SIGN Fracture Care officials awarded Afghan medal of honor

SIGN Fracture Care International’s president and its CEO have been awarded Afghanistan’s second-highest honor for the organization’s work in the country.

Dr. Lewis Zirkle, founder and president of the Richland-based nonprofit, and Jeanne Dillner, its CEO, were given with the Allama Sayed Jamaluddin Afghan Medal during a recent visit. Dr. Mohammad Ismail Wardak, a SIGN program manager, also was honored.

They were recognized for treating more than 5,000 patients by providing education and SIGN implants and instruments throughout Afghanistan.

SIGN designs, manufactures and provides orthopaedic implants that can be used in hospitals without modern technology, and it offers training and support to physicians.

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani made the presentation.

“We are truly humbled by this tribute to SIGN’s work in Afghanistan, we feel this commendation is shared with the entire SIGN Family,” Dillner said in a news release. “Our donors, tireless volunteers, dedicated staff and SIGN surgeons create the opportunity to heal thousands worldwide every year.”

The Allama Sayed Jamaluddin Afghan Medal is the second-highest honor for civilians in Afghanistan, the news release said.

Zirkle and Dillner were in Afghanistan last week for the Afghan-SIGN Orthopaedic and Traumatology Conference at Shahid Sardar Dawood Military Hospital in Kabul.

The first SIGN program launched in Afghanistan in 2007, and its efforts there have grown since.

“The surgeons traveled over insecure roads to attend,” Zirkle of the first conference in 2008.

“Many had not known each other previously, and they developed a network to share innovations, results, and challenges they all must all endure to treat patients in Afghanistan. They collaborated on unique solutions to treat orthopaedic injuries then communicated their innovations which have been used to treat many patients in Afghanistan since this conference. The surgeons decided at this first conference to create the Afghan Orthopaedic Society,” he said.

By 2010, 10 hospitals had incorporated SIGN Programs into their orthopaedic surgery centers.

More than 200 surgeons from hospitals throughout the country attended this year’s conference.

“I humbly respect the Afghanistan surgeons who treat their patients with great skill under difficult and insecure circumstances as they also try to maintain a normal family life with their families,” Zirkle said.

This story was originally published November 20, 2015 at 11:10 AM with the headline "SIGN Fracture Care officials awarded Afghan medal of honor."