Medical missions to El Salvador

Each year many doctors, nurses, and other people donate their time and talents to provide medical services in underserved areas of El Salvador. (My wife is making such a trip tomorrow, as she has in past years, and so this post is dedicated to her and her team).

Two stories appeared in the press this week about a recent medical mission trip by volunteers from the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York. Volunteers provided medical services in El Salvador and then brought back with them a young girl who will receive surgery to correct leg deformities caused by rickets. Read more about their trip here and here.

I also received recently an e-mail through this blog which seeks assistance in El Salvador supporting surgical missions. While I don't know much about this organization, I'm willing to spread the word about their efforts:

I am Bobbye Krehbiel, president of a local chapter of Healing the Children (www.htcsw.org) which is part of a national organization (www.healingchildren.org)

We are in contact with a small hospital near San Salvador that has agreed to host us with medical surgical missions.

Although our doctors and nurses pay their own expenses, we always need to raise funds for lab work, meals for families who stay with their children in the hospital, sterilized surgical packs, anesthesia, etc. etc.

We also need to find a reliable and very efficient group to host our teams. These hosts, our "on the ground"” support, help by picking up supplies at the airport when they arrive (storage is at the hospital), helping us with paperwork,

And helping with transportation once the team is in the country.

Would you consider helping us get the word out?

Sincerely,

Bobbye Krehbiel
President, Board of Directors
Albuquerque, NM

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Very often I write about problems in El Salvador in this blog. But we should all celebrate the spirit of caring that these individuals and others from around the work show in providing such care.