Medical Mission Trip Serves Poor in Jamaica
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Nov. 25, 2009) — Volunteers from around the United States joined Food For The Poor staff in Jamaica this month to provide health care to the poor in areas where access to doctors, nurses and pharmacists is limited.
The group provided care to almost 300 patients over four days – treating those with high blood pressure, diabetes, upper respiratory tract infections and skin conditions, as well as other medical issues. Work started at Our Lady of the Poor, a clinic in Kingston supported by the Christian relief agency Food For The Poor, and moved to rural Lawrence Tavern and then Bull Bay.
“The opportunity to host a medical mission has helped to showcase one of Food For The Poor’s goals of improved heath, motivated only by helping the most vulnerable,” said Susan Moore, Director of Health Care for Food For The Poor/Jamaica. “The medical team displayed concern, love and care during their mission here. This was greatly appreciated by the patients with whom they interacted and they earned the respect and admiration of the local health practitioners.”
Dr. Jerry Muehlberger, a retired physician from Boerne, Texas, was moved by the care and concern of the existing medical staff in Jamaica, as well as by the attitudes of the people who came to the clinics.
“We were able to just walk in, be absorbed and immediately start treating people,” he said. “As a result of the trip, I’m going to do something I wouldn’t have done – I’m going to volunteer one day a week at a local clinic.”
Leigh Brewer, a firefighter/paramedic from Riverside, Ohio, said she was so energized by the trip that she found it hard to sleep the first few nights after she returned.
“I’ve got all these ideas based on what I saw there,” she said. “The people there just really touched me. You can’t leave those places without feeling loved.”
During the trip, the medical team worked at the clinics in the mornings and visited local orphanages, and homes for the handicapped and elderly in the afternoons.
Food For The Poor continues to provide support to the public health sector in Jamaica through the distribution of medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals. All public hospitals, health centers and institutions benefit from the donations and Food For The Poor is some times the first organization called upon when there is a need in the health sector. Another medical mission trip is being planned for 2010. If you are interested in being part of a team, please e-mail [email protected].
Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the United States, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information please visit, www.foodforthepoor.org
Contact:
Kathy Skipper
Marketing/PR Manager
954-427-2222 x 6614
[email protected]