India – Monday Will Be A Great Day
These mission trips never cease to amaze me. I have spent the last four years traveling as part of the Uganda Medical Mission Team so I know my way around a mission trip. I have seen a lot and I have witnessed many great things since connecting with Medical Missions Foundation and I am writing today to say that although no surgeries have begun here yet, I am moved by many things that I have already seen in our short time here in Bhopal, India.
It is no secret the travel is tough, but you do what you have to do to get where you need to go. You are with a group of fun, like-minded people so the time really does go by quickly. Somehow the group gels immediately to do whatever is needed to make this a smooth and successful mission. I don’t have a medical background but I understand what I am seeing and when you are part of a medical mission team you will see a level of commitment and caring that far exceeds what you think can be given.
We just finished Sunday here in Bhopal and that is the day each doctor screens potential patients. The hospital did a magnificent job getting people in front of our team for possible treatment and surgery. There are three surgeons with us, as well as their supporting cast, and at the end of a few hours of pre-screening patients there are already 24 surgeries scheduled for Monday. I have the opportunity to watch, listen, and photograph each doctor as they work side by side with a translator and a medical member of the hospital. They don’t hesitate. They don’t waste a minute. Doctors are screening patients, nurses are setting up pre- and post-op as well as checking supplies. It all just starts to happen. It is like at some point in their life they were programmed to know exactly what to do when they are exhausted from travel, plopped in the middle of a foreign country, but yet they can function at a level that is quite simply impossible to believe.
Twenty-four cases on Monday with a full week ahead. I am excited to get tomorrow started. This mission is shaping up to be one of those trips that you look back on and wonder “how did we do that?” This is Medical Missions Foundation’s first year here. I am lucky: I get a front row seat to watch a team of people, through the support of their family, friends, and donors have the courage to make a trip over 8000 miles from home, to help people across the world. I will do my very best to tell you the stories because your support has made a difference already. You all deserve to capture the same feeling I am having. The look on the faces of those that heard today they would receive treatment during this medical mission said it all and I will say to you now, this story is just beginning because you have sent a wonderful team of people to represent you.
