Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese residents have lost limbs due to injuries, accidents and medical complications. Amputees often rely on primitive prosthetics or crutches or have no assistive devices. Each summer, since 2009, a Mercer On Mission team travels to Vietnam to fit amputees with prosthetic limbs, allowing many to return to work and support their families.
“We have restored mobility, provided independence, hope and dignity,” said Ha Van Vo, M.D, Ph.D., D.P.M., Eminent Scholar and Distinguished University Professor and professor of biomedical engineering. Vo, who leads the program, was born and raised in Vietnam.
“I’ve seen children, elderly lose their limbs from land mines, from bombs,” he said. “They crawl in the dust, some of them back and forth for food, for living. (When) I was young, I promised that one day, if was able to help them, I would return to do it.”
“We have restored mobility, provided independence, hope and dignity.”
Vo said that on most clinic days, the clinic starts around 8 a.m., and the team often does not leave until around 7 p.m. On days with more patients or particularly challenging cases, the team may not leave until 11 p.m. or even midnight.
“Our goal is for the team not to leave until the last patient walks out of the clinic,” he said.
Since its inception, the Mercer On Mission Orthopedic and Prosthetic Program has taken more than 600 students and faculty to Vietnam and Cambodia, where they have helped provide prosthetic and orthopedic care to patients who have lost limbs or suffer from common orthopedic conditions.
Back in Macon, the Mercer Vietnamese Student Association and the Mercer Prosthetic/Orthotic Club conduct year-round fundraising to help cover amputees’ transportation costs and purchase medical supplies.
“We use our fundraising money to help patients travel to the clinic,” said Vo. “Sometimes they travel for a full day to get to the clinic. Sometimes it takes seven or eight hours, and it costs them a lot of money, more than they can afford.”
The Mercer On Mission prosthetics program has been recognized by former President Bill Clinton and called “the most effective nongovernmental organization in Vietnam” by the country’s prime minister. It’s been recognized by Vietnam’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and received several humanitarian service and healthcare awards.
During the inaugural trip to Vietnam, the team fit 38 patients over two weeks. During the most recent trip, they fit 80 patients in a single day, and they helped more than 900 prosthetic patients over their three-week mission.
While the program has changed the lives of more than 25,000 amputees, University Minister Craig McMahan, Ph.D., who directs Mercer On Mission, said it’s not about the recognition, the awards or the numbers.
“I measure success of Mercer On Mission one life at a time,” he said. “Has it changed our students? Does it make them different people? Does it open their eyes? Does it open their hearts, open their hands to see a world and figure out that these are my neighbors? We change students’ lives one life at a time, and that’s how we measure success and impact.”
This story originally appeared in the Fall 2026 issue of The Mercerian.
