ORLANDO, Fla. — A team is traveling across the world to the land of happiness, bringing relief to those who have been struggling.

Dr. Kenneth Sands is leading a team to Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom nestled between India and Tibet, on a mission with Operation International. Other medical professionals will join the Melbourne-based team in Asia.

“I’ve been to Indonesia, other parts of the world. But Bhutan was not on my list,” Sands conceded, adding, “It’s going to be life-changing.”

The Buddhist country is known for awe-inspiring vistas and a consistent distinction as one of the happiest countries in the world, periodically surveying the happiness of its inhabitants using the Gross National Happiness, or GNH, index.

But, it’s also a country that is incredibly isolated.

Sands said elective total joint procedures are few and far between in Bhutan, so the orthopedic team is on the mission to bring healing.

Over the course of a week, the team will perform 50 total joint replacements. More than 500 people signed up.

“It’s been a labor of love. Right now, I’m more just stressed, trying to put all this together. I have 22 people’s lives I’m taking care of, just my team,” Sands explained. “Then we are going to attempt to operate on 50 individuals in Bhutan, so the gravity of that is significant.”

The doctor, who most days practices at Melbourne Regional Medical Center, is busy with knee and hip replacements.

He chose to practice medicine after watching his mother often sick with diabetes as he grew up. Sands landed upon orthopedics in particular when he realized something like a knee surgery could offer immediate improvements for patients.

“They are hurting, their lives are affected. Within a short prior of time we make them better,” he said.

Although Sands spent time in the service, he always dreamed of taking his medical skills on a mission to an underserved area of the world.

One year ago, he got that opportunity, as Sands connected with the medical volunteer organization and began planning an April trip to Bhutan.

Months later, equipment had to be shipped overseas. Funds needed to be raised online. And a storage facility packed with soft goods — like gowns, masks and gloves — had to be packed up, as the individual team members, too, zipped up their own bags.

As he contemplated the journey, friends who had been on mission trips before prepared Sands for a reality that not all might go according to plan.

“One of my other friends spent the entire time in customs and never got to do (surgery on) anybody," Sands said. "We’re prepared for bad things can happen, but even if we just help a few people, it’s going to be great.”

The journey to the country also is “harrowing,” he explained, due to the distance and hours spent in flight and because of the final descent into an airport in the middle of a remote valley. That flight is a challenge for many pilots, he said.

The dangers of the journey were not lost on Sands’ wife, who he shared was “extremely concerned,” even suggesting the doctor update his will in case anything should happen to him abroad.

But Sands said he was resolute. If ever there were a time to take on such an adventure, it's now from a career and family standpoint, he said.

“I just think I’m moving into another transition of my career, done what I set out to do when I choose to become a doctor,” Sands said. “I built my practice, helped thousands of people. Now I’m in that stage where I’m trying to give back.”

Editors note: As of the publication date of this story, Spectrum News 13 had not yet been able to reach Sands to find out whether he and his team had returned from Bhutan.