Someone San Diego Should Know: Ray Sachs

Ray Sachs was born in 1947 and raised in Chicago by Jewish parents who fled Nazi Germany. Initially, they went to Cuba. His father worked as a janitor and mother a governess. In 1941, they immigrated to Chicago, where his father supported the family selling paint brushes.

“Growing up, the Holocaust hung over our house,” he said. “My parents never forgot they were refugees and were grateful. Despite not having much money, they always donated to charities and tried to help people. They instilled that value in me, and I passed it on to my children.”

So, in 2010 Sachs was not surprised when his daughter Jennifer, then 37, suggested they travel to Haiti to help victims of one of the most deadly earthquakes in modern history.

Sachs, an orthopedic surgeon who had just retired, and Jennifer, an OB-GYN surgeon, traveled to Haiti and helped hundreds of victims in make-shift medical tents.

“I was hooked,” he said. “This was a pure form of medicine helping people. It was what I was supposed to do.”

He said he was originally attracted to becoming a surgeon because he “just liked the idea of fixing people.”

Sachs, who today lives in Del Cerro with his wife of 55 years, Marcia, came to San Diego in 1975 after medical school to work at Balboa Hospital while serving in the Navy. Following his discharge, he was employed at San Diego’s Kaiser Permanente as a surgeon from 1980 to his retirement in 2009.

The Haiti experience inspired him to continue volunteering for international missions during retirement.

After finding another opportunity by searching the internet, Sachs traveled to Tanzania in 2011.

“I learned some hard lessons in Tanzania,” he said. “People want you to volunteer, but won’t necessarily support you.”

He traveled to a small village where there was a basic open-air hospital with very little equipment. “I did not have equipment for much more than fixing small fractures,” he said. “I brought a Black & Decker drill with surgical pins. There was plaster but no padding, so we used toilet paper.”

Upon returning to the United States, he decided to continue with missions but needed better planning as well as equipment and supplies. For planning, he turned to Advance Community, a global nonprofit health organization experienced in coordinating international medical missions.

But he still needed funding for equipment and supplies. He found the solution literally around card tables in front of him.

Sachs has been a bridge player since age 12, learning the game from his parents. Upon retirement, he joined bridge clubs. When players learned of Sachs’ funding needs for his missions, they initially raised $10,000. Since then, players from American Contract Bridge League Unit 539 in San Diego have raised about $250,000.

With bridge player funds used for equipment and supplies and Advance Community’s help with coordination, Sachs has led 19 missions ranging from 9 to 14 days in Bolivia, Peru, Nicaragua and Ecuador.

He recruits up to 15 team members for each mission mostly relying upon word-of-mouth. The teams include surgeons, an anesthesiologist, nurses and technicians, all serving as volunteers and paying their own expenses. About 400 pounds of equipment and supplies accompany them.

In addition to planning his missions, during the past six years Sachs has served on Advance Community’s board of directors where he focuses on generating new missions. “My goal is eight to 12 missions a year,” he said, noting he’s now working on missions next year to more countries and expanded surgeries for cataracts and dental.

“It’s wonderful work,” he said. “Team members normally get hooked as I did.”

Participants often get emotional about the people they help.

“There was this 13-year-old girl in Peru who lives in the mountains,” Sachs recalled. “She has cerebral palsy, and her legs were all contracted. She could not walk. Through surgery we straightened them out. Afterwards, we sent someone out to see how she was doing, and he returned with a video of her walking independently through parallel bars.

“Yes, I felt emotional.

“My parents would be proud of me.”

About this series

Goldsmith is a Union-Tribune contributing columnist.

We welcome reader suggestions of people who have done something extraordinary or otherwise educational, inspiring or interesting and who have not received much previous media. Please send suggestions to Jan Goldsmith at jgsandiego@yahoo.com