2010 Medical Aid for Vietnam Mission
July 18 – August 01, 201
Tiếng Việt
MISSION SUMMARY
Medical Aid for Vietnam 2010 mission started on Sunday, July 18 with 42 volunteers from Canada, USA and Vietnam gathered in Saigon for briefing and introduction. Normally, the mission would divide into two smaller teams but because the number of non-medical volunteers was much more than medical professionals, the mission remained just one team. This, therefore, was the largest one team ever.
The next day, Monday July 19th, our Team flew on a classic Russian-made dual engine ATR 72 propeller to Pleiku Airport where two chartered buses (one to carry our volunteers and another to transport our luggage and medical supplies) took us on a road journey for more than one hour in the dark and down-poured rain to Kontum. A cool morning mist and cloud hanging low over the Dakbla River welcomed us as we awoke at 5:30AM and got ready for our first outreach medical mission.
We worked with Kontum’s ethnic minorities for the next three days, the first day at Konzeréh village and the second and third day at Vinh Son’s orphanage.
On morning of Friday July 23rd, we traveled by buses back to Pleiku where our Team rested and recuperated. The following two days, we worked again with minorities people at Plei Chuét village. Some patients walked as far as 7km to come to see our doctors. Most of them speak different dialects so we needed to utilize local volunteers to help us with communication and interpretation. Poverty in both Pleiku and Kontum is sadly visible but it’s the people’s child-like innocence, simplicity and honesty that really touched our hearts. We left Kontum with full memories and energy.
Another 275km road journey on buses took us to our next outreach site in Tuy Hoa. We stopped for lunch in Qui Nhon, the city where we originally scheduled to work for two days but cancelled due to current on-going government political activities. We arrived in Tuy Hoa on late afternoon of Monday July 26th.
Next day, we worked at a school for the children run by the Sisters of St. Paul in Tuy Hoa. The following day we travelled to Nha Trang and rested that afternoon. Our last outreach clinic (Thursday July 29th) was in Cam Phuoc Dong, a village 55 kilometers from Nha Trang.
Our team enjoyed a whole day 5-island boat tour on a beautiful and sunny Friday. We packed our medical supplies and then gathered for diner by the ocean. We left Nha Trang the following morning and our mission ended as our volunteers departed to various places.
Together, our Medical Team served 6,121 patients (4,277 for medical check-up, 1,014 for dental and 830 for vision). We gave out more than 525 pairs of eye glasses. We also gave out 4,200 packs of gifts (400 at each site). We also paid for follow-up and post care treatments for 32 patients, and supported a charitable clinic in Kontum and high blood pressure treatments for patients in Hue.
2010 Medical Aid Mission Pictures
