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In this issue: - Providing Help in the U.S. and Abroad
- Dedicated Volunteer, Betty Lear
- Cholera Update - A Day in a Cholera Clinic in Haiti
- Alabama Tornado Relief
- Be An Angel!
- Medical Missionaries Chapters Continue to Contribute - Help Wanted Urgent Appeal: Our response to the cholera epidemic has severely impacted our finances.
Please click on the "Donate" button below
to help us continue these vital services to the people of Thomassique, Haiti.
Important
Notice: It
is crucial that you send us your e-mail address for future issues of the Newsletter. Please
use the sign-up form that can be found here. | President’s Message
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD As the volunteer non-profit organization Medical Missionaries reviews
the recent past and prepares for the future, more challenges appear on the horizon. Entering the fifteenth year of working
to help the "Poorest of the POOR", the many supporters and volunteers can look back on the thousands of people who
have been directly reached via the active programs locally and abroad. Health supplies and equipment have been distributed
to many needy people in the greater Washington, DC area, Indian reservations in South Dakota, and Appalachia. Katrina
hurricane, Alabama tornado and Tsunami are some of the unexpected environmental disasters that Medical Missionaries
played a part in by providing relief aid. At this time, over 100 sea containers of equipment and supplies
have been sent to 38 foreign nations to help build infrastructure in very poor areas of the world. Food programs in Haiti
and Dominican Republic to feed malnourished people and babies are in place for the last 3 years. The completion
and maintenance of our clinic/hospital in Thomassique, Haiti provides the only health care for 125,000 rural Haitians.
Working with Project Hope and the Catholic Medical Mission Board, Medical Missionaries has provided medicines to over
150 medical teams across the USA, allowing those teams to treat many thousands of patients in the clinics they operate in
many countries throughout the world. From all these programs, networking with other groups, and dealing
with the daily problems of survival (side by side with the truly poor), Medical Missionaries has grown in insight and experience.
Earthquakes, famine, and acute/chronic diseases, are daily ventures for our dedicated volunteers. With the experience gained from the
past trials, Medical Missionaries is now preparing for the future and improving operational efficiency by reorganizing our
hospital in Haiti (which is currently overrun with many cases of cholera), increasing efforts to network and partner with
other groups, and coordinating our many relief efforts in the USA. These efforts are being made to maximize benefits
of all donations made by supporters of Medical Missionaries to allow for continuity and longevity of the organization, directly
helping the POOR. During these difficult economic times in the USA, please be assured that over 99 cents of every dollar donated
goes to help somewhere in the world including the USA. Your donation and sacrifice makes a great difference
to all the programs. Thank you for your continued support. Please go to our web site, medmissionaries.org for detailed articles on items mentioned above. Finally, I ask you to save October 29, 2011 on your
calendar for a new Fall fundraiser for Medical Missionaries. Check out our preliminary plans.
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