Gillies McIndoe Research Centre

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.   Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the evening (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Dr Colin Calcinai, Chair of the Reconstructive Plastic Surgery Research Foundation and your fellow board members; Foundation patrons Rt Hon Sir Michael Hardie Boys and Hon Sir John Jeffries; Dr Swee Tan, Director of the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute and Professor of Plastic Surgery at the University of Otago; Your Worship David Ogden, Mayor of Lower Hutt; Peter Glensor, Chair of the Hutt Valley District Health Board; Professor Wayne Morrison, guest speaker from Melbourne; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.

It was with much pleasure that my wife Susan and I accepted the invitation to attend this dinner to launch of the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute.  

Tonight is about the launch of an exciting initiative to advance research into reconstructive plastic surgery in New Zealand.  There has been considerable fundraising and support from many different organisations and people, and I congratulate all those concerned.

The future is not only built on the actions of today but also on the deeds of those of the past.  And it is on the legacy aspect that I would like to focus my contribution to this evening's event.

When looking back, there is often the temptation to put on rose-tinted spectacles and to see the past in a better light.  In the words of American journalist of the last century Franklin Adams:  "Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory."

When it comes to the origins of modern reconstructive plastic surgery, there is no need for rose-tinted glasses to examine the contribution, for example, of two New Zealand pioneers in this field.  I refer to Sir Harold Gillies and his nephew, Sir Archibald McIndoe, whose names crystallise the organisation being launched this evening.

I grew up in an Auckland medical family where their names were familiar to me from a young age.  But while most New Zealanders can quickly recall the deeds of Kiwi pioneers and heroes such as Ernest Rutherford and Katherine Mansfield, many fewer relate to the achievements of Gillies and McIndoe.

I would like to refer to some themes in their professional contributions.

There are many innovations they developed.  The pedicle tube for grafting living flesh from one part of the body to another, and the epithelial outlay, for repairing eyelids, are two of Gillies' innovations.   Together the two of them pioneered surgical techniques to correct breast abnormalities.

Many of these procedures were the result of inspired observations.  McIndoe had noticed how pilots who had ditched in the sea after having been burned seemed to heal better than those with burns who had crashed on land.  From this observation came the innovative saline bath, where severely burned airmen were lowered into baths of warm salty water.

Both men worked in wartime situations-Gillies starting in the First World War and, together with McIndoe, in the Second.  In both conflicts surgeons had to deal with injuries-particularly to the face-that were far worse than anything encountered prior to this.

And whereas previously the injured would have died from these and other wounds and infections, modern approaches were able to ensure their survival.  It was survival often marred by disfiguring injuries.  Gillies also came to the conclusion that his role as a surgeon was not just in restoring function, but in also restoring form. 

He found that if the surgery was successful in both function and form, then the more quickly would the patient recover. 

McIndoe came to a similar conclusion but went even further.  He recognised that healing young airmen's physical injuries was only part of the therapeutic process.  It was equally important to heal the mental scars, allowing each person to come to terms with their inevitable degree of disability or disfigurement.

But the McIndoe style of "treatment" was unorthodox.   In Kiwi style, rules pertaining at his hospital were ditched in favour of an egalitarian camaraderie.  McIndoe would share a beer with his patients and have them sit in on operations.  As one patient said, McIndoe created: "[A] community of people who all, and were all suffering in the same way [and hence] cheerfulness invaded the consciousness of even the most unreceptive patients". 

But McIndoe's notion of community extended also to the wider world outside.  He urged patients to go on outings and for the community to visit the hospital and to make patients welcome in their homes and pubs.  In a forerunner to modern occupational therapy, he encouraged local businesses to give his patients employment so they could learn new skills notwithstanding damaged limbs according to their abilities.

The legacy of both men extends to the patients they treated and the doctors they trained.  At the outbreak of the Second World War, three multidisciplinary teams were established headed by Gillies, McIndoe and fellow New Zealander Rainsford Mowlem.   Surgeons, dental surgeons and technicians from around the world were trained and form a wider "family tree."  Other New Zealanders such as William Manchester, Frank Hutter and Joe Brownlee who trained under them and who went on to establish the reconstructive plastic surgery units in other New Zealand cities including here in the Hutt Valley.   These units, and others established since that time, continue to provide New Zealanders with access to the highest quality of reconstructive plastic surgery available.

After the Wars progress led to what is known today as cosmetic surgery.  The techniques developed for war injuries assisted those injured in car crashes and home and industrial accidents. Subsequent times have seen the introduction of techniques such as microsurgery and craniofacial surgery.

Both men were acknowledged with a host of professional and civil honours from many parts of the world.  Gillies is rightly regarded as the father of modern reconstructive plastic surgery.  His 1920 text, Plastic Surgery of the Face, set down the principles of modern plastic surgery.  It was once written that: "There was no plastic surgery before [Gillies] came."

In conclusion, the legacy of Gillies and McIndoe lies in their many medical innovations and in the know-how they shared in research articles, guest lectures and seminars.  Their contribution also lived on in the people they treated, allowing them to lead more fulfilling lives.  Assistance was provided to families and friends and the wider community.  It is pleasing to record that there has followed a line of names of other substantial contributors to this important field.  Mehrotra and Lovey, Calcinai and Swee Tan.

The combination of research, innovation, healing, community involvement and training is now to be carried by the Institute that will bear the names of both Gillies and McIndoe.  There is a challenge involved in continuance but if the Institute adopts a similar innovative approach I feel sure that it will make significant and successful advances to the benefit of all. 

And on that note, I will close in New Zealand's first language Māori, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours. No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.