School Supplies to Honduras!

After many months of planning, preparation, organization, as well as countless hours of collecting, cleaning, sorting, crating and then palletizing all of the school supplies and hospital equipment, we are very pleased to announce that these donations have left the storage facility enroute to Honduras!! These supplies are gifts to the host organizations that assist us in providing our in country logistics. Over the course of several months and years these items have been collected anticipating the eventual distribution to the organizations that have most needed it. The school supplies that have been collected were primarily facilitated by the Killeen Rotary Club in conjunction with the Killeen Independent School District. Towards the end of the 2006/2007 school year these supplies were collected at most of the schools in this community where they were then prepared for shipment. The hospital supplies were a collection of items organized through MEDICO over the course of 2 years. These much needed supplies will benefit several doctors in practice who provide care for the poor in Honduras.

A very special ‘Thank You’ goes out to DOLE Corporation for assisting us in getting this shipment down to Central America. Additionally, MEDICO wishes to thank the Vice President of the National Congress and daughter of the former First Lady, Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake for facilitating getting this shipment through customs and into country.

There are scores of other people and organizations MEDICO wishes to thank. Please read further about this effort in our next newsletter.

To Be The Best

A thought from Director of Operations, Brian Crowe

I'm in the midst of wrapping up a book written by Gene Kranz entitled, "Failure Is Not An Option". It is a book chronologically following the arc of the space program development from the first launch through Apollo 13. "Kranz was part of the mission that, in January 1961, launched a chimpanzee into space and successfully retrieved him, and made Alan Shepard the first American in space in May 1961. Just two months later they launched Gus Grissom for space orbit, John Glenn orbited Earth three times in Feb. 1962, and in May of 1963 Gordon Cooper completed the final Project Mercury launch with 22 Earth orbits. And through them all, and the many Apollo missions that followed, Gene Kranz was one of the integral inside men -- one of these who bore the responsibility for the Apollo 1 tragedy, and the leader of the "tiger team" that saved the Apollow 13 astronauts."
I received this book after having seen the space shuttle Atlantis launch early this summer. I got bit.

This book has turned out to be a quietly inspiring book regarding what we do as a part of the MEDICO team. In the course of our administrative management we're constantly examining our processes ensuring that we are following the mission directives (or objectives) and are doing so in the most efficient, most effective means possible. It requires focusing on our tasks at hand and simultaneously looking ahead preemptively to ensure the success of our future efforts. It is an effort to be the very best at what we do.

The ultimate success of MEDICO, however, is not solely what the office manages, but what passionately stirs the hearts and hands of the volunteers. It is seeing volunteers in action, putting in play a trajectory path of comprehensive health care for people who so desperately need this care. To this end MEDICO has and will continue to be a leader in humanitarian health care response in Central America.

Thoughts from a Volunteer

Do not let your hand be stretched out to receive and closed when it is time to give.

I was introduced to MEDICO through a news article in the American Dental Association newsletter back in 1990, and have been a volunteer on many teams since then. I was looking for an opportunity to contribute my dental skills to those in need and discovered a partner to help me achieve this goal – MEDICO, the Medical, Eye and Dental International Care Organization.

Joining a MEDICO team has the advantage of being out of my office routine for only one week, Saturday to Saturday, but what a full week it is. The teams I have participated with have been to Honduras with the port of entry into the country through San Pedro Sula. Here we meet other members of the team for an opening dinner together, orientation and assignments for the week. On Sunday morning, with our truck packed with supplies, we leave for our designated worksite, a remote mountainous village in Central America Upon our arrival, long lines of people are waiting to be served. The medical, eye and dental clinic personnel select their work locations in the village set up their equipment.

Over the years, the dental set up has become very comprehensive. We have an electric generator, air compressor and two mobile dental units. There are patient dental chairs and dental stools. Dentists are asked to bring their own surgical instruments, but MEDICO provides all other supplies. It is always amazing to me the number of people that come to be treated. This all works efficiently because the local host organization we partner with communicates with the village community leaders that a medical team is coming. The word gets out to the surrounding villages, and people come, some walking 3 to 4 hours to get to our site. Most of the people that come for dental care come for relief of pain. “Donde duele?” is the often repeated question to each patient. When they open their mouth, it becomes pretty obvious why they have come for our services and you soon understand why you are here as a Dentist providing humanitarian aid.

One of our teams of four dentists treated 294 patients, doing 435 extractions, 80 cleanings, and 102 fillings. The patients are cooperative and appreciative of what we do. Here are people in need, and we respond to their needs. The end result is, we go to help others and we find, in turn, that we are helped as well.

This is more solidarity than charity. This was brought home to me one year when we were packing our truck outside of our hotel to leave for our work site. An elderly woman came up to me and gave me this big hug and then started speaking to me in rapid fire Spanish. I wasn’t able to understand her and turned to one of our interpreters to ask, "what is she saying?" "Oh, she recognizes you from last year and she is thanking you for the work, the extractions you did for her last year", the interpreter stated. What a compliment this was for me and for our whole team!

We are a team and that is why we have been so successful over the years. During the time we are together a real bond is created from a shared experience with our patients and our Spartan living conditions. This MEDICO experience is transforming. I also found that I related differently to my patients when I returned home.

On behalf Of MEDICO, I invite you to partner with us on a field team. Financial contributions for supplies and program development are always appreciated. We have been given much; so open your hand now to give. Join us in providing humanitarian care for people in need.

Dr. Anthony C.
New York