Are you a dentist, optometrist/eye care professional or a support helper and
are willing to participate with a medical team going to Honduras? If so, we are
in critical need of your help AND it is easier to go than you may think!
 
We will need at least 4 more dentists and as many optometrist/eye
professionals to go to support this important medical mission trip to very needy
villages in some poor areas of Honduras.  We also need doctors, nurses and
MANY general helpers to complete our teams.  We have made detailed plans to
simultaneously send about 10 medical teams to these sites for our next medical
mission.  At least two of the clinic teams will be for eye care.  If this
seems right for you or you have questions, call me right away or reply directly
to my e-mail address (info below).
 
This past Feb. mission was a huge success. Check out the latest Newsbreak
newsletters at: www.IHSofMN.org Note the attached team map that shows very well
the types of teams and locations we went to.  In Feb, over 120 people
participated on our teams and the results were great..… literally thousands of
people were helped!
 
Detailed Info: Right now IHS (International Health Services) is in critical need
of medical folks, Spanish interpreters and other support people to go on a 2
week medical mission trip to Honduras. It is a large undertaking with about 10
teams planned to go at the same time for the 13 Feb to 28 Feb, 2010 trip. That
may seem like quite a ways off but careful planning is essential for a
successful mission. We have started to collect supplies and meds for about 6 or
7 medical/dental clinic teams plus several eyeglasses and surgical teams. This
means about 100 people will go counting all the support and worker people who go
also (many spouses and friends go in this way). We have done this for 28 years
so we have all the logistics planned out. This includes a container shipment to
send supplies, meds, radio gear, and any personal items of yours (if you want)
ahead of time. We are a totally volunteer group but IHS does help cover many of
the expenses in going.
 
The medical duties will vary some depending on the team location. How many teams
of each type we will have totally depends on how many people sign up and what
their profession is. We do most the sign ups early so that a small group can go
to Honduras the end of October and line up the team locations based on the
skills of the medical folks that have signed up. We get many applications during
the summer, most well before 1 October. So call me ASAP if interested. We have
had a fairly good turn out so far for dentists and most support (engineers,
helpers, & radio) folks. However, I know of only 4 doctors and 3 nurses signed
up so we need more folks with those skills. Our purpose is to go to the poor
remote locations of Honduras where there are no medical or dental services for
the local people. It would be a sad thing if a team did not go to a very needy
village simply because we lacked a medical person to complete a team.
 
FYI, our typical clinic team in a village will have two docs, an RN and one
other nurse or EMT, one or two pharmacists, a phamacy tech, a dentist
(usually), one or two Spanish interpreters, an engineer, one or two radio
operators, and several helpers.  Eye teams occaisionally do eye surgeries but
most are clinics that do eye exams and give out meds and prescription glasses. 
They typically have one or two optometrists plus other eye care
professionals in addition to an interpreter and several support people.  All
are well-rounded teams and this also helps when a spouse or friend wants to be
on the same team (note our application has a place to note your desire to be on
a team with some one else). A parent can take a MATURE son or daughter also if
they are able to be a productive member of the team.
 
Important info and resources: Medical folks and helpers alike can go to the
website www.MetroDoctors.com to see two articles written by docs who went with
IHS in the past.  On the left side of the Home page, click on Publications and
then select the July/August issue. One article was written by Dr Don Asp and the
other by Dr Ken Hodges. Also, as mentioned before, there are NewsBreak
newsletters and many photos at the IHS website www.IHSofMN.org  There are some
good articles on eye care in the Feb 2008 issue.  Other ones have articles
about dental and other work on teams. 
 
I have a CD plus a lot of other information I can pass on to you if you or
someone you know has an interest in going!  It is packed with photos, daily
journals, NewsBreak articles and a great Power Point presentation that shows our
daily work.  Also, there are several other IHS Directors who can answer more
technical questions about the medical side of things, etc.  So let me know if
you have questions in that regard, as well.  Note that the CD is also good for
those signed up as it has a lot of photos & info about most of the sites we go
to. This includes clinic and radio set up info from the past.
 
Call me any time or write back. A call is best so I can fill you in on basic
expenses and the variety of work conditions we encounter. I can help you to get
and fill out an easy application. Karen and I have gone over a dozen times so we
know the value of this tremendous experience! We will be going again next Feb.
 
I and the needy of Honduras thank you for your interest in this very rewarding
work!
 
Best regards,
 
John Kirckof
JMKKEK@...
Phone: 320-634-4386
IHS Board of Directors
 
PS – One topic I do want to mention is the politics of Honduras.  Not because
it is a grave issue but because what we are seeing here in the USA is a VERY
sensationalized view of things.  It truly is NOTHING like what we see on
TV..… I have been there for 15 years so I KNOW.  American TV (especially CNN)
had been reporting the news, often via Venezuela news sources so take it from
there.  The vast majority of Honduran people are a quiet and warm people who
peacefully support the new government which will not take away their freedoms
like the past President was trying to do.  I have no issues against going back
again, any time to do our work in the villages.  Karen and I plan to go again
with the next Feb 2010 mission.  Call me if you have concerns in this.




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