and preventive care while dramatically reducing childhood illness and maternal mortality within the communities they serve.
Our surgical mission became an extension of that ministry—bringing specialized surgical care to patients suffering from conditions that often remained untreated because of limited healthcare resources.
Surgical Mission Program
Each mission brought together a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, anesthesiologists, CRNAs, nurses, surgical technologists, pharmacists, and numerous volunteers united by a common purpose: serving others through medicine.
Dr. Gonzalez typically traveled two to three times each year, performing a wide variety of general surgical procedures, including:
- Hernia repairs
- Hydrocelectomies
- Breast mass excisions
- Hemorrhoid surgery
- Circumcisions
- Soft tissue mass removals
- Drainage of abscesses
- Other essential general surgical procedures
Fluent in Spanish and Haitian Creole, Dr. Gonzalez was also able to communicate directly with patients and families, helping coordinate patient evaluations, surgical scheduling, education, and postoperative care without the need for interpreters.
Throughout the years, the mission expanded to include specialists in urology, gynecology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, and other surgical disciplines, allowing hundreds of patients to receive specialized care otherwise unavailable to them.
A New Chapter: Dominican Republic
In 2019, ongoing political instability, escalating violence, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the assassination of Haiti’s president made it unsafe for humanitarian surgical teams to continue working within Haiti.
Although circumstances changed, the mission did not.
Beginning in 2023, Dr. Gonzalez and his team established a new surgical outreach program at ILAC in Santiago, Dominican Republic, where they continue serving both Dominican and Haitian patients in need.
Today, the team travels twice each year, performing 100 or more surgical procedures during each mission, restoring health and improving the lives of patients who often have no other access to specialized surgical care.
More Than Surgery
While surgery remains at the center of every mission, the true purpose extends far beyond the operating room.
Each mission represents an opportunity to:
- Demonstrate Christ’s love through compassionate medical care
- Restore dignity and hope to patients and families
- Partner with local physicians and healthcare professionals
- Share surgical knowledge and education
- Build lasting relationships within the communities we serve
- Inspire future generations of healthcare professionals to embrace service
For Dr. Gonzalez, mission work is not simply volunteerism—it is a lifelong commitment to using the gifts and opportunities God has provided to serve others.
Continuing the Mission
Although the location has changed over the years, the mission remains the same.
To provide compassionate surgical care, educate healthcare professionals, and improve lives through faith, service, and excellence.
As long as there are communities in need, Dr. Gonzalez and his team remain committed to answering that call.