For many of us, traveling equals enjoying vacations, escaping hectic life, or attending a business conference in some other city. But for Dr. Ross Blagg, traveling has multiple definitions and motives.
Dr. Ross enjoys hitting the road and embarking on a trip that involves a fun adventure, but above all, it includes his philanthropic ambitions as well. Dr. Ross wants to serve the community alongside enjoying travels.
The altruism in Ross is not something new. Since surgical residency, he has dedicated himself to giving back to the community. During his residency, he even went beyond borders by creating an organization called Humanitarian Plastic Surgery to coordinate surgeries for people living in poor countries.
He traveled to Haiti and Guatemala routinely to carry out surgical missions when he got the chance. However, his mission abroad terminated with the unexpected and unfortunate advent of the pandemic COVID-19.
Feeling the disconnection with a newly masked and bordered world, Dr. Ross searched for a way to continue his adventure philanthropies in his own country.
“I love road trips, and in the shutdown, masked world, I was craving the adventure that travel allows,” Ross recalls the bleak times at the start of the pandemic. His adventures resumed when he and his filmmaker buddies started Plastic Surgery Road Trip.
Plastic Surgery Road Trip or “PSRT” is a documentary series in which Dr. Ross invites a different person on every trip and meets people who need to complete the transformation of their life via plastic surgery. The team spends considerable time with such people, and then the most deserving travel to Austin, Texas, to get their surgery treatment at the hands of Dr. Ross Blagg.
Another reason behind starting the PSRT project for Ross is he likes to connect with his patients and their stories and become part of the transformation process. And so far, according to Ross, PSRT has been quite fulfilling for him.
“I have always said that traveling overseas for surgical missions does more for me than for those I operate on. It’s such an amazing feeling to use your skills for something good and expect nothing in return. PSRT is certainly scratching that itch right now,” says Dr. Ross when asked how long he plans to continue the project. “I’ll do it for as long as I’m able and I love being able to share it with the YouTube community and have others follow along. It’s like everyone watching is joining me on the trip!”
Dr. Ross is eager for the international travel restrictions to ease so that he can resume his philanthropic practices abroad. But, until then, this inspirational surgeon is set to serve the community at home. Check out the Plastic Surgery Road Trip channel on YouTube, and if you want to join him on a trip or want to nominate a worthy individual, visit: http://www.lyfeinplastic.com. You can also follow the daily adventures of Dr. Ross on Instagram: @dr.rossblagg.
