Five of My Own: Going to El Salvador

No I'm not adopting again.

I’m excited to share that in August I am taking a team of Physicians and Physician Assistants to El Salvador to take part in a Medwish International medical brigade. In all there will be 40 of us going including my team of 10. We expect to treat up to 1,500 patients in 3 days!

Medwish is an amazing organization with a simple goal; recycle supplies and equipment US hospitals throw away and reuse them in developing countries around the world. I am beyond proud to be working with them in this brigade.

Some of you might recognize Medwish as the organization that has provided medical supplies for my adoption and mission trips. In fact over the past year they have supplied about a 1,000 pounds of supplies and equipment including; wheel chairs, syringes, stethoscopes, cath kits, IV starts, sterile gauze, exam gloves, audioscpes and nebulizers which I have had the privilege of delivering to orphanages in China and Kazakhstan.

Last month following an urgent request from a foster home in China Medwish was able to supply 120 feeding tubes in just hours which we then arranged to have transported to Beijing.

Literally our trash was used to help save a child's life. It's mind blowing.

A sweet baby boy we met in Beijing last March. Medwish was able to supply the syringes and feeding tubes needed to keep him alive.

My association with Medwish started with my personal “missions” but have now extended to a more formal relationship. Since returning from my trips to China and Kazakhstan I’ve been searching for a way to make an impact. As CEO of an emergency medicine management company I had valuable connections with physicians I could leverage. I knew that with the combination of Medwish’s supplies and my company’s clinicians we could make a huge impact. Plus I really wanted to give my physicians the opportunity to experience the renewal of spirit that comes from humanitarian aid trips.

So several months ago I introduced a plan to transform our group into one that practiced medicine with a mission.

We started by becoming a “Global Partner” sponsor with Medwish. That was the easy part-just money. Next and much more importantly we committed to sending 10 physicians annually to treat patients in the brigades. We also are sponsoring the transport of 2,000 pounds of medical equipment to El Salvador this summer.

And, we are already in discussions about a long term emergency medicine project in Haiti.

These projects may not be adoption related but I don't see that it is too far removed from it. I guess I can't help but believe (hope) that these are the kind of efforts that help relieve in some small way the pressures that cause children to lose their original parents in the first place.

If adoption is a last resort then perhaps caring for the world’s vulnerable families should be our first option.

In any event I consider it an honor and a blessing to be able to participate in this good work .