04/19/2026

OHFAMA Member Returns From Seventh Mission Trip to South America

Membership Spotlight: Dr. Brian Zimmerman

Published April 10, 2026 and shared with the permission of OhioHealth. Read the original article here.

Members are the heart of OHFAMA. Whether they are volunteering their time, leading the profession, or serving their communities, our members inspire us every day and help our community thrive. Dr .Zimmerman is a longtime OHFAMA leader and currently serves as the President of the North Central Academy.

It’s not often you meet someone who’s gone on a mission trip to help others in a foreign country. But Brian Zimmerman, DPM, a podiatric surgeon at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, is a bit of an expert in this field. He just returned from his seventh mission trip to South America last month.

“These people are so underserved and so appreciative,” said Dr. Zimmerman. “They need medical care and I am so overjoyed to be able to help and provide it for free.”

Dr. Zimmerman’s most recent trip was to three communities in Brazil along the Amazon River- Alegro Vamos, Livra Mentos, and Boa Esporanza. He traveled with a larger group of medical professionals, including OhioHealth associates Ariah Avila, a surgery tech at Mansfield Hospital, and Kelly Keller, CNP, an advanced practitioner at Mansfield Hospital. In just over a week, Dr. Zimmerman and his team treated more than 340 patients.

“We’d start at about 8 AM, and we’d go until about 6 PM seeing patients,” said Dr. Zimmerman. “Generally, there was a big line of people waiting at 8 AM because frankly, they wanted to be taken care of and not miss their opportunity. People would come out of the woodwork for eight to ten hours.”

Dr. Zimmerman’s team used a medical boat for this trip, using it to travel to different communities, as well as for eating and sleeping. While it may sound like a challenge, Dr. Zimmerman is no stranger to using a boat as both living quarters and a medical facility. In fact, this was his fourth trip doing so. This time, the Sao Domingos do Capim government provided a medical boat to his team for free in exchange for their medical service.

A mission of compassion

Many of the patients Dr. Zimmerman saw were migrant workers who worked in fields and farms. Some of the conditions he treated included arthritis, infections, cists, fungal and bacterial infections, and wounds. According to Dr. Zimmerman, no matter the ailment, every patient expressed their gratitude.

“Every patient who came in there would say, ‘Obrigada or Obrigado,’ which means thank you. They’d hug me or our staff. They're very, very appreciative.”

Dr. Zimmerman has been traveling to South America to treat people in need for over a decade. The fulfillment of helping these communities has been enough to keep him coming back, but it’s also shaped how he cares for patients at OhioHealth.

“Mansfield Hospital has a wound care clinic,” said Dr. Zimmerman. “We have a lot of indigent patients who come in there, who don’t have much for resources or supplies. We also have a lot of people in the hospital who are frankly the same who we care for. I’ve really developed a heart for them. I handle and love on these patients a lot of the same way.”

An open heart

Dr. Zimmerman says he owes his great experience of this most recent trip to a group of people, including OhioHealth associates Avila and Keller, former OhioHealth associate Sonya Spayde, his cousin, Pastor Scott Toth and his wife Michelle Toth, founders of Hope Ministries in Brazil, Pastor Chris Standridge and his wife Becky Standridge of Crossroads Church in Ontario, his son, Samuel Zimmerman, and Tim Iten DDS, a pediatric dentist in Mansfield.

Dr. Zimmerman has no plans to return to South America for an eighth mission trip at the moment, but given his passion for giving back and strong faith, it seems likely.

“My heart is always open,” said Dr. Zimmerman. “If the good Lord creates the opportunity and the hospital and resources come, then yes, I would love to go back.”