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Where We Serve - Dominican Republic
Medical Missionaries got its start because of a trip by
its founder, Gilbert Irwin, MD to Banica in the Dominican Republic, on the Haitian border. Dr. Irwin was asked by a
priest who was stationed in this remote part of the Dominican Republic, to travel to the Dominican Republic to see what he
might do to help improve the quality of health services in Banica and Pedro Santana. While there, Dr. Irwin saw the
plight of subsistence farmers and their families who live there as well as the Haitians who live in the Central Plateau, just
across the Artibonito River from Banica. Dr. Irwin assembled small groups of doctors and nurses from Northern Virginia
and began to make regular trips to the area, treating patients and inoculating thousands against deadly diseases, often having
to work under trees in remote villages. Although Medical Missionaries built a clinic (hospital) in Thomassique, Haiti,
in 2006, it continues to work in Banica and Pedro Santana through the medical teams that visit the area several times a year.
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