BOSTON -- Two medical teams with doctors from one local hospital are volunteering their time worlds away to help people in need. NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner has their story.

Local Hospital Helps Post-Earthquake Victims, Heart Patients

A devastating earthquake in China last May killed an estimated 80,000, and left tens of thousands injured. Some of the first rescuers to respond were trained years ago by trauma surgeon Dr. Susan Briggs, of Massachusetts General Hospital.

"It was awful in terms of the injuries," Briggs said.

Briggs has helped out in a number of natural disasters during her career at Massachusetts General Hospital and as a volunteer for Project Hope. Last July, she was in China's Sichuan Province where she led a team to determine the needs of young earthquake survivors who lost their arms and legs.

"They've evaluated what are the prosthetic needs. They may actually bring some of the children over here for fitting," she said.

"We did 11 surgeries in four days," said Dr. Jeff Meyers, the chief of pediatric heart surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children Heart Center.

In September, Meyers traveled to another section of China's Sichuan Province as a volunteer with five colleagues.

"Only about 10 percent of children that have congenital heart defects get an operation," Meyers said.

Meyers' team was at a local hospital to perform surgery on children with congenital heart problems and train local doctors how to perform intricate surgeries.

"We really focused on smaller and smaller kids. They're comfortable operating on children that are 20 pounds. So we operated on babies that were four, five, and six pounds," he said.

Their work isn't done yet. The relief efforts will continue.