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Summer 2003

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES NEWSLETTER
Issue No. 7 Summer 2003
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2003 Brent Society Distinguished Service Award
Presented to
Dr. Gilbert R. Irwin

Dr. Gilbert R. Irwin, founder of the Medical Missionaries, Inc., was awarded the Distinguished Service Award at a dinner on Friday, May 16, 2003, at the Fairview Park Marriott Hotel in Northern Virginia. The ceremony was attended by some 200 persons, including several clergy, Fr. Bob Cilinski, Pastor of All Saints Church, Fr. James Gould, Moderator of the Brent Society, Fr. John DeCelles, St. Michael's, Annandale, numerous state officials, i.e. State Senator Charles Colgan and the Honorable Richard Black and some 80+ Medical Missionary members from Manassas, Warrenton, Woodbridge, Haymarket, Fairfax, Leesburg, and Arlington.

The Brent Award for Distinguished Service was established in 1976 by the Most Reverend Thomas J. Welsh, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. The Brent Society continues a rich tradition of public witness in the promotion of spiritual, intellectual, and social opportunities in living the Catholic Faith. The Society makes it known that those honored serve their fellowman without regard to social, political, or economic stress, while courageously promoting the fundamental dignity and rights of mankind in the name of the Lord. Past Recipients of the Brent Award include Mildred F. Jefferson, MD, Founder, National Right to Life; the Most Reverend John J. Russell, Tenth Bishop of the Richmond Diocese; The Hon-orable Henry J. Hyde, U.S. Congressman; The Honorable Antonin Scalia, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; The Honorable Rick Santorum, U.S. Senator to name but a few who were honored.

The evening began with a 'Welcome Evangelizers!" by Mr. Charles Molineaux, President of the Brent Society. Dr. Joseph Strada, Brent Society member gave recognition to various State Senators and Congressman associated with The Right to Life Campaign. Fr. Gould did the Invocation prior to dinner being served. Following dinner, William J. McAveney M.D. from Leesburg, Virginia, a Medical Missionary active in field work with Dr. Irwin and a Brent Society member, was the catalyst in placing Dr. Irwin's name in for the award.

Dr. William J. McAveney's Introductory Remarks.

On October 12, 1992, 500 years after Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola, beginning the discovery and exploration of what we have since (perhaps arbitrarily) come to call North and South America, Pope John Paul II delivered a seminal address of his papacy as it relates to our portion of the planet. The occasion was the Fourth General conference of the Latin American Bishops in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic, an impoverished country which shares the island of Hispaniola in a historically tense relationship with the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere - Haiti.

A new concept was introduced by Our Holy Father, and reinforced in subsequent teachings - a notion that you and I do not just live in North America, but rather in "The Americas" - and that we have an obligation to share the riches which we in North America enjoy with our less fortunate brothers to the South.

As this new focus unfolded, Bishop Keating of our Arlington Diocese responded in 1994 by establishing St. Francis Mission in Banica, a community in the Dominican Republic located a few miles from the Haitian border.

By 1997, it was apparent to the then Pastor at St. Francis Mission, Father Donald Rooney, that there were enormous unmet medical needs in the area. He requested in a letter that Gilbert Irwin, MD, a parishioner at All Saints Church in Manassas, Virginia, see what he could do to help. Upon further on site investigation, it became obvious that one of the major local medical problems was the large numbers of sick Haitians flocking across the border a few miles away in a desperate search for medical care.

Thus, starting with his fellow parishioners at All Saints, Dr. Irwin founded and led Medical Missionaries in a large scale ef-fort to provide medical, dental, nursing, and engineering services to those who do not enjoy our atypical high standard of living, with a focus on the All Saints' Sister Parish of St. Thomas in Thomassique, Haiti.

The effort has attracted the support and involvement of hundreds of Northern Virginians from many professions and Faith traditions. In a minute, Dr. Irwin will tell you more, and ample printed information is available in the foyer.

Who is this Dr. Irwin? I never heard of him myself before I read an article about his efforts in the Arlington Herald two (2) years ago.

He is a native of Jersey City, New Jersey - We have a connection in that I earned my undergraduate degree there at the Jesuit St. Peters College. Dr. Irwin tells me he applied to St. Peter's, and at his interview was told his grades were not the highest and that he would have great difficulty becoming a physician. (The Jesuits are not always right in their judgments!!)

So he went to rival Seton Hall University for his under graduate work, and went on to Seton Hall/New Jersey College of Medicine, earning his MD in 1968. Following this, he did his residency training in Internal Medicine at Georgetown/DC General Hospital, served in the military where he took additional training in Infectious Diseases, and entered practice in Manassas, Virginia in 1973. Many of his fellow All Saints parishioners became his patients over the years in a busy medical practice.

Despite all the stresses and time pressures of this, he has been able to respond to this call, consistent with the Papal exhorta-tion, enlisting and leading a large team of committed lay people from diverse backgrounds, to serve the Poorest of the Poor.

Without further ado, I now turn the microphone over to Dr. Gilbert R. Irwin. . .
William J. McAveney, MD

Dr. McAveney is a graduate from St. Peter's College in 1962. His continuing work towards his MD and follow on include study at State University of New York; University of Iowa; University of Washington; Children's Hospital National Medical Center & University of Rochester. At these Schools he did his internship, residency, & Fellowship majoring in Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. He is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics and is a Fellow. He was active staff at Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, VA. & Loudoun Hospital Center, Leesburg, VA.

William J. McAveney, MD Dr. Irwin
Dr. Irwin's Address

Dr. Irwin began by recognizing those Medical Missionaries present at the dinner who have done so much in support of mis-sionary work for the Poorest of the Poor in the third world. He presented a slide show of his work. In 1997, at the request of a missionary priest stationed in Banica, Dominican Republic (DR), Dr. Irwin's Medical Missionaries work began. It was a small contingent of doctors and nurses who made their first trip to Banica to assess the real need. The trip was most reveal-ing and since that time, the work has escalated to where it is today, with a major goal of building a 125 bed clinic/hospital to help those with no outlet and no resources by which to pay for these most needy services. The goal, also includes, a building of ten (10) rooms to house those medical professionals who come to Banica and provide the needed services.

Dr. Irwin presented a summary of accomplishments since the work began in 1997. (A detailed write-up of all the details + other work can be gotten by reading our first six (6) Medical Missionaries Newsletters.) Thus 1997 saw some 2500 children in the mountain villages receive basic vaccines for the first time. Dr. Irwin witnessed first hand the difference of life in Virginia, versus the daily survival in the third world area just 500 miles from Miami Beach, Florida. One in good conscience could not say no to help those in need. In 1998, Medical Missionaries expanded to Haiti assisting refugees from Hurricane George which had devastated the Island. In 1999 the first full scale dental unit was set up in Banica. In addition, some 15,000 children were immunized in an area where the Hepatitis B carrier rate is 20 percent. In 2000, Medical Missionaries completed installation of a solar powered generator at the clinic in Banica and an emergency radio system for communicating with the outlying villages in the mountains. In 2001, the surgical team performed some 70 operations within one (1) week. In addition, 30,000 persons in Haiti and the Dominican Republic were immunized against pneumonia and meningitis. In 2002, sea containers with 20 tons of medical equipment and supplies of medicines went to Haiti, Dominican Republic, Ar-gentina, Jamaica and Nigeria. Also, surgical teams operated on many patients at the border between Haiti and Dominican Republic.

Medical Missionaries sends teams of doctors, dentists, nurses, technicians and other supportive personnel about three times a year to third world nations. Beside the medical teams providing numerous services, work with organizations from other parts of the United States help to support the many requests. Besides the help provided to those outside the United States, assistance continues to be given to American Indians on various reservations. We teamed with a group called, Caring and Sharing a group that works with peoples in Appalachia, Southern Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky, donating a large truck load of winter clothing serving some 4,000 very poor families. Medical Missionaries donated medical equipment and supplies, including wheel chairs and beds to Brain Injury Services of Northern Virginia to give to families who are caring for severely injured loved ones that could not afford the expense of buying these supplies. Finally, Medical Mission-aries made donations to So Others Might Eat (SOME) and other inner city Washington DC groups. Medical Missionaries is dedicated to service, does not seek public recognition, but is grateful for prayerful, material and financial support. For more information contact Dr. Irwin at (703) 361-5116, E-mail: medmissionaries@yahoo.com, or visit our Website: www.medicalmissionaries.info.

Presentation by Fr. Gould Dr. Irwin with Award Mr. Molineaux, Dr. Irwin, Fr. Gould

Ending a most eventful evening, the Presentation of the 2003 Award for Distinguished Service to Dr. Irwin was made by Fr. James Gould. Dr. Irwin thanked Dr. William McAveney, Mr. Charles Molineaux, and Fr. Gould. The ceremony ended with a closing blessing by Fr. Gould.

At the end of the ceremony several photos were taken as shown above. The evening marked a tribute to an outstanding per-son in Dr. Irwin. There is no one more worthy of such an esteemed award. In receiving the award, Dr. Irwin stated that he was receiving it not only of himself but for all the Medical Missionaries who work in the field and on the local level. A round of applause was given to him.

Dr. Irwin's Family Shirley & Linda of Dr. Irwin's Staff

Drs. Irwin, McAveney, Byrne Dr. & Mrs. LaRochelle & Ms. Williams

The Medical Missionaries extend thanks and gratitude to Dr. William J. McAveney who placed his name up for the award and to Mr. Charles Molineaux, Brent Society President, who realized the true dedication of service provided by those in-volved in providing free life saving healthcare to the Poorest of the Poor in the third world.

Also Medical Missionaries wishes to thank Mr. Benny Scarton of the Manassas Journal Messenger for his coverage of the Brent Society Distinguished Service Award.

Stan Sobczynski Newsletter Staff

President's Message

Spring 2003 has been a very busy time for sea containers. Medical Missionaries moved five sea containers in 30 days (about 100 tons of equipment, supplies, soap, etc.) to Nigeria, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Jamaica. In addition, direct aid to orphanages and clinics was pro-vided to Afghanistan via Afghan Relief Organization and individuals working in Haiti. Because we are still in need of a fork lift, the 100 tons was all moved by the hands of many volunteers. Although this work is very hard for a few people, it will literally help thousands of people in the recipient countries.

Here in Northern Virginia, direct support of brain damaged children, local health departments, and poor who don't qualify for any programs, supplies were donated for on-going care. We are still in need of volunteers for processing all donated items, particularly clothing. (Please con-tact Elsie Sullivan at 703-583-8218).

Trips to our mission base on the border of Dominican Republic and Haiti were set for May, June and October, 2003. Pro-grams there will include dentistry, pre-ventative medicine, acute care, preparation for the next surgical trip (see Ed Lawson comment on Surgical trip) and further radio/generator projects. At the same time, work continues on the building of the clinic in Thomassique, Haiti where a facility is being constructed to replace the one-bedroom currently serving as the hospital for 125,000 people.

Medical Missionaries was asked to pro-vide the educational program for the Haiti Parish Twinning Program, June 6-7, 2003 in Indianapolis, Indiana. This program marks the 25th anniversary of the program that pairs up Haitian and American par-ishes. Theresa Patterson of Nashville, Tennessee, the head of the Twinning or-ganization, has managed to get 360 plus pairs of parishes together. This program represents the largest non-governmental group giving direct aid to the people of Haiti annually. This is a remarkable challenge in view of the chaos of Haiti and the world in general.

The requests made to Medical Mission-aries continue to grow with each passing month. Your support for our funding raising events (Golf Tournament, September 11, 2003 and Family Fun Day, September 27, 2003) as well as direct donations are very much needed and ap-preciated by the poor of the world. Be-cause we are an all volunteer organization, all your donations go directly to our proj-ects (teams going over seas, sea contain-ers, building clinics, radio/power supplies, etc.).

In the last five years Medical Missionar-ies has sent over 65 million dollars worth of supplies, medicines, vaccines to Haiti and Dominican Republic for an out of pocket cost of $175,000. The value added to every dollar donated to Medical Mis-sionaries is approximately 400 to one!

Medical Missionaries is still in need of ground level storage space - barns, vacant garages, etc. - call 703-361-5116 if long-term use of space is available.

Wilderness/Survival Weekend

Medical Missionaries sponsored a week-end in the Virginia Mountains for volun-teers interested in gaining more experience for going over seas with confi-dence and efficiency. Many topics were covered including basic camping tech-niques, fire building, water acquisition and purification, clothing, preparation of food and other survival skills. Tom Campbell provided great insight into map reading, camping skills and mountaineer-ing with excellence. Additional support from our Fire Chief, Charles Patullo added to the event. Brian Brenner dis-cussed emergency auto repair. The devel-opment of rain provided a realistic focus on dealing with the elements in the wild.

The experience was a learning experience for all for future training programs in addition to being a "fun course".

Medical Missionaries
Surgical Mission
Banica, DR
November 2002

Early one Saturday morning in November, a group of highly skilled, dedicated, moti-vated, and generous medical personnel met in the waiting room of the office of Gil Irwin, MD. Our mission: to deliver surgical services to the poor and needy in the rural village of Banica, Dominican Republic.

The group consisted of four surgeons, one anesthesiologist, one nurse anesthetist, one surgical nurse, one scrub nurse, one general duty nurse, and one other volun-teer to assist the medical team. In addi-tion, the engineer for the Banica mission traveled with us.

Air travel followed by a 5-hour overland bus trip brought us to our destination where we were met by Fr. Pat and some of his "boys." We were weary, to be sure, and following a brief meal of pizza, we made our beds and turned in for the night.

There were two goals next morning:
1. Identify patients who would require our services during the succeeding five days.
2. Prepare the operating rooms, iden-tify and prepare the pre-surgical area and recovery room, prepare surgical and anesthesia equipment, identify facilities for sterilization of surgical gear, and identify any equipment or supplies that would be needed but not available to us at that time.

That afternoon we went on a lovely trip to the Campos where we visited with fami-lies of the parish. These folks live in a truly remote area, high in the mountains with little in the way of modern conven-iences. The parish has been able to supply many of these families with running water - a true miracle - and something that these families needed. No longer would they have to walk miles just to obtain a few gallons of water of questionable pu-rity. Now they would have one of the true necessities of life delivered to them.

We distributed packets of food to the families and pieces of candy to the kids - both gratefully received. On our way back down into Banica, one family we met asked for an received a roadside con-sultation from two of our surgeons - the child they examined on the roadside was one of our patients later in the week. In the evening, we attended mass and were introduced to the community.

Monday morning we began delivering surgical services to patients who had been identified the preceding day. Our first patient was a 2 year old with a large um-bilical hernia. We concluded the delivery of surgical services that Friday at noon. Over that 4-½ day span, we did over thirty cases, all under some form of regional or local anesthesia. Most cases were relatively minor such as excision of ganglion cysts or hernia repairs, but we also did three larger intra-abdominal cases: exci-sion of a prostate in an elderly man who had difficulty urinating because of the enlarged prostate, and two large uterine or ovarian tumor removals.

Our patients were highly motivated and cooperative. As mentioned previously, anesthetics were all regional and local. We had essentially no drugs for sedation. All of the patients were quite pleasant and accepted the care provided to them with thanks.

Everything went smoothly, in spite of the circumstances in which we found our-selves. For example, the primary operat-ing room did have air conditioning, but by the end of the second day the unit was rapidly failing. Fortunately, this was replaced by the next day. You would have to say that the air conditioning was marginal, and those who had to wear surgical gowns for any length of time was suffering. The secondary operating room had no surgical light, nor did it have an operating room table. Adequate lighting was obtained by moving the exam table to various locations in the room as the sun passed from east to west. There was essentially no air conditioning in the secondary operating room, and further, there were holes in the wall around the air conditioning unit which allowed for direct communication with the out of doors where there were cattle grazing next to the hospital. Also, the operating table in the primary operating room was antiquated, and many functions required of an oper-ating table were inoperable.

Actual surgical equipment was fairly limited, but we made do with it. Most of the suture and mesh was brought by the surgical team, as were the local anesthetics and spinal trays. The team brought sterile surgical gloves as well.

Sterilization presented a problem for the team. During the surgical trip prior to this mission, sterilization was accomplished using a rudimentary autoclave. This failed on the first day of our mission, and we were forced to use a cold sterilization technique - perfectly adequate for sterility, but required more time to accomplish. In addition, we had no access to running water in the surgical suite - needed for cleaning the instruments prior to sterilization - nor did we have any sterile water which was essential for rinsing the instruments after they had gone through the cold sterilization process.

We used virtually all of the IV fluids that had been in storage awaiting our arrival - many patients were dehydrated because of the heat outside and in the operating rooms. About half of our patients stayed overnight. The prospect of traveling home after surgery was not nearly as appealing as spending the night in the hos-pital on clean sheets and a nice bed (most of us would consider the conditions in the hospital wards less than hospital clean, the beds were ancient, squeaky, and probably not that comfortable).

One of the biggest issues we faced was controlling post-operative pain. We had very little long acting local anesthetics to infiltrate the surgical wounds, and we had a fairly limited supply of non-narcotic oral analgesics with which to supply our patients. We had no oral narcotic analgesics with which to medicate our patients.

We closed our trip leaving early Saturday morning for the return bus trip to Santo Domingo. After leaving our bags at the airport, we had a two-hour "vacation" at a restaurant on the clear waters of the Car-ibbean. Our return flight returned us to American soil late that night. We spent the next day recuperating before returning to work Monday morning.

Our patients were appreciative. The team was happy to be able to provide such services for the underprivileged in the community of Banica. To a person, I be-lieve that all members of the team would count it an honor to return to Banica and do our little part to help out those in need.
Ed Lawson, CRNA
Parish Twinning Program of the Americas Conference

The Parish Twinning Program of the Americas, under the direction of Theresa Patterson of Nashville, Tennessee, held its 25th anniversary in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 6-7, 2003. (See photos below). This group has about 60 medical teams that go to many different areas of Haiti. Medical Missionaries was asked to organize and moderate the speakers for the program which was attended by 300 doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other technical and interested lay people. Many medical topics of interest to those who work with the people in the poorest country in the western hemisphere were discussed.

Lectures by Drs. Kornetsky, LaRochelle and Irwin were presented. Dr. Paul Farmer, a Harvard Professor and internationally recognized expert on AIDS and tuberculosis and Director of Cange Hospital, Haiti gave the keynote address. The meeting was a great success and very beneficial to those working in the field as well as to teams that are starting to join a program for Medical missions.

Medical Missionaries has played a key role in distributing hundreds of supplies, equipment, medicines and vaccines to this group over the last four years. Theresa Patterson deserves great credit in organizing the program into the largest American non-profit group helping almost one-third of this population of Haiti directly. The potential for expanding this program was discussed at this meeting.

Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Theresa Patterson & Paul Farmer, MD

Part of 300 attendees at the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas Conference
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Letter of Thanks

Alexandria Health Dept.
527 N. S. Asaph St.
Alexandria, VA. 22314

April 30, 2003

Dear Dr. Irwin,

Thank you very much for your contribu-tion of a wheel chair to a gentleman needing this in the last days of his life. Sadly he died before getting back to his home country. We will pass the wheel chair on to the next person without re-sources to purchase this necessary item.

Sincerely,

Debby Diman
PHN Supervisor

FLANAGAN'S BALL

To some people "Flanagan's Ball" refers to a huge annual dance held in the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin. To the June 2003 team of Medical Missionaries it is a small utility building attached to a storage shed at El Centro in Banica. Once Craig Flanagan completed this little structure, the ball started rolling. An aborted attempt to salvage a vintage gasoline-operated electrical generator led to acquisition of a brand spanking new ONAN 12.5 KW Diesel. It will reliably provide power for the rapidly expanding Clinic as well as the dormitory, refrigera-tors, microwaves, and construction tools. We simply needed something to put in Craig's shelter. We couldn't allow all the lad's efforts to go for naught, could we? Don't even think it! Once the floor was poured with concrete and leveled (thanks to Fr. Gee and his troops) it was ready. The big red donation funded the Academy of Oral Dynamics, in memory of Dr. Stanley Knebleman, was installed and waiting orders to cover our amperage and give us "watt fer".

Underground electrical cable was run from Flanagan's Ball through the circuit breaker in the Clinic and, back underground, to the pavilion, then up and through the roof of the pavilion to leap airborne, to join with the solar hookup in the dormitory. Like magic, we were in charge. Let there be light, let there be water from the shower, let there be dental drills, let there be microwaves.
We established three regions of work: Banica, Pedro Santana, and Haiti. Joe Ireland and Anita Wilson and the muchachos would install the "new" equipment in the Banica/El Centro clinic. This gallant effort would afford twice the operating capability and productive potential for Dr. Mike Morch and his "biggest ever" dental team, which will arrive in July. Bill Shelton and Ron Burrell headed for Pedro Santana to wire an inverter system for the local Nuns. This allows the good sisters to charge batteries while the local electric power is available so that they might have continued service, for up to 6 hours during the routine daily outages. They installed one of the 7.5 KW Onan diesels there and made our new liaison and pastor, Fr. Daniel Gee, just as happy as the nuns.

Ron Dougherty and I, insect repellant, water jug, and camera in hand, set out for the wet western front. The rainy season in the land rover Republic makes for an eventful and thought-provoking journey. Fr. Ronell and Fr. Caume, his new associ-ate, are men of few words, but always incredibly agreeable.

Thomassique bustled. The twining pro-gram was obviously in motion. The church demolition was all but underway, the foundation for the shelter which will house the new Medical Missionary generator was being poured, and the St. Thomas's muddy grounds was being continually stirred by building committee members, masons, demolition crews, cleaners, cooks and laborers. I could eas-ily discern that Theresa Patterson's co-twin parish St. Henry's, Nashville, Tennessee group continues to be active.

On the outskirts of town, at the Medical Missionaries building site, the scene was similar. Not near as muddy, not quite as many laborers, not as much confusion, but similar. The enthusiasm was obvious despite the sloppy humid environment and the set backs necessitated by the daily downpours. The septic tank has been placed, but remains temporarily watertight and without a "field". It is presently being used to hold water used in the construction of the great water tower. As I peered at what is the tallest and most ominous structure in area, I reasoned that this monumental structure can and will serve as a reservoir for an out-patient clinic, a hospital facility and a staff residence. The young workers lined up vertically on the make-do, half-straight wooden ladder gazed down at me as they passed from one to the other the heavy bucket of cement. I decided that all is well as it can be in Haiti.
Dr. E. Paul Byrne

Medical Mission Conference

Plans are coming together for the Medical Missions Conference 2003 to be held at Prince William Hospital, Manassas, Virginia on Saturday, September 20th and Sunday, September 21st. See page on Medical Mission Conference for full details. The education program is sponsored by Medical Missionaries and the CME Department of Prince William Hospital. The registration fee of $50.00 in-cludes the education program, meals, CME and CEU credits.

Attendees of last year's one day seminar found the information presented to be helpful to their endeavors as medical missionaries. This year we will discuss additional subjects that will assist the health professional and lay person engage in useful health aid in underdeveloped regions. Opportunities will be provided to learn about problems affecting the Third World in general (TB, AIDS, malaria, malnutrition) and the current approaches in areas with limited resources. Skills that might come in handy for the health missionary will be taught in workshops entitled:

1. Basic orthopedics: fractures, disloca-tions. Treatment where there is no orthopod.
2. The uncomplicated and complicated delivery
3. Fitting donated eyeglasses to the right person. The color of the frames is not the most important thing.
4. For dentists and others interested. How to set up dental missions. Choice of equipment, extractions, restoration, dental hygiene, fluoride
5. Setting up radio communications
6. Pediatric topics in the third world
7. Surgical teams on a mission
8. Water issues: theoretical and practical
9. Dr. Gil Irwin: The logistics of the medical mission

Other presentations have been scheduled as follows:
Ed Tramont from NIH on Global AIDS, Dx and Tx.
ED Mitre, MD. from NIH on Parasitic disease, eradication programs, filiariasis.

Speakers on malaria and dengue fever:
Dr. Northup from Project Hope will be discussing topics in preventive health in the Third World.
Dr. Mede Clinical case presentations
Nutrition in third world and topics in breast feeding
Bob Wilson Medical projects in Uganda.

Health professionals and lay people, those who regularly go on medical missions and those who are thinking of volunteering, will find this program useful.

If you are interested in attending this very practical and relevant seminar please contact irwinmed@aol.com or medmissionaries@yahoo.com. For information, comments or to suggest a speaker or topic please email kkornetsky@msn.com.

Ken Kornetsky ,M.D.

Medical Missionaries, Inc.
3rd Annual Golf Tournament
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Fairfax National Golf Club Centreville, Virginia

Schedule of Events

8:00 AM Early Bird Registration
8:45 AM Rules & Tournament
Information
9:00 AM Shotgun - 4 Man Scramble
2:00 PM Lunch/Award Ceremony

Extra Activities

Closest to the Pin
Double or Nothing Par Three
Hole-in-One
Mulligan Sales

Tournament Format

Team to Consist of 4 Players
Per Player Cost -- $115.00
Teams Play -- "Captain's Choice"
Prizes Will Be Awarded

Tournament Sponsor

Hole Sponsor $150.00
Beverage Cart Sponsor $200.00
Premium Hole Sponsor $250.00
Lunch Sponsor $350.00

**Calling all Golfers- We invite you to come and play. Have fun golfing and help the Medical Missionaries, a non-profit organization, to provide Medical Healthcare to the World's Poorest of the Poor.

**To Play and or Sponsor Please Call Shirley Armel at (703) 361-6480

FAMILY FUN DAY
FALL EXTRAVAGANZA

It is just around the corner, Saturday, September 27, 2003 come join us at the Prince William County Fairgrounds. It should prove to be a most enjoyable day for persons of all ages.

Morning 5K Healthcare Race. Fun Day begins starting at 8:00 AM with a 5k run/walk followed by a post-race cham-pagne/pancake breakfast. Early Registra-tion Fee for this event is $20.00, if done by September 22nd. Late and Race Day registration is $23.00. Race entry in-cludes a T-shirt and the post-race cham-pagne/pancake breakfast for registered runners. Family members of registered runners may purchase additional tickets to the breakfast on race day for an additional $5.00per person, maximum of $25.00 per family. T-shirts are not guaranteed to race day registrants. Pre-Race Packets Pick-Up will be done on Friday, September 26th from 5 PM to 8 PM at the Prince William County Fairgrounds.

Awards: Awards will be given to the top 3 male and female overall finishers and to the top 3 male and female finishers in the following age groups: 12 & under, 13-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70 & over. Seniors 55 and up are encouraged and welcomed to extend their exercise and improve their health week by joining us at the fairgrounds on Saturday morning. A Doctor will be on the grounds all day.

Family Style Fun Activities. Following the race, family members of all ages are encouraged to join in the many other ac-tivities. Games will include: Closest to the Pin Golf Contest, Basketball Shoot-out, Punt, Pass and Kick Contest, Surf Casting Contest, Three-Legged Race, Tug-of-War Contest, and Reversed

Tractor Pull to name the majority of ac-tivities that will take place. Age catego-ries will be considered for participants in the various activities for fair and balanced consideration. During the games and throughout the day a barbeque/hot dog/hamburger lunch and dinner will be available at a very reasonable cost. Also during the day their will be a extraordinaire magician performing at various times. Wait until you see Major Gen. John Pesch dazzle you with his added skills in proving that the hand sometimes is quicker than the eye. Live music will be available through the day as performed by the talented doctors, dentists,
nurses and professional who work here at home and abroad in the mission fields. You will be amazed at their secondary job skills, but delightful. With the food and music you will continue to enjoy the other activities that will take place much of the day i.e., Bake Sale, Silent Auction, Live Auction, Arts/Craft Sale, Yard Sale, Horse/Pony Rides, and Moon Bounce.

Cash Draw Down; At 4:00 PM there will be a Cash/Bash draw down with lots of opportunities to win money and prizes with a Grand Prize of $10,000.00. For more information or to purchase tickets for the Fundraising Gala & Cash Draw Down, Please call (703) 361-5116.

Family Fun Day Request for Help: To make this event a financial success in order to support our mission work in providing Free Healthcare to 3rd World peoples who have no resources by which to pay, we will need help in sev-eral ways. This can be accomplished as follows:
1) We welcome your donation of time perhaps 2-3 hours working with our all volunteer staff. Come spend some time and enjoy the day.
2) We will need a host of items donated to be used in the various booths and for the various events. Whatever you can provide, large or small is wel-comed. This can include food items (cakes, cookies, candy etc), various type prizes, (gifts in all ranges from simply inexpensive to medium to ex-pensive for prizes). Gift certificates whether it be for food, dinner, other types of prizes are most welcome.

Fun-Day Program Book: Jeff Brougham and Brian Brenner are working hard in putting together a program book for this event. The various categories and costs include the following:

Benefactor $500.00
Event Sponsor $250.00
Full-Page Advertisement $100.00
Half-Page $50.00
Quarter-Page $25.00
Patron $20.00
Contributor $10.00

Any support that you give this most charitable effort is most appreciated, simply call, (703) 361-5116.

Staff

Summer Raffle Winners
June 27, 2003

Luggage set Phyllis Arbaiza
Captain's chairs Jackie Purdy
Collapsible cooler Alice Iddings
& picnic set

MEDICAL MISSIONS
CONFERENCE

Third World Missionary Medicine

Malaria
Global AIDS
Assessment of Health Systems
Nutrition
Filariasis
Preventive Medicine Programs
Breakout Sessions: Orthopedics, Water Supplies, Obstetrics,
Medical Missionary Team Formation, Surgery

Saturday, September 20 - Sunday, September 21, 2003
7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
8:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Prince William Hospital
4th Floor Health Center Conference Rooms ABC

Target Audience: All interested healthcare professionals, laymen, and volunteers interested in participating in healthcare missions to third world countries.

Objectives: After the program participants should be able to: (1) describe ways to become more effective and efficient in providing health care to the Third World countries; (2) develop protocols; (3) identify resources; (4) discuss mission logistics, and (5) assist newly-formed medical teams with planning, organizing, supplying, and carrying out successful medical missions.

Educational Credit: Prince William Hospital is accredited by the Medical Society of Virginia to sponsor Continuing Medical Education for physicians. Prince William Hospital designates this Continuing Medical Education activity for 10.0 credit hours in Category 1 of the Physician's Recognition Award of the American Medical Association.

EACH PHYSICIAN SHOULD CLAIM ONLY THOSE HOURS OF CREDIT THAT HE/SHE ACTUALLY SPENT IN THE ACTIVITY.

This newsletter is published by Medical Missionaries Inc.
Manassas, VA.

Executive Director: Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Newsletter Staff:
Mary & Stan Sobczynski
Board Members
Other Volunteers

Medical Missionaries can be
contacted as follows:

Gilbert R. Irwin, MD
9590 Surveyor Court
Manassas, VA 20110
Telephone: (703) 361-5116
Fax: (703) 361-5876
E-mail: medmissionaries@yahoo.com
Website: medicalmissionaries.info

Summer 2003

Winter 2003

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES NEWSLETTER Issue No. 8 Winter 2003 ***************************************************************************************************

President's Message

The Fall of 2003 has been a very busy time for the volunteers of Medical Missionaries. Two major fund raisers, the 3rd Annual Golf Tournament, and Family Fun Day netted approximately $40,000 for the construction fund for the Thomassique, Haiti clinic. Children's games at the Family Fun Day, Auction at the Family Fun Day, A Medical Mission Education Conference attended by many groups dealing with health care in the Third World was well received. This program not only provided technical data on health care in the Third World but also focused on a discussion of organiza-tional and logistic issues so crucial to maintaining continuity in a program.

In rapid succession following the three events in September, a team of 24 volunteers went to Banica, Dominican Republic (DR) and Thomassique, Haiti from 16 to 24 October, 2003. During that time, hundreds of people were seen for clinical consultations. Progress at the medical site for the clinic is apparent with completion of the 30,000 gallon water tower for the Water Tower complex and the start of the founda-tion for the staff house. Under the direction of Francois Larouche, a Haitian architect, many laborers toil to bring the clinic to a reality. This project has been vividly grasped by the people of Thomassique who currently only have a one bed room serving as a hospital for 125,000 people. Although surrounded by overwhelming poverty, malnutrition and disease, the completion of this clinic will represent a major advancement for thousands for generations to come. More medical personnel will routinely go to Thomassique which will have the basic lab and diagnostic procedures available for use by the health personnel.

In order to complete this project in the next year, more funds will be needed. With your continued support, help and prayers, this project is possible. I ask you to consider giving a donation during this time of year which will be the greatest Christmas gift of all, some hope for 125,000 abandoned people. Although this work is long, hard and filled with frustration, the thanks coming from the people are from their hearts. A child grows, a mother survives a difficult delivery, wounds are healed, an old man gets relief from arthritis after years of holding a machete in the field are simple signs of making, a difference. You can help us to help them and ultimately themselves with your donation. May God bless you and your families during the 2003 Christmas Season.

Gilbert R. Irwin. MD Board of Directors President Gilbert R. Irwin, MD Vice-President Ken Kornetsky, MD Secretary Carolyn Jeans, RN Treasurer Brian Brenner Paul Byrne, DDS Charles La Rochelle, DDM Ron Burrell

This newsletter is published quarterly by Medical Missionaries Inc. Manassas, VA. Executive Director: Gilbert R. Irwin, MD Newsletter Staff: Mary & Stan Sobczynski Board Members Other Volunteers Medical Missionaries can be contacted as follows:
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD 9590 Surveyor Court Manassas, VA 20110
Telephone: (703) 361-5116
Fax: (703) 361-5876
E-mail: medmissionaries@yahoo.com
Website: medicalmissionaries.info

Golden Agers The Golden Agers of All Saints Church continue to gather items each month to help meet the needs of Medical Missionaries. During the month of November we brought in towels and wash cloths along with sheets and pillow cases. It is such a joy to be able to do our part for those in need. Also, we keep in prayer these wonderful teams who travel to these remote places to serve the Poorest of the Poor. It is hard to believe that they give up so much of their time, so unselfishly to help. We are thankful for them. Keep up the good work! The Golden Agers will continue to do whatever they can to help Dr. Irwin and Medical Missionaries in their endeavor.

Mary Ellen Merchant Report on Missionary Medicine Seminar 2003:

The second seminar sponsored by Medical Missionaries and Prince William Hospital was held on September 20 and 21. Despite Hurricane Isabel and the very real threat of power outages and flight cancellations the meeting was well attended and enthusiastically received. Attendees came from as far away as Texas, Georgia, and Boston. All of our speakers, all of whom are volunteers, were able to give their presentations. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the speakers, the attendees, our many volunteers, and the CME department of Prince William Hospital who contributed to making this year's session another outstanding and practical learning experience. When referring to the conference I find that I use several different descriptive titles, "Third World Missionary Medicine", "Missionary Medicine," Medicine for the Western Healthcare Professional Working in Underdeveloped and Poor Areas." These titles reflect the following themes that were addressed in depth at the conference. 1. The medical missionary must know how to approach medical problems with less diagnostic, therapeutic, and consultative re-sources. 2. One may need to address problems outside his or her area of expertise. 3. In planning an ongoing health commitment to a geographical area, thought needs to be given to prioritizing which problems can be addressed and attempt to work in concert with other charity, local, and in country government groups so as not to duplicate ef-forts. 4. Further one must learn more about the people, find out what they view as their needs and work with them.

To these ends the following sessions were held. Lt. Colonel Karen Geisler, head of the nutrition research department at Walter Reed Hospital discussed nutritional deficiencies found in impoverished areas. She also conducted a hands-on session demonstrating nutritional as-sessment tools. Cindy Curtis, R.N. lactation specialist from Culpepper Hospital was present to discuss lacta-tion problems. Ed Mitre, M.D. from the NIH parasitology lab returned again this year to expand on his lecture, "A Few Hel-minthes and Then Some," covering intestinal worms and some protozoa as well.

It was very entertaining and this year not before lunch. Dr. Jorge Arias, PhD., a medical entomologist with many years of field work in South America maintained the audience's enthusiasm with his presentation on insect borne diseases including malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis, filariasis. (His excellent Power Point presentation is available for viewing through the PWH Library). Dr. Austin Moede with years of service in endemic malaria areas discussed the practical and current clinical ap-proach to this very significant disease. Hands-on and break-out session provided more "How to" opportunities. Dr. Paul Byrne and Dr. Mike Morch discussed dentistry programs for mission groups including fluoride programs. Dr. and Mrs. James Fields from the Methodist Medical Mission programs were in attendance and shared their experiences with fluoride programs as well as other mission endeavors. A demonstration was also given by Dr. Byrne on local dental anesthesia. Margot Watson, MD. an obstetrician demonstrated how to manage a delivery using a demonstration delivery model. Dr. Jeffrey Wise conducted a demonstration session in orthopedics with actual casting and splinting. Ron Burrell, Tom Campbell, and Charlie Patullo led a discussion of engineering to support mission trips as well as establishing power sources and radio communications. Pete Benedetto presented a talk on water and water purification. Dr. Gil-Montero and Dr. James White reviewed their experiences and recommendations on surgical mission trips. Dr. Bill McAveney, a pediatrician, discussed the approach to diarrhea and re-hydration in children. Dr. Bill Royal, optometrist, discussed his experience fitting eyeglasses on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. He demonstrated a new device "the Autorefractor" (see below) that would permit non eye specialists with minimal training to fit eyeglasses. Dr. Gil Irwin and Bob Wilson offered advice on mission planning and logistics. Jennie Smith, PhD., an anthropologist with a special interest in the Caribbean, talked about how programs to provide aid often miss the mark espe-cially when they do not include the people they are supposed to be helping. The next day Dr. Robert Northrup from Project Hope expanded on the theme of maximizing the benefit in his discussion of programs that emphasize self help as well as preventive health care. Dr. Ed Tremont from NIH concluded the conference with a review of the global efforts to address the AIDS epidemic.

One closing note -- there does appear to be a demand on mission trips for eyeglasses. However there is not always an optometrist available to match up the donated glasses with the patients. I believe the Autorefractor mentioned above could solve this problem. I propose that mission groups that are interested (e.g. in the Virginia area) buy a device together (cost $4500) and share it. For more information email me. The next medical mission seminar, all new and improved will be held in the spring 2005. You can e-mail me at kkornetsky@msn.com Ken Kornetsky, MD Treating hypertension in rural Haiti and the Dominican Republic

It has been a consistent observation that hypertension, often severe is common in rural Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It remains unclear what approach should be taken to hy-pertension. While high blood pressure would be expected extrapolating from studies done in more developed coun-tries to be the cause of stroke and car-diac disease later in life, I do not think much information is available about the prevalence of these conditions in Haiti. Perhaps as mortality from infection improves more cardiovascular disease will appear. Follow-up of patients has not been practical for a medical mission group that visits only sporadically. The choice of which medication to choose is difficult. The climate is hot and fluid and electrolyte loss is great. Medications that affect heart rate would not be a good choice without follow up. Ace inhibitors and Angiotensin receptor blockers at low doses may not be as effective in blacks. Short acting Dihydropyridines such as nifedipine are available on the island but as a one time per day dose would be ineffective and may be asso-ciated with increased cardiac mortal-ity. As a pilot project, Medical Mission-aries has identified about 100 patients in Haiti and Dominican Republic with severe hypertension (systolic greater than 180 or diastolic greater than 110) and has started them on medication from one of four categories. We will be following up with the patients every 2-3 months to monitor the effects on Blood Pressure and general health, to see which medication choices, if any, are effective and prac-tical to obtain. Follow up will be per-formed by medical mission volunteers and local Haitian personnel. Ken Kornetsky, MD

Golf Tournament September 11, 2003

I don't know how we keep getting so lucky, someone up there really likes us. The weather once again was perfect for the Golf Tournament at Fairfax National. I would like to thank all who golfed that day and many thanks to the new comers to the tournament. I hope all will be coming back next September and bring more teams. Medical Missionaries is doing great work with the money raised with the different fundraisers through the year. Many, many thanks; you make it a fun day for me. Shirley Armel

Banica and Haiti Dental Trip

The trip was from July 5-11 2003.

The first and last days were travel days, leaving early and arriving late. On July 6th, two dentists worked in the Banica clinic while two dentists set up in the pavilion. One dentist triaged patients and administered anesthetic. Portable equipment worked great; so did the Banica clinic. The next day, Fr Gee bused in patients from Campos and we also saw people that could not be seen in June. Some mornings we worked in the Banica clinic.

In the afternoon Dr. Mike Buglione and Dr. Dan Kelliher went to the Campos, while Dr. Margaret Stubblefeld, Dr. Njeri Njorge and I, with my son Bryan and Michelle (a UVA student) went to Haiti. We arrived about 3:00 PM and worked till about 8 PM. On July 9th, we worked in Haiti from about 7:30 AM - 10:30 AM, and then left for the Dominican Republic. The others who had stayed in the Dominican Republic worked in Banica.

On July 10th, we went with Fr. Jack to the Campos and worked there in the morning. The afternoon was spent cleaning up and organizing instruments etc. Fr. Gee asked us how much this amount of Dentistry would cost in the U.S.? A rough estimate is that we five dentists and assistants did approximately $85,000 worth of work.

Feed-back from the group was positive. The other four dentists seemed like they would go again. In the future, it would be better to have someone there who knows how to operate the equipment at El Centro. It seemed that it was slowly falling apart. Toward the end of the week there was no water in the dental clinic and we could not get the solar batteries to take over once the generator was turned off.

Mike Morch, DDS

Cookbooks

You can help the Medical Missionar-ies by purchasing the Pinch of Hope Cookbook on sale for $11.00. They can be purchased at Dr. Irwin's, Dr. Byrne's, Dr. Kornetsky's and Dr. Morch's offices.

Art Work for Sale / Donation At 9590 Surveyor Court, one can find relief assistance and relief for problems in one's health and guidance to recovery. In addition, one can find many forms of artwork. The artwork is primarily of wildlife and highlights scenes from, the west, northwest and southwest. Being fond of the outdoors and spending restful moments in them whenever possible, Dr. Irwin has found peace and rest in painting whenever time permits. His works are on display and for sale to raise money for the groups work. For a Tax Free donation of $75.00 each, you can acquire one or more of these paintings. By purchasing these paintings you can help support Medical Missionaries in their work with the Poorest of the Poor. See or call Shirley 703-361-5116 . Some paintings by Dr. Irwin

Family Fun Day Ca$h Lotto Results DD Drawn # Prize Finalist 098 1 637 $300 823 $300 114 $300 877 2 756 $300 170 $300 130 $300 310 3 444 $400 874 $400 220 $400 685 4 006 $400 759 $400 094 $400 847 5 128 $400 807 $400 133 6 459 $500 546 $500 944 7 962 $500 421 $500 821 8 536 $500 440 $500 299 9 181 $1,000 966 $1,000 720 $1,000 685 $1,000 551 $1,000 ` 910 10 Draw Down Finals D/D Drawn # Prize 1 877 None 2 098 None 3 847 None 4 944 None All Share 310 $1,667 All Share 685 $1,667 All Share 133 $1,667 All Share 821 $1,667 All Share 299 $1,667 All Share 910 $1,667

Congratulations to all winners and thanks to all participants for another successful Lotto/Draw-Down for the benefit of Medical Missionaries Engineering

Update:

An engineering excursion was made to Banica, Dominican Republic(DR) and Thomassique, Haiti 10/13 - 10/23.

The primary objective was to install the 7.5 KVA Diesel generator (shipped last Spring) and to provide lighting and electric power to the existing one bed room clinic in Thomassique. The veteran team comprised of Bill Shelton, Craig Flanagan and I was augmented with the very energetic Dave Eisel from Warrenton. Bill, our certified and licensed electrician, spent considerable effort teaching Dave the tricks of the trade (as well as all the appropriate codes for the DR and Haiti).

Dave proved to be a rapid learner and was a very valuable asset to the team. Being an international businessman, he also made significant progress in learning to communicate in Creole. Craig may be a retired schoolteacher, but he is still very agile and did most of the acrobatics required to string the wires. We managed to complete the clinic, connect the Rectory to the generator and run a single circuit to the Parish Hall. (One light bulb and a single receptacle for the building currently used as a temporary church). We could not connect the Inverter and the old solar panels because the 10 new 6-volt batteries never made it to Thomassique. We will try again in December to complete this backup system. The heat and humidity were ferocious, which make the Haitian Beer taste like the best premium beer in the world. It will be great when the new staff house in completed. The present accommodations are poor at best with only one working toilet for the many occupants and guests at the Thomassique Rectory.

I cannot describe the construction activities in process for the new church. Manual labor and ingenuity appears to more then compensate for the lack of modern con-struction tools.

Our return trip to Banica was a nightmare. It took eight hours for the 15-mile trip. We rode in the Land Rover, but watched and waited as the large truck struggled with the mud and erosion of the very questionable road. Bystanders at the many spots where the truck became stuck aided the on-board crew of four Haitians in digging it out. They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, but the picture below cannot nearly describe the mess that we drove through. View of the road and stuck truck on our way back from Thomassique to Banica Back in Banica, the engineering crew split up with Dave joining the Medical staff as an interpreter and medical technician. The rest of us had to service several faulty Village Radio power systems, perform Diesel main-tenance tasks, complete the El Centro battery bank rewiring and construct a shed for the Padro Santana Diesel power system.

Caring and Sharing Outreach

Many times I have been asked, as well as other members, whether we do any work locally or nationally - other than outreach mission in countries outside the US. The answer to this inquiry is that we do and the Caring and Sharing organization is one of them. During the late summer months Medical Missionaries provided an 18-wheeler truck load of clothing and household items. The Caring and Sharing group is headed by Sanford and Geneva Blankenship, Director and Coordina-tors respectively working in the many rural and outlying areas of southern Virginia. The group began its work initially while helping those persons who worked long and hard hours in coal mining country. Since those early days, when things were some-what prosperous, times and conditions have changed and now there is little or no work, conditions have become run down and the people are poor and destitute. The group has become aware of their plight and has been very busy trying to help them live a better life. Thus, along with some colleges and schools, Caring and Sharing has been active in helping them repair their homes, assisting with providing food and those unable to do so have been helped with preparing food for them as well as providing the same. When the need arises, Caring and Sharing has contacted Medical Mis-sionaries to give an assist, a helping hand.

The photo below shows the group and the Medical Missionaries loading the truck. From left to right: Dr. Gil Irwin, in truck, Geoff Brougham, Susie Cor-nell, Betty Lear Grundy, Charles Kitchen, Rick Mullins, Garland Dodson and Sanford Blankenship seated.

Stan Sobczynski

Holiday Raffle 2003

Medical Missionaries is having its Christmas/Holiday raffle. It is a way in which to raise some funds to support our work with the poor throughout the world. This year's raffle features many handcrafted works including a ceramic hand painted Nativity set, a very colorful handmade quilt and a handmade pottery dish. In ad-dition there are other gifts that will be provided the winners. Posters advertising this raffle can be seen at Dr. Irwin's, Dr. E. Paul Byrne's offices in Manassas and Dr. Mike Morch's office in Woodbridge. In Warrenton they can be seen at Dr. Ken Kornetsky's office and at St. John's Church.

The cost of one ticket is $1.00 or 6 for $5.00. See Shirley at Dr. Irwin's office or call 703-361-5116.

The raffle items will be awarded on Friday, December 19, 2003. We are grateful for your support.

This year's raffle includes: o Hand painted ceramic Nativity Set o Hand made afghan o Hand made pottery dish o 3-Month membership at Olympus Gym

Other gifts: o Lunch Buffet for 2 o Gift Certificates to: o J.E. Rice ($25.00) o Java Rock ($20.00) o Manassas Mall (10.00) plus Pro Image ($10.00) o Manassas Cinemas (6 passes) plus more o A Golf Fun Package o Fairfax National Golf Club -Green Fees (2) o Sunnybrook Golf - 2 jumbo baskets of golf balls o Magic Putting Place (2 passes)

Winter 2003

Spring 2004

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES NEWSLETTER
Issue No. 9 Spring 2004
**********************************************************************************************************
President's Message

The year 2003 was ever expanding for Medical Missionaries. Some major accomplishments include:

1) A total of 10 sea containers were sent to Haiti, Dominican Repub-lic, Nigeria, Jamaica and Palestine.
2) Construction of the medical clinic in Thomassique, Haiti was started and improvement was made to the clinic in Banica, Dominican Republic.
3) Multiple shipments of medicines and supplies were made to nine clinics in Afghanistan, five in Af-rican countries, and Central and South America.
4) Domestic outreach was made to Appalachia, Greater Washington DC, brain injured of Northern Virginia as well as needy local individuals.

All this work, and much more not mentioned, is done by dedicated volunteers who daily give of their time, treasure and talents.With the construction program in Haiti and the ever increasing number of requests, Medical Missionaries asks for your continued support. All donations go to support our efforts in the USA and overseas. There are NO PAID people or expensive publications etc. In the last five years, Medical Missionaries has sent over 65 million dollars of medicine and supplies to Haiti and the Dominican Republic for an out of pocket cost of about $175,000. The value of $1.00 donated thus becomes almost $400.
All donations to Medical Missionaries translate into direct contact with the very poor. Our volunteers in the field hold clinics, perform surgery, and provide dental work on thousands of people each year. Our distribution of supplies to other countries helps countless thousands who will never know, how, when and where that coat, medicine or bandage was collected and sent but they will be inspired. The work is endless and expanding. You can help children, mothers, the old and infirm to survive and make the world a better place. Thanks for your support and may God bless you and yours for all you do.
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Haiti Crisis
Political problems have once again torn apart Haiti. Rebel forces have overthrown the government of President Aristide in the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. As the chaos of the time once again settles down, the poor will need our presence in Thomassique, Haiti ever more. We need your prayers and support to continue to help the very poor people trying to survive day by day.
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Brief Details of Aid Provided
a) Bethlehem -
Holy Land At the request of Fr. Rooney of St Mary's Parish, Fredericksburg, VA, a sea container of medical supplies was sent to medical clinics in Palestine. The medical clinics are run by the Franciscans who treat the sick and in-jured in this turbulent area of the world. Ironically, this sea container left our warehouse the week before Christmas and like 2000 years ago, it went to Bethlehem. Medical Mission-aries is reaching out with the good hearted people of all Faiths striving to help the poorest of the poor.

b) Tajikistan-
Medical Missionaries in conjunction with Project Hope recently donated a large supply of hospital mattresses, wheelchairs, crutches and walkers to a hospital in Tajikistan. This area of the world, north of Afghanistan, has many problems related to the breakup of the Soviet Union. The universal common denominator of all Third World coun-tries is the cry of the poor and sick. Although Medical Missionaries is a small but rapidly growing organiza-tion, we receive many requests for help from around the world. Medical Mis-sionaries tries to honor as many re-quests as possible with shipments of donated medical supplies to responsi-ble recipients in this country. The Third World needs our collective HELP. Together we can make a dif-ference, little by little.

c) Appalachia
On the domestic front, Medical Mis-sionaries in conjunction with another local nonprofit group, Caring and Sharing, sent two large truck loads of winter clothing, household items and baby clothes to Appalachia. This ef-fort helps to supply approximately 4,000 needy families in a poor area where
Board of Directors

President Gilbert R. Irwin, MD
Vice-President Ken Kornetsky, MD
Secretary Carolyn Jeans, RN
Treasurer Brian Brenner
Paul Byrne, DDS
Charles La Rochelle, DDM
Ron Burrell

This newsletter is published quarterly by Medical Missionaries Inc.
Manassas, VA.

Executive Director: Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Newsletter Staff:
Mary & Stan Sobczynski

Medical Missionaries can be contacted as follows:

Gilbert R. Irwin, MD
9590 Surveyor Court
Manassas, VA 20110
Telephone: (703) 361-5116
Fax: (703) 361-5876
E-mail: medmissionaries@yahoo.com
Website: medicalmissionaries.info

Unemployment is high. Medical Mis-sionaries has been routinely sending large quantities of clothing etc. for over a year. The people there are most appreciative.
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Have You Noticed?
Medical Missionaries' slogan has changed and as a result our Logo also. It seems that many people thought that we were strictly a Catholic organization. This impression is understandable because we work closely with the Catholic Mission in Banica, DR and the Catholic parish of St. Thomas in Thomassique, Haiti. We also get major support from All Saints Catholic Church of Manassas and have many of its members as volunteers. However, we also get support from many other non-Catholic Churches and Organizations as well as Christian and Jewish volunteers. Hence our Slogan changed to: "Striving to Help the Poorest of the Poor" becomes "People of All Faiths Helping the Poorest of the Poor"

Medical Missionaries Team
St. John's Church, Warrenton, VA
October 2003
The medical mission team from St. John's Church, Warrenton, VA, traveled to Thomassique, Haiti, to wire the clinic in preparation for the medical teams who came on Thursday, October 16, 2003. The team consisted of Vene Rodriguez, Eileen Drinkwater, David Eisel, Deacon Bernie, Peggy Ragan, and three other persons.

The team was met at the airport by Father Daniel Gee, Pastor of St. Francis in Banica. We cleared customs with 44 pieces of large luggage containing all the medications for those to be treated. While Father Gee kept talking to the customs hierarchy, the team continued passing through the line. Not one bag was opened.

The bus trip from Santa Domingo airport took 8 hours and included a stop at the side of the road, in the dark, to change a flat tire. At the beginning of this bus ride it was discovered that the brakes were malfunctioning and they were repaired by putting a square peg in a round hole; i.e.: a Dominican repair job. This was the first of many episodes that caused us to turn to prayer for comfort and protection of the medical team of 22 people including; college students, doctors, nurses, electricians, dentists, interpreters and helpers.

There were torrential rain showers each morning. The dirt roads are washed out creating craters in the road. The team became good at locating rocks to fill the ruts enabling us to continue the journey to the next village. The roads are the worst that we have seen in the past 5 years. Thus, the first assignment took us over 45 minutes of travel in a truck. As we reached one of the hills, we were unable to proceed because the road was impassable. Thus we turned around and went about another direction. Many bridges were washed out and we were forced to drive directly through the water.

The first clinic was at a village that did not have an inside center so we had to conduct clinic services on the outside under a tin roof held up by some sticks. The local inhabitants of goats and chickens watched as we set up our stations to evaluate our patients. Before each clinic, Father Gee would celebrate Mass; the people in attendance were dressed in their finest clothes.

At the clinic all adults were screened for high blood pressure. Those with elevated pressure were treated and given 30 days worth of medicines. They will be seen again to repeat the blood pressure tests to see if and how effective was the medication.

Records are kept by Anne, an American nurse practitioner, who has volunteered to work with Father Daniel Gee for a six month period. Her focus is Public Health and Blood Pressure Clinics. All pregnant women are being tested for HIV, malaria, and hepatitis. There was only one person tested positive for hepatitis and Father Daniel Gee arranged transportation to take her to a hospital in the capital to get treatment. All 15-25 year olds were screened for HIV; no one tested positive. That in itself was a true blessing.

Dan, our student member of the team, painted the names of each chapel on the outside of the building. Some of the chapels "compos" are brand new, recently constructed - several with funds from St. John's Church. Other chapels are in bad need of painting; this would be a great project for a group of teens during summer break. Also, many of the schools need to be painted inside and outside.

This year the team had the opportunity to spend time with the children in school. The children were taught how to use soap and water for hygiene; and, instructed in how to brush their teeth with boiled water. Tooth brushes and soap were collected at St. John's

Church every Sunday for the past year; we were able to distribute them to them on this trip. Many days we had a dentist with us. He inspected the children's teeth and did dental extractions. They had a lot of tooth decay because they chew sugar cane regularly.

Life and living in the Caribbean islands can be challenging; the insects were very busy this year because of the heavy rains. The team slept with mosquito netting but each morning we would wake up with red dots on our skin. The dots became blotches and were very itchy; but, would disappear in about 4-5 days.

While out on the road working the clinics, lunch was usually water and a granola bar. Once the children were in school, then the remaining members of the families would line up to be seen and they would be given the same education and treatment as the school children. Unfortunately, the team could not break for lunch because there were so many people to see and treat. After working 7-8 hours at one site, the team was always happy to return to El Centro in Banica. Here were had a hot meal waiting made for us by a cook Father Dan Gee hired. Generally, we ate beans and rice or rice and beans. When we asked people what they ate, they had limited access to rice, no fruit but mostly beans and corn. No milk or dairy products and limited meat of goat or chicken on special occasions. There is no obesity in Banica. Everyone is lean.

Our team members are very flexible. Patti does all our blood pressure work and she has never done this before. David draws the blood and has been taught how to test blood for HIV, malaria, and hepatitis. He is a great blood technician; we have on the job training. Bernie is the Pharmacist and dispenses all the medications each day. Every-one pitches in and does what needs to be done. We pack the truck with medical supplies. Usually, five per-sons sit in the truck and four in the back. Normally, it takes us one hour to get to our destination, usually about 15 miles; but, because of the terrible roads it takes a longer time. Father Gee sends one of his helpers with us to drive the truck. Fortunately, there is a radio in the truck so we can call for help, when needed. Truck tires take a beating because of the roads. One day coming home from a clinic, we had a flat tire. There was no spare; thus, we had to wait for a truck from Banica to come with a tire. It was a very hot day. We had no lunch and no water. After a call for help, we arrive back home safely.

On yet another occasion, as we were setting up our clinic a dad carried his 16 year old boy in to see us asking for help. He had fallen off a truck and broke his leg one week before and was not able to bear weight on it. His dad took him to the ER in Banica. He was told he needed an X-ray and a cast was needed to put on his leg. But, the ER in Banica told the dad that they could not do it because they had neither an X-Ray nor a cast. The father was told to go to the capital; but, he had no transportation to get him there. The people walk wherever they go. The team had a splint in one of the emergency bags. The leg was stabilized and he was given pain medication. Ar-rangements were made with Father Gee to provide transportation to the capital and money for the X-Ray and cast; a happy ending.

The mission of our clinic is to dispense vitamins, fluoride, and give worm medication. There is no electricity in the small villages. Water supply is from the streams or river-dirty water; a source of many infections. The water we use for bathing comes from the river and is piped to a cistern in the center where we stay. The water runs yellow brown.

All the drinking water is filtered or bottled. We wash our laundry in buckets and hang it to dry in the sun. Wherever one goes, there are goats, lots of goats, and healthy young baby goats. They are called St. John the Evangelist goats. The people raise them and then sell them in the market to purchase essentials like, rice, sugar, salt, etc. Last year St. John's purchased 98 goats during Advent. They were given to needy families. We are grateful to St. John's for their continued support; and, our return to the States was a safe one.
Deacon Bernie and Peggy Ragan

Farewell to Fr. Posey
Welcome Fr. Gee

Banica sent home Fr. Patrick Posey whom we have worked with for many years. He is Pastor of St. Francis de Sales in Purcellville, VA. Many of the people of Banica did not want him to leave because he did a great job. After eight years of service to the people of Banica and the Diocese of Arlington, VA, he will be missed by many.

Fr. Dan Gee is the new Pastor of the Banica Mission. With the transition of Pastors, and with all the energy that Fr. Gee has the people of Banica, Dominican Republic have nothing to fear. Medical Missionaries look forward to working with a new Pastor and we wish both Fr. Posey and Fr. Gee the very best.
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Medical Missionaries Jan 2004
Surgical Mission Trip Banica,
Dominican Republic

The team consisted of Mark Bartolozzi (general surgeon), Chris Highfill (orthopedic surgeon), Margot Watson (obstetrician-gynecologist), Jim Sehn (urologist), Alla Druker (anesthesiologist), Ed Lawson (nurse anesthetist), Debra Parrish, RN, Margaret Rau, RN, Maria Borowicz, RN, Diane Lawson, RN, and Leo Druker, EMT.

Debra, Margaret, and Maria are magnificent OR nurses - they circulated or scrubbed all the cases we did during the week. Diane assisted in preparing patients for the operating room and caring for them after their operations were completed. Leo was our general duty technician who cleaned instruments between cases, assisted in moving patients, and whatever else was asked of him. The surgeons and anesthesia team performed admirably in less than ideal conditions providing needed operations in a safe and effective manner.

Also, we had the superb services of Annie Quast, RN, a nurse practitioner who is currently serving the Banica parish as a volunteer. She helped screen patients, and her ability to speak Spanish was invaluable. In addition, Jeremy Mercier traveled from Hinche, Haiti, to serve with us during the week. Many of our patients were Haitian, and Jeremy's translations were of tremen-dous value in screening them as surgi-cal candidates, and in caring for them post-operatively.

The team was also accompanied by two engineers, Ron Burrell and Dave Eisel. Although not essential to the surgical mission, per se, they were invaluable in making and keeping our living quarters habitable and were busy with projects for the parish during the week.

Fifty seven patients were served during this trip, and over seventy five procedures were performed. As during the last trip, the majority of patients had hernias, hydroceles, or lumps and bumps that required attention. Three major procedures (two hysterectomies and an ovarian cystectomy) were done. All of the procedures were performed using local or regional anesthesia. Sedative medication was available, and was used for some of the cases. There was more medication for post-operative pain control available to us this trip because we brought it with us.

As previously mentioned, most of our patients were Haitian. Many of them traveled hours or days overland using foot, donkey, or wheeled conveyance to make their way to Banica. Let me share with you information about several of our patients.

One patient was a young Haitian woman who had a tumor on the top of her foot. She traveled on a donkey to get to the river that separates Haiti from Banica. There, she placed her foot in a bag and waded across the river. She walked another mile or so to get to the hospital where we were able to remove most of the tumor. Being partially disabled from the operation, she required transportation of some sort across the river on her way home. The surgical team took up a collection in order to pay a man to carry her back across the river.

The last day we were there, we oper-ated on a 65 year old Haitian man and removed a hydrocele he had had for several years. This gentleman also suffered from a fused knee joint that occurred after an accident some years ago that fractured his thigh bone so that the bone pierced the thigh as well. You can imagine this man's discomfort from his unusual gait and the hydrocele with walking, but then imagine that his sole means of transportation was on his donkey.

Finally, let me share with you a story about a youngster whom we met there by the name of Dionisio. We came to know him as "William." William is six years old. One day, as we were passing out lollipops to him and some other children, someone happened to place a hand on his chest. A very loud heart murmur could be felt through his chest wall (this is called a thrill - only the most severe murmurs which normally are heard can be felt in this fashion). As it turns out, William is small for his age, and cannot partici-pate in activities as a normal six year old boy could.

William & Debra
As of this writing, William has had an echocardiogram performed in Santo Domingo. There is an effort underway to have William brought to the US where he can have corrective surgery performed. Interested in helping this effort? Please contact Debra Parrish at 703-369-6688.

As you can see from these three examples, the people of Banica and the Haitians that live close by are in need of the fairly basic surgical services we provided for them. With the limited resources available to us, we were able to care for a significant number of people. Members of the surgical team donate their time freely. It is hard work, but quite rewarding.

The third Medical Missionaries Surgical Mission Trip ended when the team departed Banica, DR, for the return trip home on 16 January 2004.
Ed Lawson

Attention - Donor Needed
A leg will do! We have received a request for a "left leg" prosthesis from a Friar in the Amazons. He has requested the prosthesis via Ana Maria Menezes (Proverb30_5@hotmail.com), a very dedicated Medical Missionaries' clothing donor for the past several years, from Dunn Loring, VA (703)641-0147
Any knowledge of potential donors or leads to one should be provided to the Medical Missionaries 703 361-5116 or to Ana directly.

Medical Missionaries
and Caring & Sharing
Caring & Sharing is a local organization run by Sanford Blankenship and volunteers who help the needy in the Appalachian areas of Virginia and West Virginia. Medical Missionaries has had the pleasure of assisting them on numerous occasions by providing seasonal clothing and other useful items. When it's time to do a load for Appalachia, the group arrives with their 26-foot truck and together with Dr. Irwin, Carolyn Jeans, Betty Lear, Susie Cornell, and whoever else is volunteering get the work done. The truck is filled in about an hour - even after dark, with only a flashlight or two to light the way!

Medical Missionaries has provided tons of clothing and supplies in the year and a half that we have been working with Caring & Sharing. Unlike Haiti and Jamaica which only need summer items, the Appalachian areas need provisions for all four seasons. Due to the generosity of our commu-nity we seem to always have enough to go around and have been especially fortunate this winter to have an abun-dance of warm clothing and bedding for our needy friends.

Also, we give to the group baby items and any wedding dresses, gowns, and party attire which are donated to us. Mr. Blankenship has told us that the ladies are absolutely delighted to re-ceive them and he was quite proud that last year all the young ladies were able to dress up for their high school prom!

Caring & Sharing is a wonderful organization and we look forward to our continued combined efforts to help those who are so needy, so close to home.
Susan Cornell

Medical Trip to Haiti
Dec 11 through 19, 2003

The second medical trip to Haiti, in December 2003, consisted of Dr. Kornetsky, nurses Janice Pence and Cheri Stribling, Annie Quast, a nurse practitioner and Christina Cox, Craig Flanagan, Ron Burrell, Dr. Moira Hurley and me. Janice and Cheri work at the dialysis facility in Warrenton. Christina Cox works as a scribe at the Fairfax emergency room and plans to go to medical school. Annie, who has been working in Banica, joined us in Haiti for much of the trip.

One teenaged boy's life was radically changed by our presence. He saw my wife, Moira Hurley, MD, for a severe vision threatening eye infection. After a few days of antibiotic drops, he re-turned accompanying his father with the infection cleared. The father, who was coming for an unrelated medical problem, was blind himself. We in-quired why through our translators, and were informed that he also had a similar but untreated bacterial eye infection when he was a teenager, causing per-manent blindness. His son's sight was preserved, and we are optimistic that his life will be radically different from what must have been an extraordinarily difficult paternal disability in a country where life is unimaginable difficult even for the sighted.

One highlight of the trip was seeing baby Helen, 14 months old, and her mother. Helen is now 21 lbs., walks, has started to talk, and is normal. The story of her difficult delivery and resuscitation has been recounted in the November 2002 issue of this newsletter. We were gratified to see that she had survived through the first year of life in Haiti, with all the life threatening infectious diseases which exact such a enormous toll in infancy.

After seeing approximately 1,000+ patients for five full days, Fr. Ronnell successfully negotiated the awful roads back to the Arlington Diocese Mission, Banica, Dominical Republic, in the parish Land Rover. After a brief meeting with Fr. Gee, we headed to Santo Domingo for our flight back to Virginia. We had heard rumbling of rapidly deteriorating political unrest during our visit, and dangerous instability and violence have returned to Haiti since our departure. Let us all pray for a peaceful diplomatic solution so we can resume our direct care efforts in 2004.
William J. McAveney, MD

Treating Hypertension
in Rural Haiti and the
Dominican Republic

This is an update on a project begun in October 2003. It has been a consistent observation that hypertension is severely common in rural Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
On the October trip, about 100 patients with blood pressures 180/110 or greater were started on medications and given enough medication to last until the trip in December. Patients were identified by name and were assigned a number and were given follow-up appointment cards. In December there was about 50% follow-up, and about 70 new patients were enrolled as well. Enough medication was given to last until a planned February trip.

Currently, medication refills are in the Dominican Republic and Anna Quast will be returning to Thomas-sique/Circalasouse to do blood pres-sure checks and medication adjustments when the political situa-tion stabilizes. We are planning a fol-low-up trip for the end of May.

It's too early to draw any conclusions, but I have the following impressions
1. A reasonable number of pa-tients have followed up on their treatment.
2. Medication education is needed. I believe the patients take more than the prescribed amount, and also share it with their families.
3. Some of the capsules do not withstand the heat and melt.
4. Hopefully, more details about efficacy and side effects will be available in future months.

Ken Kornetsky, MD

Medical Missionaries, Inc.
4th Annual Golf Tournament
Thursday, September 9, 2004
Fairfax National Golf Club
Centreville, Virginia

** Calling all Golfers - You are in-vited to come and play. Get your teams together! Have fun golfing and help the Medical Missionaries, a non-profit organization, to provide medical healthcare to the world's Poorest of the Poor.

** To play and or sponsor (donate), please call Shirley Armel at 703-361-6480.

Our major task was to install a battery bank of 10 deep cycle 6-volt batteries and a 2-KVA inverter in the Thomassique rectory. The 7.5-KVA diesel which had been installed in October provides the power to recharge the batteries when it is running and the battery power is converted to AC by the inverter for night time or early morning power in the sleeping quar-ters. We could not install the solar panels because the church roof is not complete yet.
With Craig's nimble climbing skills, we were able to fix several wiring problems in the rafters from the previ-ous Haitian system. We now have light in the bathroom and a circuit for backup operations of the gas refrigerator.

We completed wiring of the parish hall, which included three new lights and seven new 115v receptacles. Since there is no electrical power in the school, we will install a few of the donated computers in this hall in the future for student use.

Dave Eisel accompanied me in January in support of the surgical team. Again, we were there primarily to ensure the team had adequate facilities (water and power). We became experts in unclogging toilets and oiling squeaky doors.

The sea containers had arrived in Banica a couple of days prior to our arrival and thanks to Fr. Gee and the boys, had been unloaded to the pavilion. Some lumber, metal channels, nuts and bolts were sent in hopes of being able to design and construct some kind of rack for the trucks. Our teams that go out into the Composts often have to ride in the back with nothing to hang onto except the truck bed. Dave and I decided to start with the red truck (the oldest and most beat up one of 4) for our prototype. After a couple of days of on and off availability (these trucks get a lot of use) we had what we considered a very sturdy rack. We had some good pictures of it on completion, but below is the latest one taken about a month later. It was copied from Fr. Gee's website "http://frgee.blogspot.com/." It was taken after an accident from which the driver and three passengers walked away uninjured. The brakes failed (the steering was already bad) and the truck rolled. The rack may have helped save them from injury.

With the aid of the 12-foot stepladder sent in the November container, Dave and I were able to fix the lighting in the Pedro Santana church (a short in one of the 16-foot high lights). Lastly, we ran a new circuit from one of the Banica rectory inverters to the church
Mission red truck with prototype rack. Hint - All 4 mission trucks need new tires.

Microphone system.
The Banica Utility power is very erratic (when operating) and Fr. Gee had to continuously adjust the microphone to compensate for the voltage fluctuation.

The last excursion was very short (5 days total with 2 being travel days). The crew consisted of Tim Smith, Jeff Vallimont, Chris and Zachary Quin-tana and me. Our first anticipated ob-stacle was getting through Customs with a cooler full of hepatitis vaccine, and several suitcases with medicines, tools and computer peripherals. Sur-prisingly, we had little problem. The inspector had trouble unzipping a cou-ple of our old bags. Upon offering him help, he decided it was too much trouble and let us go through (this was the fastest exit through Customs that I recall in the last 5 years.

Fr. Gee had two trucks waiting for us with drivers Claudio and Lulum at the wheels. After a "white-knuckle" ride we arrived in Banica some 5 hours later. Fr. Gee had instructed the boys on the layout of our new storage shed and they had dug all the footer (16 1'x1'x2') holes. Thank God!! All 5 of us along with several of the mission boys got a chance to participate in the cement mixing, beam setting, joist placement and rising of the rafters, but our construction expert, Tim & Jeff along with "Master Roofer," Fr. Gee, did the majority of the construction. On the third day, an early morning Mass was planned at El Centro in order that the roofing could be laid prior to the mid-day sun. God knows our need, provided one of Banica's famous fall afternoon showers so we had an over-cast cool day to begin the roofing. When completed the siding we will have a 40'x 20' by 10' high area to stage parts for distribution to the Banica Mission as well as the Thomassique clinic.

Banica Construction

Chris, the tile expert, did a masterful job on the rectory kitchen counter and doorway. Gladys, Fr. Gee's cook, was caught smiling like a Cheshire cat. He also tiled the Banica convent shower. It is now probably the best looking shower in the Dominican Republic. Annie Quest, a dedicated young care-giver from Charlottesville, VA, has been living in the convent at least since early October. She has assisted all our teams and has been back and forth to Haiti on several occasions. She also is the brave soul who took young William into Santo Domingo for his heart problem evaluation. I'm not sure how much longer she will be in Banica, but from now on she can shower with a pleasant atmosphere even though the water will still be cold.

Zach helped all over with building, tiling, painting and electrical wiring. He and I ran a new circuit to the rectory kitchen/dining area for new appliances; microwave, toaster oven, refrigerator and bottled water pump (provides clean water om refrigerator icemaker/chilled water dispenser). We also ran a new circuit to a small pavil-ion at the convent.

Our reward was a charcoal BBQ hosted by Annie at the pavilion with music provided by the Quintana broth-ers and, who else, but Fr. Gee. This was the first trip with the Medical Mis-sionaries for this crew, but we thank them for giving up their vacation time and their families for this week. We certainly would welcome them back anytime in the future. Also, a gracious "Thank You" goes to Cindy Curran, Carolyn Lenk and the Manassas Knights of Columbus (KC) who ar-ranged this trip and paid the airplane fares, respectively.

We did not cross the border into Haiti during this trip, but did receive reports on the political unrest. Fr. Ronel came to Banica the day after the Rebels had taken over Hinch, the largest city in Eastern Haiti and less than 20 miles from Thomassique. He had been there and indicated that he did not feel that they posed a problem to the average citizen.

A very crowded early-morning ride from Banica in one of Fr. Gee's trucks with 2 nuns from Pedro Santana, a Haitian woman and our driver got us to the airport about 5 hours early for our return flight.
Ron Burrell

Missionary Success Stories and
Urgent Needs

Our Medical Missionaries Newsletter mailing list has grown from our initial 400 to our current 1700 people. The Newsletter is published about every four months. The attempt is to make and keep the inputs to those that directly highlight our work both medically professional as well as engineering support, a most important commitment. Those poor and absolutely in dire need of help are where we place our full commitment. Our founder and president, as well as all the volunteers have devoted their full time and total efforts to focusing on saving lives, extending lives and making it possible for those people that desperately need help to live their lives as comfortably as possible in their environment. The help given is totally FREE because they have no way to afford healthcare. Thus, your support, however, large or small is graciously accepted and appreciated.

It is our goal to have you read our newsletter knowing that at times your time and commitment is limited. We would like to draw your attention to the various success stories that have come out of these eight years of helping the Poorest of the Poor. Our president tries to summaries what these accomplishments are or have been. If you noticed, St. Johns of Warrenton, one of our sister medical missionaries, wrote an interesting column on the challenges of working in the field. The story of the 16 yr old boy who broke his leg and his dad carried him to the clinic where they were working was an interesting success story, this can be found on page 3. Our Medical Missionary surgical team, on its January 2004 visit, written by Ed Lawson, talks about three success stories. They tell of the young Haitian woman they helped that had a tumor on her foot, a 65 year old Haitian man who had a hydrocele removed & other complications of the knee and hip, and finally, the story of William who needs corrective surgery. These are highlighted on page 4. Finally, our second medical trip to Haiti in mid December 2003 in which was mentioned two success stories; i.e., the teen age boy with a severe vision threatening eye infection who was brought to the clinic by his blind father. The boy's vision will spare him from blindness, unlike his father who if he had received treatment would possibly be able to see today. The 2nd part of their success story mentions how baby Helen is progressing today 14 months after delivery. Without the care of these 3 and other doctors she would probably not be with us today. These two specific cases can be found on page 5. We invite you to see and read of these successes. This is directly where your monetary support goes and why we ask your help. Thank you.
Editor

Help support our Dinner Dance and Auction at Heritage Hunt Golf and Country Club, Saturday, May 15, 2004.
You Are Invited . . .

On Saturday May 15th, 2004, the Medical Missionaries invite you to come and enjoy a wonderful evening of dinner and dancing, blended in with a silent and live auction. Live music by Signature can be heard throughout the evening. Black tie is optional.

The event will be held at the Heritage Hunt Golf and Country Club in Gainesville, Virginia. Doors open at 6:30 PM with hors d'oeuvres and a Cash Bar with an opportunity to view and bid on our silent auction items which will consist of some very fine gifts generously donated by friends of the Medical Missionaries.

Individual tickets can be purchased at $40.00. Tables of eight (8) can be re-served in advance. For the auction, you will receive your bid number at the door. Master Card and Visa will be accepted for bidding.

We would love to have you come and celebrate with us Tickets for the gala occasion may be obtained by calling Shirley (703) 361-5116; Eileen (540) 347-1597, Mary (703) 361-6843, and Mary Ellen (703) 368-4930.

We ask for your support for this fund raiser. We hope to raise much needed monies to support the Free Healthcare provided to those who truly need it. The medical and other skilled profes-sionals and the many volunteers of the Medical Missionaries continue trying to help those in need and the Poorest of the Poor in this and the Third World. Our only hope and theirs depend on your continued generous support.

See ad on back page

Editors and
Eileen Drinkwater

Dinner/Dance and Auctions
May 15th, 2004

A full page Auction Donation/Advertising Sponsorship Form is incorporated in this issue, page 9. We ask your support in being an advertiser. If you are not an advertiser but can help provide ads by asking those in business to advertise, this would be most helpful. If you can provide items for our Auction, silent and live be they new or antique, they would be most welcomed. Finally, show your support by being a Patron. This is a great way to support Medical Missionaries. Pro-vide your name(s), friends, relatives etc, with a $10.00 donation for each name. Mr. & Mrs. or a family name is considered as one Patron. Just fill out the form, enclose your donation and simply mark Dinner Dance on the en-velope provided.

What am I bid?

Gone! Gone! Sold!

Should you have items for the auction to be picked up or delivered, please give a call to (703) 361-5116 or (703) 368-4930. A volunteer will be delighted to pick up the item. Many hands make light work is an old phrase used frequently. Your help in this ef-fort can ease the burden and is most appreciated. We thank you.

Editors and
Eileen Drinkwater

Holiday 2003 Raffle Winners

The last raffle held by Medical Missionaries was Dec 22nd. The following were the winners and prizes awarded:

1st Prize Nativity Set -Elsie Sullivan
2nd Prize Afghan - Dr. Bill McAveney
3rd Prize 6 Passes Manassas Cinemas- Susan Campbell
4th Prize $25.00 Gift Certificate - Shannon Scarratt
5th Prize Golf Fun Pkg - Paula Hawkins
6th Prize $20.00 Gift Certificates Marie O'Brien
7th Prize $20.00 Gift Certificate -
Java Rock - B Minus

8th Prize Oriental Lunch Buffet for 2 - Warrenton - Addie Morgan
9th Prize 3 Month Membership Olympus Gym - Alice Cox
10th Prize Hand Crafted Pottery Dish - Christine Geene

We thank you for your participation and support of our medical mission work.

Wilderness Course
Medical Missionaries will hold a wilderness/survival course April 3-4, 2004 for perspective volunteers who have little outdoor skills. The course is de-signed to increase the confidence of a new volunteer in a wilderness setting and thus be more effective in a medical mission.
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Medical Missionaries
Striving To Help
The Poorest of the Poor

Summer 2004

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES NEWSLETTER
Issue No. 10 Summer 2004
**********************************************************************************************************
President's Message

There is always something going on with Medical Missionary people of all faiths striving to help the poorest of the poor.

Staff House
Medical Missionaries has seen major advancement in the construction project in Thomassique, Haiti. The clinic staff house is now under roof and preparations are being made, under the direction of Ron Burrell, for a crew to install diesel generators and backup solar panel systems for power for the complex. This operation takes coordination with volunteers here as well as in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. With your continued support and prayers, the total complex could be operational in one year or less.

Medical Missionaries continues to support clinics in Africa, Vietnam, Central and South America with shipments of supplies and medicines for poor areas. Preparations are in process for a major shipment of medical supplies to Ebonyi State, Nigeria one of the poorest areas in their country.

On the domestic front, several large 18 wheelers loads of clothing and household goods were sent to West Virginia/Kentucky/Virginia border in connection with Caring and Sharing and Christian Appalachians Project, two non-profit groups working in the area. The clothing happened to get to the areas only a few days before heavy rains hit creating a major disaster for many families with the loss of many homes. (See article by Susie Cornell who coordinated these efforts for Medical Mis-sionaries.)

As a volunteer highlight, Betty Lear, a volunteer at Linton Hall storage facility on a daily basis, has made a major difference in clothing pick up, packaging, and in organizing incoming medical supplies. She is a most diligent, responsible worker and her value is greatly appreciated by Medical Missionaries and the people we serve.

The first Caring Hearts Ball under the direction of Eileen Drinkwater was a success raising over $38,000 for Medical Missionaries projects. All the participants had a great time dancing to Mike Morch's band, Signature, and Tom Drinkwater, the Master of Ceremonies kept the auction going in a timely fashion. Thanks to all who worked so hard on the event including Mary Ellen Merchant, Jean Deller, Carolyn Jeans, Jack Phalen, Vene Rodriguez, Stan and Mary Sobczynski.

Medical Missionaries is still very much in need of ground level storage space. If anyone has an old garage, barn, or old spacious building not being used, we could use it for long term storage. Also, should anyone have a piece of land that they are willing to donate or provide, we could use it to build a simple, cost effective building such as a Poll barn. Please call 703-361-5116 and we will be happy to speak with you.

The golf tournament is set for September 9, 2004 at Fairfax National Golf Club under the direction of Shirley Armel. This event is our last major fund raiser for 2004 and hopefully will generate additional resources for the final phase for the clinic construction in Haiti. Your help is needed. (See flyer and article by Shirley.)

Gilbert Irwin, MD

A Tough Break in Haiti

In Haiti it takes 10-15 minutes to cover a mile of terrain, and that's driving a Defender on dry land. Following an afternoon shower in the rainy season, it could take a great deal longer to navigate through those same dirt paths, the crater-like ruts now filled with 3 or more feet of water. But for a team of six physically and mentally exhausted volunteers, to even think of not pressing east to the Dominican/Haitian boarder would have been an equally formidable task.

As we drove on, the now-spent rain clouds continued to loom over our heads. In conjunction with the late hour, they made the terrain completely pitch-black, forcing us to rely on the Defender's two halogen headlamps as our sole source of light. From my vantage point in the rear seat, the road seemed to shine with a layer of fresh mud. Of course, we were all acutely aware of the state of the road, not so much by the visual cue, but by our consistent lateral movement as the vehicle trudged forward. Flanked on either side by 10-foot high dirt banks adorned with impenetrable cacti, I felt relatively safe as I mentally compared this terrain to the sheer mountainside that awaited a few miles ahead. Lucky for us, we never made it that far.

The Defender had been wedged, length-wise, in between the two aforementioned banks for 15 minutes when we first spotted her. She emerged out of the road's darkness and carried under her arm a long, shiny umbrella. As my eyes adjusted to the night I turned my head forward and focused atop the northern bank, where six men now stood peering down upon us. Approaching from the west was another group of men carrying handmade hoes and spades. To our rear, the same scene. I exhaled a sigh of contrived nonchalance and thought, "We're surrounded."

As the woman approached our truck, she walked in front of our headlights. "Oh. It's a machete," I heard Ken say from the front seat as the umbrella revealed its true identity under the improved lighting. We watched as she stopped in front of the truck and rose the blade above her head, the hardened expression on her face never changing.

The first thrust tore into the ground, as did the second - she was digging a rut to set us free. The approaching group of local farmers quickly followed suit with their tools as the children on the banks watched in wonderment. It's not common for these folks to be awakened by a $40,000 truck stuck in their road carrying Americans and a Priest. What was indeed common was their cordial, selfless, and humble attitude as they handled the situation with ease. Working quickly, the farmers dug a rut for each of the rear wheels and filled the grooves with the relatively dry dirt from the nearby banks. Each person wanted to help, if only to lend a strike or two with their hoe. Within 30 minutes, the farmers had applied their ingenious fix, and we were able to dislodge the Defender and return to the town we had left just an hour ago. We would save the final leg of the journey for the morning.

In retrospect, that night brought to light two important facts. First, you can't always get what you want when Mother Nature is involved, especially in Haiti. And second, when nature - or life in general - doles out a tough break, you figure out what you've got that still works and press on. That's what the Haitians are so good at doing. One would think that with no money, little food, dirty water, and marginal medical care, these people would exist in a state of perpetual misery. They may indeed, but they don't let it show. In spite of their incredible hardships, the adults and children still have a great sense of pride. It is from this pride, I believe, that their sense of duty, their strong work ethic, and their unparalleled resourcefulness effuse. The farmers coming to our aid on the road that night were an undeniable demonstration of human compas-sion. It was, simultaneously, an unabashed manifestation of the Haitian mentality: resilience in the face of adversity.
Doug Taylor

Warren and Anne Carroll
Seton School Founders Receive The Brent Society Award

Dr. and Mrs. Warren and Anne Carroll were honored by the Brent Society on May 13th this year at the Annual Awards Banquet at the Fairview Marriott in Falls Church, VA.
Dr. Warren Carroll is the founder and first president of Christendom College in Front Royal, and his wife, Anne W. Carroll, is the founder and first principal of Seton School in Manassas, Va. They received their awards from Kathleen Hunt the Brent Society President. Both Seton and Christendom have produced an abundance of religious vocations and strong Catholic marriages.

Funds were very limited and lean, but Anne Carroll's faith inspired her to start the Christian Commonwealth School in Warrenton, Virginia, with just eight students. In 1975 enrollment doubled and Anne moved the school to Manassas, Virginia, because most of the students came from Manassas. Seton's enrollment today is 350.

The Carroll's and Seton have been most instrumental in providing services to the Medical Missionaries. Their students have provided much needed help in packing many sea containers for ship-ment to Banica, Dominican Republic and Thomassique, Haiti. Also, they have been very instrumental in providing many healthcare items i.e., soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes and more.

Students from both Seton and Christendom have gone on trips to Haiti and the Dominican Republic to assist the doctors and nurses in providing much needed healthcare to the people of the area, the Poorest of the Poor.

Eight members of the Medical Missionaries attended the Awards banquet to honor the Carroll's. Their road has been rough but they persevered and brought the finest in Catholic education to Northern Virginia.

Newsletter Staff

Dinner/Dance and Auction
May 15th 2004

On Saturday, May 15th, 2004, the Medical Missionaries held their 1st Annual Dinner Dance at Heritage Hunt Golf and Country Club, in Gainesville, Virginia. The event was very successful raising, upwards of $38,000.00.

We express our appreciation to the staff and management of Heritage Hunt for their support of this event.

Silent Auction Display

The evening began with a Silent Auction, hors d'oeuvres and cocktails. Din-ner and a Live Auction followed. A raffle of a Nativity set made and donated by Mrs. Pat Irwin was held followed by a 50-50 raffle. The evening ended with dancing. Dr. Mike Morch, one of the Medical Missionaries' dentists, and his band Signature, provided the music.

A program book was done in conjunction with the Dinner Dance and Auction. We thank all those who provided Ads and monetary donations to help the event to be so successful. We ask you to support our business donors. If anyone would like a Program Book, you may receive a copy by calling Shirley in Dr. Irwin's office, (703) 361-5116. We will be happy to provide a book to you.

The Medical Missionaries appreciates and thanks everyone for their support of this event.
Eileen Drinkwater

Medical Missionaries needs Your Support !!!
In Memoriam
Roy Cioletti, MD, FAAP

With the greatest sadness, Medical Missionaries reports the untimely death of Dr. Cioletti on June 5, 2004. He was a highly respected pediatrician in Manassas for 26 years, and past president of the Prince William Hospital Staff. In spite of the demand of his busy practice at Crestwood Pediatrics, he found time to support Medical Missionaries and participated as a physician member of our October, 2003 clinical trip to Haiti. He will be sorely missed by all of us at Medical Missionaries as well as the thousands of families whom he served as a conscientious and knowledgeable pediatrician. He is survived by his wife Debbie and two sons, Paul and Matthew.

William J. McAveney, MD

Medical Experiences
in the Lakota Nation

When I accepted an early retirement package from Kaiser Permanente three years ago, I began to look for service opportunities, eventually meeting Dr. Irwin and participating in Medical Missions to Hispaniola. But, I also explored opportunities with the American Medical Association program known as project USA, which places about 170 physicians annually for short term assignments with the Indian Health Service (IHS) in Native American Communities throughout the US. Since March 2002, I have had an opportunity to serve the children of the Lakota Nation in Eagle Butte, SD during three tours of duty, the last of which I completed on June 4, 2004.

Following the defeat of the US Army by the well know Sioux Chiefs Red Cloud and Crazy Horse in April, 1868, the Great Sioux Nation was established through the Treaty of Laramie, WY, comprising most of the Dakotas, and large portions of modern day Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. The land grants shrunk and shrunk in size over the succeeding years, and eventually multiple reservations were established, where Native Americans were (usually forcibly) relocated. One of these was the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, established in 1889, in North Central South Dakota. The original tribal leaders participated in the Ghost Dance Movement of 1890, along with Sitting Bull. He was killed locally, and the rest of the leaders fled to Wounded Knee, SD, on the Pine Ridge Reservation. There, most of them perished in the massacre of December 29, 1890. From what I can tell, there was little or no succeeding tribal leadership until a constitution was enacted in 1936. The land was originally the size of Connecticut, but has been further eroded by Homesteading and the construction of a huge dam of the Missouri River north of the State Capitol, Pierre. This led to relocation of many Native Americans further west into arid lands. At the center of this bleak area is the town of Eagle Butte, where tribal headquarters and a Indian Health Service Hospital were established in 1959. The facility is basically unchanged, grossly lacking in space, especially for outpatient care, and in deteriorated condition.

To give a little perspective, things ARE infinitely better than Haiti. The facility does provide good nursing support, lab, plain X-ray, plus pharmaceuticals, and we are attempting to achieve a US standard of Medical care. The logistics of doing this on a sparsely settled remote reservation, serving 14,000 Native American patients with an extremely high disease burden are challenging, to say the least. There are a few beds available in the Eagle Butte facility for the least complicated cases, but patients requiring inpatient care must be sent to the nearest small Community Hospital 90 miles away in Pierre, SD, or, more commonly, to the nearest full service Hospital in Rapid City, SD, 200 miles away. The transportation challenges are enormous, particularly during the harsh Dakota winters, and the patients often critically ill.

The pediatric patients I saw had a very high incidence of asthma, aggravated by both indoor and outdoor pollution, recurrent ear infections often with hearing loss already established, and every common infectious disease in the standard pediatric texts. In additions, the incidence of Type II diabetes, rampant in the adult population is increasing enormously in children and adolescents as well. The internal medicine patients have the same distribution of disease as was found at the old DC General, with charts inches thick and multiple chronic conditions, aggravated by widespread alcohol and tobacco addition. The waiting rooms are full, and long waits for care are common due to a gross un-dersupply of exam rooms in the obsolete facility exacerbated by intermittent staff shortages.

Dr. William McAveney &
Mr. Ilhami Konur

It was my privilege this year to go to SD at the same time as Ilhami and Anne Konur, members of the Hamilton, Virginia Baptist Church, whom I met through our Leesburg Rotary Club. Unknown to me until recently, Hamilton Baptist has had a five year ongoing mission commitment to the Eagle Butte Baptist Church. The Konurs actively worked through their contacts in the community, and referred many patients to me and the other physicians/midlevel at the IHS facility. Their presence also provided interesting, upbeat, off-time company for me in a somewhat de-pressing setting, as well as financial support for incidental expenses through the church's Mission Funding.

Native America is a domestic Haiti, and the opportunities for service by physicians and other health care professionals are enormous. If readers are interested in more information, feel free to contact me at mcavenwj@yahoo.com. Medical Missionaries has made shipments of clothing, sports items and educational supplies to the Lakota, Sioux.

William J. McAveney, MD

Fourth Annual Golf Tournament

Thursday, September 9, 2004
Fairfax National Golf Club
Centreville, Virginia

A Word from the Tournament Chair

Dear Friends,

I would like to invite you to join me in supporting Medical Missionaries in the Fourth Annual Golf Tournament.

Medical Missionaries is a group of health professionals and lay volunteers, who have organized to help the Poorest of the Poor in the world. We are an ecumenical group who serve all the poor regardless of age, religion or political affiliation.

To play and or sponsor (donate), please call Shirley Armel at 703-361-6480. Please see full page flyer in this news-letter.

I hope you will join us in supporting our cause. Your generosity is needed and appreciated.
Shirley Armel

Medical Missionaries
Striving To Help
The Poorest of the Poor
Medical Missionaries
Continues to help the needy
of Appalachia

It may be hot and humid now, but in just a few more months that autumn chill will be in the air again and there will be lots of warm clothing already in place and ready for distribution to our needy friends in Appalachia.

A few months ago we had a little challenge…our winter clothing trailer was full, more winter clothing was coming in every week, and not too many people were interested in winter clothing in May. Soooooo, via the Internet, we discovered the Christian Appalachian Project which is located in Kentucky and serves the needy throughout all 13 Appalachian states. After a few phone calls we set up a date and they dispatched one of their really big Operation Sharing trucks. Our usual crew of volunteers completely emptied the winter storage trailer and partially emptied the summer trailer, filling Operation Sharing's truck with an estimated 20 thousand pounds of clothing which was transported to their Hagerhill Ware-house for distribution this fall and win-ter.

A great big Thank You goes out to the Christian Appalachian Project for the wonderful work they are doing and to all the Medical Missionary volunteers who make these worthwhile endeavors possible.

Susan Cornell

Medical Missionaries Handbook

A short handbook entitled "Learning Your Reality - A Guide to Volunteering for a Medical Mission", describes in stepwise fashion the mechanics of planning a trip, organization of supplies, medicines and long term continuity of a medical mission program. Copies can be purchased or ordered at 9590 Surveyor Court, Manassas, VA. 20110. The cost is $10.00 + $2.00 for handling and shipping. Make checks payable to Medical Missionaries.

Gilbert Irwin, MD

Clinic Staff House Construction
Thomassique, Haiti

The clinic staff house in Thomassique is well underway in construction. The outer shell has been completed and the work commences on the inside to complete the work. However, funds to do it are needed to keep its construction on a timely schedule. In our semi-annual meeting of the entire Medical Missionaries team in July 2004 a review was made of all the needs and several high costing items appear to be in need of funds. The items on the wish list included:

Solar panels @ approximately $600 ea $15,000.00
Generator 9.000.00
Chlorinator 2,500.00
Two trucks $15,000.00

This does not include extra tires and batteries for replacement due to rugged terrain.

Although the Group has conducted various fund raisers, the needs still remain outstanding. Anyone who would want to contribute or donate extra funds; towards this need, the Medical Missionaries would be most grateful. Once these are completely funded, we can begin to think and start on the construction of the 125-bed clinic itself. Whatever you do - God bless you.

This newsletter is published by Medical Missionaries Inc.
Manassas, VA.

Executive Director: Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Newsletter Staff:
Mary & Stan Sobczynski
Board Members
Other Volunteers

Medical Missionaries can be
contacted as follows:

Gilbert R. Irwin, MD
9590 Surveyor Court
Manassas, VA 20110
Telephone: (703) 361-5116
Fax: (703) 361-5876
E-mail: medmissionaries@yahoo.com
Website: medicalmissionaries.info

Fall/Winter 2004

President's Message

The pace of activity quickens for Medical Missionaries. Medical Missionaries is happy to report that a Dominican Republic boy William has successfully completed open heart surgery at Children's Hospital in Washington, DC. (See article by Debra Parrish). There were many bureaucratic hurdles getting the boy to the USA, he had congenital heart defects corrected. One week later he appeared at the Medical Missionaries annual Golf Tournament (see article by Shirley Armel), driving his own golf cart. This outcome was one of many small miracles that Medical Missionaries volunteers witness each day.

In mid November, a medical team of 4 doctors, nurses and others (about 20 in all) held clinics in Thomassique, Haiti and Banica, Dominican Republic. Although such trips are very demanding the smiles of the people served with medicines and vaccines are a great reward. The rays of hope for the poor in the area grow with the continuity being provided by Medical Missionaries.

The clinic building project in Thomassique, Haiti is about one-half complete. The project with your continued support will approach completion in 2005. Beyond that time, medical/surgical/dental teams will have a much better facility to serve the people than the current one room/porch hospital which now serves 150,000 people. This facility will allow for more trips and volunteers to work with the poor. This project has required a maximum effort for all involved but only underscores the desperate need of the people. Your continued dedicated support and prayers are still needed.

On the home front, 80 tons of clothing and household items have been delivered to communities in Appalachia. Activities to aid and support brain-damaged children and the poor of greater Washington, DC, area also continues in earnest.

On behalf of the poor of many countries of the world and the Medical Missionaries volunteers, I wish you all a blessed holiday season and look forward to greater accomplishments in the coming year.

I thank you all for your prayers and support.
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

How to Double Your Donation

We make a special appeal to donors, due to a unique opportunity at this time to double the amount of each donation. There is a family, who wish to remain anonymous, who will match dollar for dollar each donation to Medical Missionaries. This will apply to the first $50,000 received. Therefore, $50,000 in donations will give us $100,000, which will put us well on our way toward completion of the clinic in Haiti.

As demonstrated in the first five years by Medical Missionaries, one dollar donated translates into over $400 of value to the recipient poor in the USA and overseas. Medical Missionaries is entirely a volunteer organization with NO funds being paid for salaries, or for fund raising organization. Your help is greatly appreciated by thousands of POOR people worldwide.
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Board of Directors

President Gilbert R. Irwin, MD
Vice-President Ken Kornetsky, MD
Secretary Carolyn Jeans, RN
Treasurer Brian Brenner
Paul Byrne, DDS
Charles La Rochelle, DDM
Ron Burrell

This newsletter is published three times a year by
Medical Missionaries Inc.
Manassas, VA.

Executive Director: Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Newsletter Staff:
Mary & Stan Sobczynski

Medical Missionaries can be contacted as follows:

Gilbert R. Irwin, MD
9590 Surveyor Court
Manassas, VA 20110
Telephone: (703) 361-5116
Fax: (703) 361-5876
E-mail:
medmissionaries@yahoo.com
Website: medicalmissionaries.info

Fixing a Broken Heart

It's amazing what can happen when you just put your arm around someone. I first met William, now eight years old, two years ago in Banica when I came down with the surgical team. Walking to and from the hospital everyday, I would encounter William and some of his other seven siblings, each time passing out Tootsie Roll Pops to them. Somehow this very little boy made a big impression on me. The following year I returned and again William was by the side of the road, this time remembering me as the Tootsie Roll Pop Lady. On the last day of our visit, I wanted to get a picture of me with William. I bent down beside William's reluctant little frame and put my arm around him. It was then that I felt a very profound heart murmur. I took him down to have our surgeons look at him and they agreed that he had some major heart defects.

Not wanting William to die at an early age, I decided to try and arrange for the help he needed. Taking eight months to accomplish the task, William, his Mom and Annie Quast arrived in the United States on September 27th, 2004. Margaret Rau came with me to Reagan National Airport to retrieve the trio. They would be spending the next thirty-one days at Ronald MacDonald house, which was a few miles from the hospital. You can only imagine what a huge cultural shock it was for this very poor family. The littlest things we take for granted, were such amazing and precious treats for them. So many people donated clothes and goodies to them. Several families invited them into their homes. Mind you; they only spoke Spanish, so at times it was very challenging communicating with them, if you didn't know their language. However, William was a quick study when it came to picking up on our American ways and words. Thanks to Sergio Mayorga for handling the late night phone calls from Ronald MacDonald house because of translation problems.

Annie Quast, Mother of William,
Dr. Irwin and William

William's open-heart surgery was done on October 5th and on the 8th he was discharged. If not for the scar on his chest, you would never guess he even had surgery. He recovered very quickly. His left side of his heart still has a few problems, but his doctors seem fairly confident that his heart will compensate. After several post operative visits and tests, William was given the green light, and they returned to their home in Banica on October 27th, 2004. I will be anxious to see my little friend and view his progress first hand when our surgical team returns in February.

There were so many people involved in this undertaking. I want to personally thank everyone who helped me. It couldn't have happened without a combined effort from so many different people. Forgive me if I fail to mention you by name.

First, it was Sister Babs Barry who arranged for William to have the diagnostic studies needed to confirm his condition. She also took care of the Passport and VISA paperwork for William and his mother, and secured free tickets through American Airlines for them. When we coordinated the ticket for Annie Quast, who accompanied them on their month long journey, American Airlines was very helpful and lenient with the terms of her ticket.

Dr. Sehn was instrumental in contacting a pediatric cardiologist who then put us in contact with the International Programs at Children's Hospital. It was perfect timing for us, because their program decided they wanted to take a case from the Dominican Republic this year. Oussama El Baba and his assistant, Lubna, were so fantastic helping me coordinate the hospital arrangements. Thanks to the Larry King Heart Foundation and Children's Hospital for underwriting the hospital bills. William's cardiologist, Dr. Craig Sable, and his surgeon, Dr. Gregory De Russo were great. I can't say enough about the fabulous staff at the hospital. They were so friendly and helpful.

Then there was the Ronald MacDonald House. What an incredible facility. It's like being part of a very large family. The staff went above and beyond to accommodate all of William's needs.

Then there is Dr. Irwin and the Medical Missionaries organization. They do such great work. Whenever anything is needed they are always there saying "No Problem."

Lastly, I owe Annie Quast, or Saint Annie, as I like to call her now, a huge debt of gratitude. It was Annie who agreed to take charge of the family for the entire length of the mission. From Banica to the States and back, and everything in between, Annie was there. It was exhausting and very trying at times but Annie saw it through to the end. Words cannot express how much I appreciated what she did for William.

I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Medical Missionaries for allowing me to be part of such a worth-while organization. With everyone working together we can accomplish great things for such needy people.
Debra Parrish

Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) and Medical Missionaries Team Up Again

Once again we had the pleasure of working with the Kentucky based Christian Appalachian Project. One of their Operation Sharing trucks was dispatched for a 7 October load at our Linton Hall site. Our good friend Ronnie brought the rig in on Wednesday afternoon so we could get an early start Thursday morning loading it up. And load we did!! Our usual crew, with the help of students from Seton School and volunteers from All Saints and elsewhere packed that truck wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling with winter clothes, toys, children's books, baby items and furniture. (Ronnie wants the truck real full so the load won't shift when he goes over the mountains!).

Our needy friends in Appalachia, who suffered great losses from the flooding of hurricane Ivan, will have a more comfortable winter thanks to all those who helped. We hope to have another load ready for them sometime in January so we'll need all you volunteers again, bundled up and ready to go!

Susie Cornell
College Recruiting

Every fall at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, a new batch of pre-health students arrives on campus. There's something a little different about these folks, as they have such clear-cut goals ahead of them for each of their four undergraduate years. Besides staying at the top of their game academically, there are a myriad of other considerations about how to spend their little free time. Volunteering is one of these. This past September while speaking with my advisor about my Medical Missionaries trip to Haiti, he asked me if I would mind making a short, 15-minute presentation to the incoming freshman pre-health students regarding volunteering and service ac-tivities. I agreed to it and immediately called Stan and Mary Sobczynski.

The three of us were in perfect agreement as to the great opportunity this would be to get the word out about the Medical Missionaries to an up-and-coming pre-professional crowd. At the drop of a dime, Stan and Mary began preparing a poster board entitled, Path of Medicine. Their board, besides being a visually moving masterpiece, clearly explained, through word and picture, every aspect of the Medical Missionaries supply chain - from the acquisition of medication in Manassas, VA to its administration in Thomassique, Haiti, and Banica, Dominican Republic. Presenting the Medical Missionaries in this way, we all agreed, would allow the pre-health students to see the virtually lim-itless number of ways to get involved with the organization. Just four days after speaking with Stan and Mary about the project, a completed poster board and 100 Medical Missionaries Newsletters and brochures arrived at my doorstep in Richmond. Not a bad turn-around time, Stan and Mary!
The presentation went exceedingly well. I presented to a group of roughly 25 soon-to-be nurses, dentists, doctors, pharmacists, and physical therapists, all of whom were very interested and attentive. Each student left with a Medical Missionaries information packet containing an outline of the presentation, the latest Medical Missionaries Newsletter and brochure, and most importantly, some contact information in order to call up and get involved. Hopefully, we'll have a few more volunteers come Christmas time!

Doug Taylor

Engineering Activities

This has been another busy time of year with four separate trips in the past 11 months. After the construction team visit earlier this year, Zac Quintana volunteered to return to Banica to help as a Musical Director and part time Medical Missionary maintenance man. We are very thankful for his efforts in plumbing maintenance at El Centro, radio battery replacements in many villages and most of all for being on the receiving end of our last Sea Container. Doug Taylor and I were in Banica to help in this task, but fortunately for us, the Sea Container got hung up in Customs and we missed the fun. (You have to see one of these containers when it leaves here to appreciate what one is up against). Zac, Doug and I wired the storage shed for lights and power, installed a water collection system and monitored the slab installation by Fr. Gee's construction crew. Zac had to handle the supervision of the shed siding after it arrived in the container.

Doug and I rode with Fr. Ronel to Thomassique to assess the progress and needs of our new Staff House. Fr Gee and Zac rode motorcycles through the mess we call a road.

The building had progressed quite well; but, we were able to spot and change a few items important to the overall utility. We made major changes in the positioning of the generator, batteries, inverter and solar panels. We further agreed on some major changes in the water supply system including an in ground tank, a jet pump and two new tanks on the roof. (Gravity would not suffice in filling the big tank). We left Thomassique with a good knowledge of our next team work load and skills required.

Zac continued on in Banica for an overall 4-month stay. Thanks again, Zac, from all of us.

I was able to pull together a dream team for the next trip. Our goal, prepare the Staff House for complete bed and breakfast accommodations for the November Medical Team. We had Brian Brenner, mechanic extraordinaire, Joe Ireland, plumber and all-around trades-man, Bill Shelton, master electrician, and Dave Eisel, businessman and motivated maintenance trainee. Craig Flanagan, construction expert, was also prepared to travel with us, but a death in his family prevented him from doing so.

After the normal long trip to Banica we found that the Thomassique truck was going to be delayed for one day. Making use of this day, we found several items in Banica to take up the slack.

We hooked up a make shift remote control for the El Centro generator (saves 300 foot walk). A security light for the shed, generator check out in Pedro Santana, battery bank fluids in El Centro and check out of Fr. Gee's stove kept part of the team busy. We filled in with cutting table braces for the new school desks and finally we made some collection baskets for use during the St Francis of Assisi pilgrimage.

Finally, the truck arrived and we loaded it with everything, but the kitchen sink (or was that in there also) including (2) 55 gallon drums of diesel fuel, and two 100 lb. propane tanks. The journey to Thomassique was delightful as always, taking eight hours to traverse the 24 miles (8.5 miles as the crow flies). Several times it looked like we were stuck for life.

First order of business was to get our new 18 kW Leister generator in place. It took 10 men and a boy to lift it, but perseverance prevailed. Sixteen 100 lb. scrubber batteries were next to be placed in very tight quarters and very hefty cables installed. Another 10 men and a boy job was mounting our 450 lb. inverter power panel on the wall. Electrical check out of the system installed by the Haitians was to some degree successful. (They installed a two-wire system that is not satisfactory for some of our appliances, but good enough for lights and fans). After running the wires from the generator to the power panel and also from the batteries to the power panel, we fired up the system and surprisingly we had power throughout the house. Unfortunately after a short run we noticed sparks flying from the generator. It appeared like a bushing between the motor frame and the gen-erator was burning up. The next day it ran smoothly and the generator supplier said no problem. (Next trip it happened again and we found that there was a poor bond between the two and we corrected the problem).

Haitians don't have electric in their kitchens so we had to install receptacles for our appliances (all with safety grounds). Next order of business was assembly of beds followed by installa-tion of ceiling fans. Fortunately, Deacon Roberto from Banica (a very skilled carpenter filling in for Craig) had cut down each of the beds to our specifica-tion and these jobs, although time consuming, went well. With refrigerator, bottled water dispenser, coffee maker and gas stove hook up, we were pretty much in business for this trip.

The most recent excursion in November with a Medical Team was very successful. Craig Flanagan and I concentrated on completion of the Staff House. We had to take a number of inflatable mattresses with us because we lost more than half of hospital bed mattresses in the Sea Container Customs process. The inflatables worked out well. The water was supplied to our roof top tanks via Haitian bucket brigade. After repair of leaks in almost every pipe joint we were able to use the showers and restrooms for their normal purposes. We installed our water filtration system and the roof rack for the solar panels (20 going in next Sea Container). The medical team members shared the cooking and dishwashing duties and life was pleasant in Thomassique.

Ron Burrell

Thank You Girl Scouts of Bristow and Gainesville!!!

Generosity and energy were the main ingredients which made the recent project of Service Unit 90-7 Girl Scouts of Bristow and Gainesville such a huge success!! Under the leadership of Cindy Wurst, 8 troops of junior and teen scouts ranging in age from 9-14 undertook the project of collecting donations for Medical Missionaries. The items were dropped off at the Bristow Run Elementary School on Friday night, November 12th, and the girls spent the evening sorting and bagging clothes and eating pizza! There were 245 bags of clothes collected, along with 32 bags of stuffed animals, 24 very large boxes of toys, 33 individual toys too large to box, numerous bicycles, 14 boxes of children's books and a wonderful assortment of toiletries, school supplies, baby items, kitchen items, tote bags and backpacks. They wrapped up the project Saturday morning by delivering the items to our Linton Hall storage area located behind the Benedictine Convent. Thank you Girl Scouts of Bristow and Gainesville for doing such a wonderful project to help the needy in Haiti and Appalachia!

Susie Cornell

Fourth Annual
Golf Tournament Success

Our Fourth Annual Golf Tournament scheduled for Thursday, September 9, 2004 unfortunately had to be postponed. The four (4) hurricanes that hit the Florida coast in August and September unfortunately worked their way slowly up the East Coast and much of the residual rains provided much moisture in the Virginia area. This abundance of rain caused a saturation of the many golf courses in the area; thus, we had to postpone the tournament until, Thursday, October 14, 2004. Although we had lost several teams because of the change; nevertheless, it still came off somewhat successful.

What an Experience!

Recently, I had the privilege of traveling to Haiti with Dr. Gil Irwin and the Medical Missionaries. I already knew about the good work they do for the people there, but nothing could have prepared me for what I experienced. Mere discursive prose could never describe my experience, so I decided to share a bit of my own diary. The following are some excerpts…

Saturday, November 6: 12:30-4:30 PM - the road to Thomassique is impossible to describe. It is nearly impassible. Where else does it take 4 hours to drive 15 miles? Trucks need about 2 feet of ground clearance to navigate the rocks, gullies, ravines and precipices that they call "roads". Moreover, there are no bridges. Our truck drives right through 2 rivers. Thank God the water is low enough to pass.

Sunday, November 7: 5:30 AM - The sun rises early at this latitude, but not as early as the roosters. There must be a rooster in every hut, and they're all awake. I'm sick of fighting it. It's time to rise and shine.

9:00 AM - All the town is abuzz with excitement. The new parish church is complete, and Bishop Kebreau is in town for the dedication. Mass begins…eventually. This is Haiti, not Switzerland.

9:00-12:30 - I've seen almost every Catholic ceremony in the books, but this is the first time I've ever seen the Rite of the Dedication of a Church. It's long, but wow, what an experience! This is what Mass was meant to be like.

What makes it so great? Let me elaborate… First of all, the entire town comes. No joke. It they don't fit in the church, they peer into the windows. No one is skipping Mass today. Second, everyone participates. Just imagine a church, so stuffed it would frighten a fire marshal. All your friends are there. Everyone is singing with full voice. The volume is ear-splitting, but totally joyful. The music is perfectly reverent but also cultural. The church is rockin' to an island beat, with smooth Caribbean rhythm. The joy is contagious, and we're all infected. The people love it. I love it. God must love it too.

11:00 AM - the offertory procession is like nothing you've ever seen…includes bananas, papayas, mangos, plantains, lettuce, rice, bread…plus 2 live chickens and a goat. I have now seen it all.

12:30-3:30 PM - Party, party, party. I can't say I'm excited about the food, but everyone is having a blast. I have a new rule - if I can't recognize it, I don't eat it. That pretty much leaves just rice and beans for me. Hey! - someone brought a jumbo bag of Tootsie Rolls, and I filled my pockets. This is living.

Monday, November 8: 9:30 AM - Dr. Gil Irwin teaches me how to load a syringe and give an injection. I immunize several children against Measles, Mumps and Rubella. It takes 4 years to finish medical school. I'm trained in about 4 minutes.

It doesn't matter what country they're in, all kids hate shots. After about the 10th kid screams and writhes, I've had enough. I go to the pharmacy to fill prescriptions with Sarah and Kathryn (and they've got that jumbo bag of Tootsie Rolls). They teach me the necessary Haitian Creole I need to tell the people how to take their medicines. Not a bad education for one morning.

2:00 PM - Very hungry and tired. I head back to the rectory to see if there is anything for lunch. Surprise! - more rice and beans. I'm so hungry I don't really care. Complex carbohydrates never tasted so good.

6:00 PM - The towering black thunderheads on the horizon glow with a hue somewhere between copper and crimson, as the sun sets on another day. About six local kids follow me as I climb to the top of a grassy hill to watch. This is perhaps the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen, and I'm not about to miss a moment of it. We all stand together, in awe of the sight. They speak Creole. I speak English. And for once, we understand one another perfectly.

Wednesday, November 10: 12:00 PM - Lunch… a total mystery. I have no idea what I just ate, and I don't care. No time to worry about that. The school kids line up for immunizations. (I can't get over how cool they all look...it's those sky-blue uniforms). The townspeople press into the door of the clinic. We're only here for 24 hours, and they all know it. Let's roll…

12:00-7:00 PM-Immunizations come first, Hepatitis, Measles, Mumps and Rubella. These poor kids, they scream with each injection. We all decide that life could be a littler sweeter for them if we gave away our Tootsie Rolls. I've never been happier to share.

After immunizing all the school kids, it's back to the pharmacy. Dr. Gil prescribes the meds, and I measure them out. I have now learned enough Haitian Creole to communicate, and it feels pretty good. Each person I meet treats me with kindness. They're all so grateful, and their smiles are heartwarming. They think I'm helping them, but they're so wrong. I'm the lucky one here. "Whatsoever you did to the least of my brethren…you did it to me".

It was an experience I will never forget.
Fr. James Hudgins

Third Medical Mission Seminar

Medical Missionaries announces the third Seminar on the Medical Mission to Developing Countries presenting topics of interest for healthcare providers and lay volunteers seeking to work in impoverished or developing areas of the world. A wide range of topics in tropical and environmental medicine will be addressed. Also, there will be smaller groups and tutorials providing expert advice and instruction to enable the medical missionary or prospective medical missionary to be more confi-dent in leaving the comfort of healthcare in the USA to work with the poor elsewhere.

The program this year is new with different and expanded material. As before however, discussion among attendees with medical mission experience will remain a vital part of the seminar.

The program has been set up to address features that make practicing medicine on a mission different.

1. The diseases are different or at least occur at a different prevalence because of environmental or social issues.
2. Laboratory/diagnostic support is less or absent
3. Medicines are less available.
4. Patient follow-up is less.
5. Cultural attitudes to health/dis-ease/therapy/death may be very differ-ent.

The purpose and format of the lectures are directed at following how health problems emerge from environmental and social situations, what diagnoses are therefore most likely, and what empiric treatments are best.

Part 1: Water and water borne disease

A. Water quality, testing. What is bad water? There are small and large scale solutions.
B. Disease resulting from water con-tamination including the diarrhea syndromes, worldwide variations
C Empiric and specific diarrhea therapies for Adults/pediatrics

Part II: Food/food safety/ nutrition

A. Food safety: How does the rest of the world do it?
B. Associated disease
C. Assessing the individual and community for malnutrition
D. Assessing the adequacy of a diet
E. Iodine deficiency
F. Vitamin A deficiency and other ophthalmologic topics
G. Fluoride and dental health issues
H. Breast feeding/infant/child nutri-tion

Part III: Community Hygiene and waste disposal

A. Issues and solutions
B. Topics in parasitology

Part IV: Sex and reproductive health

A. Sexually transmitted disease
B. Prenatal Healthcare /managing pregnancy
C. HIV Update

Part V: The mosquito

A. Malaria, dengue and others

Discussion groups/Tutorials/ Demon-strations

1. How to plan and execute a medical mission
2. The portable medical laboratory
3. The surgical mission
4. Dentistry: Various planning topics. Learn how to pull teeth--Hands on.
5. Dermatology in the tropics.
6 .Additional parasitology topics, dem-onstrations
7. Hands on: how to deliver a baby and perform an episiotomy
8. Discussion: chronic disease in the developing world (hypertension, cardiac disease): When does it be-come important .When to treat.
9. The responsible medical missionary. How to do no harm. Resistance emergence. Plastic waste.
10 .Pediatric pearls for the medical mis-sionary
11. Communications, power and other engineering topics

The seminar will occur on April 30 and May1, 2005 at Prince William Hospital, Manassas, Virginia, 20110. CME and CEU credits are available with the price of admission. Included are 3 meals on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. The charge is $100.00 for physicians, and $75 for others. Medical and nursing students $35.00

You can pre-register by e-mailing your name, address, e-mail to kkornetsky@msn.com. We will send you the final course schedule by the end of January.

To register send your name, address, email, and admission fee to:

Medical Mission Seminar
9590 Surveyor Ct
Manassas, Va. 20110

Kenneth Kornetsky, MD

Plans Underway for
Dinner/Dance and Auctions
April 16, 2005

On Saturday, April 16, 2005, the Medical Missionaries will be holding their 2nd Annual Dinner/Dance and Auction at the Heritage Hunt Golf and Country Club in Gainesville, Virginia. Everyone is invited to come and enjoy a wonderful evening of dinner and dancing, blended in with a silent and live auction. There will be many collectable items donated by celebrities for auction. Live music by Signature will be heard throughout the evening. Black tie is optional.

We ask for your support for this major fund raiser. We hope to raise much needed monies to support the Free Healthcare provided to those who truly need it. The medical and other skilled professionals and the many volunteers of the Medical Missionaries continue trying to help the Poorest of the Poor locally, nationally, and in the Third World. Our only hope and theirs de-pend on your continued generous support.

Full information and details on the Dinner/Dance will be provided in a separate flyer sometime after the holidays.

Editor

Buddy

Buddy, can you spare a dime, or…….. a bar of soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a package of pens, pencils or notepaper, a cooking pot, a bowl with a lid, a towel, a sheet, a blanket? How about a shirt, a pair of shorts, a jacket, gloves, a hat, a pair of shoes? There are plenty of folks who need these simple things and we know who they are, where they are, and how to get them there. Who are we? We are Medical Missionaries and we strive to help the poorest of the poor. Where are these poor? Sadly, they are nearly everywhere, but our focus is in Haiti and the Dominican Republic on the Island of Hispaniola and the poor Appalachian areas of the U.S. We network with other service organizations in the area such as SERVE, ECHO, St. Vincent de Paul, Area Agency on Ag-ing, Caring and Sharing and many oth-ers to maximize our resources. What are our resources? YOU ARE! Without you, we would have nothing to send to these poor people. So if you can spare a dime, a toiletry item, school supplies, a cooking utensil, bedding or clothing or other useful item, please contact Medi-cal Missionaries at (703) 361-5116. (By the way, we can always use more volunteers too!)
Susie Cornell

Support For Major Fundraiser

Dinner/Dance and Auction
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Heritage Hunt Golf & Country Club

Our first Dinner / Dance & Auction, (our first time venture) turned out to be successful. We hope to improve on this with our upcoming Dinner/Dance in April 2005. For it to be successful we need your help and support. You can help in several ways:

1) You could place an Ad in our Program Book. Ads are $200.00 full page; $100.00 half page; $50.00 quarter page.
2) You could become a Benefactor for $500 thru $1,000.00; a Donor for $25.00 thru $499.00; and a Patron for a $10.00 donation.
3) You can donate an Auction Item (Kindly list market value). A Fundraising Sheet and envelope has been inserted for your convenience.
4) When our Invitations are sent you have an opportunity to come and bring friends. Ticket prices for the Dance are $50.00/person. Full tables are available. Should you be unable to attend and wish to make a donation, it would be appreciated.

Tickets may be obtained by calling: Shirley @ (703) 361-5116; Cindy @ (703) 368 4500: Mary @ (703) 361-6843, or Mary Ellen @ (703) 368-4930.

You kind support of donations help the Medical Missionaries provide the FREE medical care to the Poor throughout the world, locally, nationally, and internationally

On behalf of all our members, I wish you a Blessed Christmas and a healthy New Year. God Bless You.

Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Spring 2005

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES NEWSLETTER
Spring 2005

President’s Message

The New Year literally hit Medical Missionaries like a tidal wave with so many calls for help. Medical Missionaries responded to the Asian earthquake by having a special Disaster Fund appeal and collecting large donations of soap, toothpaste, household items and baby formula from many churches, civic and private groups in the greater Manassas and Woodbridge areas. As a result of these efforts, 20 tons of needed supplies were shipped Feb. 3, 2005 via sea container to the Bishop of Sri Lanka and Little Sisters of the Poor. These supplies will help hundreds of families survive day to day while the restoration process continues. (See article by Bob Wilson).
On the border of the Dominican Republic/Haiti, much activity continues with several trips to the area by Medical Missionaries. A medical trip (see Ken Kornetsky’s article) not only involved hundreds of clinic visits by local people but generated many elective surgical cases for the Medical Missionaries surgical team that followed in February 2005. (See Ed Lawson’s article) Many surgeries were performed on people who otherwise never receive any corrective intervention including hernia repair, hysterectomies, prostatectomy, mass removals. The surgical team felt exhausted but very much rewarded by helping so many desperate people.

Ron Burrell continues his on going electrical work in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic to allow electrical power and radio communications to exist in the area. Paul Byrne, DDS, Bill Shelton, Joe Ireland, “the Irish Mafia,” improved the dental clinic in Banica and helped to provide electric power for the security house there as well. Susie & Peter Cornell spearheaded cleaning out and reorganizing the warehouse facilities at Linton Hall through the cold winter months. Participating in these efforts were a fraternity from Shepherd College, West Virginia, under the direction of Matt Wyrsch, and a number of our regular volunteers. For their project as part of “World Vision 30 Famine” a group of high school students headed by Laura O’Meara also helped with the outdoor clean up by cutting briar bushes, clearing debris and sorting and stacking pallets.
The Christian Appalachian Project picked up another 18 wheeler load of winter clothing and household goods the first week of January and the rest of the month was spent sorting and packing disaster relief supplies for the tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. Special thanks to Cindy Wurst’s Girl Scouts and all those who so generously donated supplies and helped load the sea container that were sent to Sri Lanka. There are many other events that happened since our last newsletter, which keeps Medical Missionaries volunteers “jumping.” But despite the many problems and frustrations of trying to help, all remember that the need of the POOR is much greater than our trials. Thanks to all those who help in any way with projects or donations.
In an effort to expand and improve the long term efficiency and operation of Medical Missionaries, the Board of Directors has increased its members and diversification. A reorganization committee has been working for the last year developing plans for sustaining the many projects and efforts of Medical Missionaries. This action has been taken to improve our working motto People of All Faiths Striving to help the Poorest of the Poor. In addition to Board expansion, a rotating appointed trustee category was added to the Medical Missionaries organization to recognize all those who have given extra effort, time and talent to help. More information will be forth coming in the next newsletter… Stay tuned.
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Sri Lanka Trip Tsunami Disaster Relief

It began with a phone call from the Little Sisters of the Poor in Baltimore requesting Medical Missionaries support for the Tsunami victims in Sri Lanka. It ended with the arrival of a Medical Missionaries sea container full of clothing, pediatric foodstuffs, kitchenware, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, pediatric medication, and bandages. The trip took place from March 4-18, 2005.
Mr. Charlie Patullo and I went to Sri Lanka with a two fold mission. First, we wanted to assist the Archbishop of Colombo and the Little Sisters of the Poor in planning, clearance, and execution of the distribution of materials in the Medical Missionaries and Little Sisters of the Poor sea containers to the intended recipients. Second, we assessed the potential of establishing a long-term presence in Sri Lanka. The majority of our time was devoted to completing our first mission. We worked very closely with Archbishop Gomis’ agent for coordinating sea and air shipments for the Catholic Non-Government agencies in Sri Lanka: Reverend Father Sunil de Silva. In this capacity, Father de Silva is responsible for clearing donor shipments from the port and arranging for delivery to recipients throughout Sri Lanka. We assisted him in clearing and distributing two shipments for the Little Sisters of the Poor in Colombo and Batticaloa on the East coast. The Medical Missionaries’ shipment was delayed at sea and didn’t arrive until the March 18th, the day of our departure. We left its clearance and distribution in the able hands of Father de Silva.
The clearance of the Little Sisters of the Poor shipment was a study in bureaucracy. The Government of Sri Lanka was ill prepared for the deluge of tsunami relief shipments they received from all over the world. This situation taxed the system and slowed everything. There were endless Government policy changes, ministerial approval requirements, unanticipated “fees,” and, finally, as always, bureaucratic agendas to deal with. In short, it was a bloody mess. Had it not been for the endless efforts of Father de Silva, these shipments would still be on the pier. He earned a nickname from Charlie and me: Father Bulldog. Finally, after many phone calls, ministerial visits, letters, and alike, the Little Sisters of the Poor’s shipments were released and ready for delivery on the day Charlie and I departed.
During the lulls between the paperwork and fighting with Government officials, Charlie and I had the opportunity to visit some of the areas devastated by the tsunami. I am sure you have seen the devastation on television news; have read tsunami articles and seen horrendous pictures in the newspapers; and have heard radio reports about the loss of life. Charlie and I saw those same images and heard those same reports. But, they do not compare to what we encountered in the field. Forty five thousand people perished in Sri Lanka in the course of twenty minutes. Fifteen thousand people are missing, dragged out to sea as the tsunami retreated. In those twenty minutes, thousands of buildings went down. Three waves hit in succession. The first wave was approximately six to seven feet high. The next wave, the killer wave, was 25-30 feet high. The third wave was approximately 10-20 feet high. All three were moving at about 300 miles per hour. That is right: 300 miles per hour. The waves destroyed everything in their way. How then does one describe the physical and emotional pain of this? We talked to an elderly man who lost his entire family: wife, three children, and grand children. Two generations lost – in twenty minutes. He also lost his home. He is a poor fisherman and his boat is missing. He spoke slowly and deliberately to us. Charlie and I do not speak Sri Lankan. We did not have to. We watched his face. It said everything. It was one story like this after another. On the beach in Batticaloa, there was a church. It over looked the Indian Ocean. At the time the waves hit, people were there praying. The church is gone, washed away. All that is left are some bricks and concrete pieces scattered across the beach. The people who were praying are missing.
Our second mission was to assess if there is a potential of a long-term relationship in Sri Lanka. As mentioned, one of the hardest hit areas is on the East coast of Sri Lanka in the city of Batticaloa. There is a hospital in the city run by the Bishop there. The hospital gets no funding from the Government and services the poor and indigent of the city and the surrounding areas, particularly those devastated by the tsunami. They are in great need and want Medical Missionaries to assist them to serve better the poor of the region. I told the Bishop that we would help because that is what we do: serve the poorest of the poor. In summary, our trip to Sri Lanka was very informative and productive. We were able to see at first hand what happened there. We were able to assist in the release of vital materials to those in most need. We were able to forge a long-term relief program with the Bishop in Batticaloa. In short, we were able, in a small way, to help the people who needed it the most. Of course, we could not have done this were it not for all of you who donated so generously to our appeal for help. Medical Missionaries thanks you. The Little Sisters of the Poor thank you. The Archbishop of Colombo thanks you. Most important, the elderly man who lost his family and livelihood thanks you.
Robert J. Wilson

St. Annie

Annie Quast, a young nurse practitioner who volunteered to go to Banica, Dominican Republic in 2003, is getting ready to return to Virginia. She went there as an idealist with a desire to improve her Spanish language skills and help people. All of these motives have succeeded beyond expectations. Annie has truly become a “living Saint” by her efforts with many very poor people of Haiti and Dominican Republic. Annie has helped and assisted with all medical/surgical trips since her arrival and has provided continuity for many patients when Medical Missionaries teams were not there. She waded through the eight month long bureaucracy of getting “William,” the young Dominican boy who needed heart surgery to survive and got him here to Children’s Hospital, Washington, DC. “William” is now completely recovered and living back in Banica. Annie is going on to work in the Charlottesville, Virginia area at the Free Clinic. Medical Missionaries and the Poor of the area extends a great deal of thanks to this young professional who has truly earned the title “St. Annie.” Thanks for all you have done and what you continue to do.
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

January Trip

Our latest Medical Missionaries medical care delivery event unfolded from January 20-29,. 2005. A team of 6 physicians and 2 RNs from Virginia, plus 5 able support staff members ventured to Hispaniola, where we met up with Annie Quest, NP at the tail end of her tour. Dr. Byrne and his team also set up a dental clinic in Banica. After arrival, we were joined by a Haitian physician who practiced along with us. A medical clinic was held in Pedro Santana, on the Dominican side of the border, for the first time, and was superbly organized and run by the resident Brazilian Sisters. We worked at this site with the local Dominican physician as well.
After crossing the border, we traveled the abominable roads of Haiti to hold clinics in Las Cacayos, Saltadere, Circa la Source, and Thomassique. At each location huge crowds of patients assembled, and we were stressed to see them all. Dr. Kornetsky continued his hypertension treatment project at the various locations, planning to see the patients in follow-up on our next visit (probably in June). Surgical patients were identified and arrangements made for them to be seen on the follow-up surgical trip in February.
We saw babies Doc Love, now 4 years old, and Helen, now 5 years old, in Thomassique. Readers of this newsletter are familiar with the stories of their difficult deliveries, and it was gratifying to see that they are growing and developing normally. Typical of our new patients was a teenage boy with advanced pneumonia in Saltadere, who responded well to an injection of an antibiotic. An infant with probable meningitis was stabilized in Circe le as and transported across the border to a hospital in the Dominican Republic.
A puzzling mystery was resolved on this trip. We noted a reluctance on the part of patients to give their correct age. For example, one young mother who appeared to be in her twenties kept insisting she was 7 years old. Through our Haitian colleagues, we were able to learn of a common notion that, if you give your correct age to a stranger, it will enable him to put a potentially fatal voodoo curse upon you!!! This will definitely lead to more relaxed interview techniques in the future.
During our time in Thomassique, we stayed for the first time in our new staff house, a remarkable improvement over the previous overcrowded rectory, and most welcome after exhausting days seeing hundreds of patients. By the end of the trip, we were low on most of our pharmaceuticals, and exhausted – victims of our own success as more Haitian priests ask for clinics to be held in their locations. I was particularly impressed with how hands on assistance and advance planning by the Brazilian nuns enabled us to see large numbers of patients efficiently. Improvements in our logistics and planning are on the agenda for our Medical Missionaries operation to meet the escalating patient care needs in the future.
William J. McAveney, MD

Medical Missionaries
Feb 2005 Surgical Trip Banica, Dominican Republic

The annual surgical mission trip to Hispaniola returned home Feb. 26, 2005. The base of operations was the town of Banica, Dominican Republic. Banica is on the border between Dominican Republic and Haiti about halfway between the North and South coasts of the island. Although based in the Dominican Republic, many of our patients travel from Haiti to avail themselves of services unavailable to them in their own country.
Volunteer medical personnel constitute the fabric of the surgical team. This year’s cloth was superb by anyone’s standards. Team members included Mark Mason, MD – General Surgeon, Chris Highfill, MD – Orthopedic Surgeon, John Gonzalez, MD – OB-GYN , Gil Gil-Montero, MD – Urologist, Anna Penna, MD – Anesthesiologist, Ed Lawson, CRNA – Nurse Anesthetist, Debra Parrish, RN – OR Nurse, Margaret Rau, RN – OR Nurse, Maria Borowicz, RN – OR Nurse, Jane Crisp, RN – OR Nurse, Diane Lawson, RN – Pre and Post Operative Care, Kate Edwards, RN – Pre and Post Operative Care. Annie Quast, RN, a nurse practitioner who has served the Banica parish for over a year. Additionally, we had the services of Jeremy Mercierm who provided translation for the Haitian patients.
Preparation for a mission begins at the conclusion of the previous mission. After concluding surgery at the end of the week, supplies, equipment, and drugs are inventoried prior to being stored in Banica. Lists are generated by the surgeons, OR nurses, anesthesia providers, and general duty nurses regarding needs and wants for the next mission. Needs for equipment are addressed – the equipment is obtained either by purchase or on loan for the next mission. Supplies for the operating room are obtained, organized in packs, and sterilized. These packs are sent to Banica where they await the arrival of the next surgical team. Other equipment and supplies are often carried in the personal luggage of the surgical team members. Several members of this team have made several surgical mission trips to Banica, and are well acquainted with the pitfalls of practice in this third world country. Prior experience has made the organization of the trip more efficient. Because of better organization, we were able to commence a surgical schedule on Sunday afternoon. Monday through Thursday, we made post-operative rounds at 7:30 AM, and immediately began the surgical schedule for the day. We usually stopped for a half-hour lunch at 12 or 1 PM, although some days we continued running one room while the other room (team) went for lunch. In that manner, we were able to maximize the number of cases performed. Most days, we finished cases after dark, and then returned to the compound for dinner and the evening “social hour.” After dinner, half or more of the group would return to the hospital to make evening rounds on our patients who remained in the hospital. This mission served nearly seventy patients and performed over ninety surgical procedures. There were many more major surgical cases performed this year than in the past. Every single person who participated in this mission can justifiablyfeel proud of what we accomplished. Our patients were extremely grateful for the services we provided. Each member of the team was happy to be able to participate in such a powerful and beneficial employment of skills and talents.
Thanks is given to Dr. Mark Bartolozzi, and Drs. Bart Hosick and Chris Highfill for helping to provide the mission with medications for our patients. Also, thanks is given to Prince William Hospital for their generosity in allowing us to utilize supplies and equipment for the mission.
Ed Lawson

Engineer Update

There were two trips to Banica and Thomassique since the last newsletter. The first trip was in support of Dr. Ken Kornetsky’s medical team and Dr. Byrne’s dental efforts in January of this year. The first stop after the grueling airline and bus trip was Banica. Tagging along with the medical and dental staff (Anita Wilson and Dr Byrne’s daughter, Patty) were Joe Ireland, John Blankenship, Michael Thiele, and myself to address any technical and living condition problems. Also, Mike worked the pharmacy for the medical team.
Our first order of business was to install new fans in the El Centro dormitory and a few other repairs for our creature comforts. Joe and John remained in Banica and brought the Dental Clinic up to full operation while Mike and I accompanied the medical team to Haiti. Mike was able to install doorknobs and privacy latches on all of the toilet stall doors, which pleased the whole team. The wiring in the kitchen and the installation of an outdoor circuit for the water pump was completed. I found that the pump, that the construction crew had installed, was setup for 230 volts and they had been trying to operate it with 115 volts. They still have not purchased or installed a pressure tank. The pump was rewired for 115 volts and I had to by pass the pressure switch in order to get the system to pump water to our storage tanks on the roof. With no pressure tank, I had to add a switch to power the pump on and off when we want water and prevent it from running continually. During the week we found that our under ground tank was not filling on a regular basis. We suspected someone was controlling the amount of water supplied to our tank. It would be empty with no water coming in for long periods of time and then we would have enough for a few showers and toilet flushes. Fr Ronel told us there was a leak where our system was connected to the city supply. The symptoms did not match this scenario so I told him that construction of the Clinic would not be initiated until we knew that we could obtain water. Fr Ronel has since told me that the problem has been corrected. My apologies to the Medical team for having to schedule fewer showers and toilet flushes than they would normally desire.
On our return to Banica, I was delighted to find that Joe and John had completed the internal wiring and temporary power hook up for our custodian’s new home at El Centro. The Custodian family, Michele, Wilna and the five children (Marvela, Denae, Michelina, Andrae, and Miche) now has one of the nicest homes in Banica.
Dr Byrne reported that they had a fairly busy week and I noted that Patty had a fairly large collection of teeth that she had pulled. We had a long bus ride back to Santo Domingo with 3 flats along the way.
I returned to Banica on February 14th six days before the surgical team arrived in order to revamp the electrical system at El Centro to balance the load with the new additional power usage and install permanent power for the custodian’s house. I had to move the Pavilion power to the Dorm Inverter circuit. An underground power line was added for the new house from the Dining and Shed Inverter circuit. To complete the load balance I removed the water pump from the Dorm circuit and added it to the Dining, Shed, and House circuit. I know that this doesn’t mean a lot to many readers of the newsletter, but the medical teams using the facility need to know what controls their power. Fixing one problem often results in new problems. In digging the trench for the permanent power lines, one of the water lines was inadvertently broken (several places). I hate plumbing, but with the ingenuity of my helpers we were able to repair all leaks. Then we discovered that the shutoff valve for the dormitory water tank was not working properly. No replacement valves were available, we had to manually control the water supply for the duration of this trip.
Another reason for going to Banica was to help Fr Gee install his new inverter and battery bank. Members of All Saints church in Manassas and St John the Evangelist church in Warrenton had raised the money to upgrade the power in the St Francis Rectory. A priest in the mission has to be a Jack of all trades. Fr Gee’s trepidation with electricity was heightened when he found out that one of the lenses from my glasses had fallen out while we were hooking up the batteries. While he was connecting each one he would ask if it were correct and I would say sure. On completion he found that I could see properly with one eye only. Heck, I didn’t even know until we climbed out of the close dark confinement.
Manuel, my constant companion and helper during this trip, and I added a few new circuits to the rectory and connected the deacon’s office to the new inverter circuit. One circuit was completely burned out and the circuit breaker even had to be replaced. Someone had spliced into the circuit, added a couple of receptacles and a light outside in the courtyard. Of course, they weren’t waterproof so when they became corroded and were unusable, someone just cut the wires. Manuel and I took the old lower wattage inverter and smaller battery bank from the St Francis rectory and installed them in St Joseph’s church in Pedro Santana. The village power is averaging 12 hours a day now so it will be sufficient to keep the batteries charged and we were able to remove the diesel generator. Hopefully, we will be able to install this generator in Circa la Source, Haiti to provide power for Fr Bertrand’s rectory and school.
The rest of the trip was pretty routine trying to keep water, diesel fuel and commodities available as needed. Fr Ronel’s crew came with the big truck to pick up most of the items shipped in the last sea container. I held the solar panels back until we have the time and manpower to install them. I did get a chance to install a couple of windows in the El Centro storage shed. Next trip we will be installing 4 more windows and complete the siding before the rainy season arrives. The current plan is for an engineering trip in early April to do this as well as the solar panel installation in Haiti.
Ron Burrell

2006 Fundraiser

Medical Missionaries is planning to take orders for the 2006 Medical Missionaries Calendar. The calendar will feature pictures of the medical missionaries at work in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Africa, and Sri Lanka.
The calendar owners will have the chance to win daily cash prizes from $30.00 to $1,000.00.
Cost of each calendar - $30.
1000 calendars will be sold. Calendars will be assigned one number, from 000 to 999. Each day of the year will be assigned a dollar value; minimum $30; maximum $1,000. Daily winner (calendar number) will correspond with the Virginia Pick Three Lottery. Winners will receive their prizes, monthly.
For more information contact: Charles F. Patullo at cpatullo57@comcast.net 703-368-0375

Clouds and Stars

The January trip to the Dominican Republic and Haiti was one of our largest with over 20 volunteers engaged in dental, medical and engineering projects. Among the physicians were two pediatricians, a surgeon, three internists and Yves Jean Pierre a recent graduate from a Haitian medical school. In Banica we were joined by Annie Quast, nurse practitioner, who has been living in Banica for over a year. She has been of immeasurable help during that time as a clinician, organizer, and adviser. Accompanying us on the trip was Garchard Jean Pierre who works as a respiratory therapist in Northern Virginia. Garchard was born in Port au Prince and is Yves’s sister. She is now a US citizen and has been back to Haiti many times, but never to the eastern border where we were working. I know Garchard was eager to return to do something for the people of Haiti, and was not quite sure what she would do on a medical mission trip. As it turns out she was one of the trip’s brightest stars establishing wonderful rapport with the people and her coworkers, and using her Creole to translate and organize clinics before crowds became too unmanageable.
The group worked in Banica together initially and then divided up over the next ten days to cover Banica and several other chapels (D.), Banica , Las Cacaos (Haiti), Thomassique, Circa La Source, and Saltadere.
Upon our return to the US, when asked how things went I found myself replying, “oh fine.” We had the usual flat tires (six total, three at one time). The roads were as bad as ever. I think I will probably miss them when they are finally graded or paved. We saw hundreds of patients. We continued our hypertension protocol, still trying to get back to see patients before they run out of medicine. Surgical cases were identified for the Medical Missionaries surgeons who were scheduled to come to Banica Hospital in February. The new guest house in Thomassique is beautiful and the clinic will be under construction soon.
There are other things that I remember though. There was the day in Circa La Sourcewhen Dr. Chou Lam, Dr. David Schenk, and I sat in a small room with our interpreters Jylton and Jeremy seeing patients. You see your own patients, but hear two other conversations at the same time, trading advice freely. On a cot in one corner were two children, the sickest being less than one year old. They both had fever, malnutrition and dehydration. Oral rehydration did not work on the youngest. Fluid was finally administered via clysis. Dr.Lam struggled for hours with this child and at one point the baby seemed to rally, but as darkness fell she died. The next day the second child was not doing well either and Chou and others transported the child to a hospital in the DR . We do not yet know the outcome.
In Thomassique the new guest house is over one mile from the current clinic. While walking back to the house one evening, I encountered a sign in Creole in front of a yard that served as the local automotive shop. I tried to read it; Garchard and Yves approached to assist with my Creole lesson. A man standing on the hill shouted at them, “Do not teach them the language, they will steal that too.”
Down the same road the next night we had the pleasure of walking with a three year old girl who had been born after we had helped her mother with a difficult delivery during a previous trip.
There are a lot of other things that should be considered in our plans to establish with the Haitians a full time clinic in Thomassique. Not unexpectedly I sensed a better response of the people to us, as we worked with Haitian healthcare workers and especially a Haitian physician. There are number of reasons for this including their sense of pride and ownership. Further, there are difficult questions to be answered. Should clinic visits be free? There are those Haitians that argue that handouts foster dependence. This theory seems wrong, but is it completely wrong? Free medicine is reasonable when people have so little material wealth. What about the pharmacist who has a little shop in Thomassique. Are we cutting into her business by rolling into town with suitcases full of free medicine? Are we destroying business in an area that sorely needs commerce.(a theory floated by a previous Haitian priest)? The pharmacist, by the way, told us she does not mind us coming to town and sends us patients who cannot afford her medicines. Will this change if the clinic is there all the time?
One last memory, there is outside access to the roof of the guest house. From the roof you have a 360 degree panorama of rolling hills and mountains. There is potential to see a breathtaking view of the night sky as there is no light pollution. However, most nights there are too many clouds. Every now and then the stars shine.
Ken Kornetsky, MD

My First Trip

Albeit many endeavors to join the Medical Missionaries team, three years have elapsed before such ambitions were fulfilled. My path first intersected the team via Dr. Kornetsky who invited me to employ my language skills in the field because of my fluency in the Haitian language, Kreyol with some working knowledge in Espanol. Consequently, I began to ponder the possibilities while wrestling a gruesome schedule. Yet again, my busy schedule prevailed. As the old Haitian adage goes: “Le se Le” (When it’s time, it’s time.)
Finally, my first trip with Medical Missionaries was materialized this past January. YES, it was indeed an unbelievable experience! Although I was aware of the scarcity of suitable healthcare in Ayity, I was astonished by the pauvrete absolute ( absolute poverty) encountered in the regions where we ministered. I garnered my strength and capitalized on my brother Yves’ past experiences with his mobile clinic to help me overcome the sudden sadness that invaded my heart. The first clinic was held in Las Cacaos, Ayity where hundreds of people gathered at a makeshift clinic seeking medical help or whatever else that was available. The team worked diligently ensuring that at least two-thirds of the patients were cared for until we were ousted by sunset. Quite a challenge! Las Cacaos dominated by thoughts and remains forever engraved in my heart. Despite the apparent desolation and the hardships, the people were exceptionally appreciative.
Ki le n-ap tounen ako? (When will you be coming back?) many asked. When confirmation of a June trip was revealed, many words of gratitude were expressed. Mes. i Mesi anpil! (Thank you! Thank you very much). Subsequent clinics held in both Banica, Dominican Republic, and in Ayity’s plateau central impress upon my heart the need to fulfill my purpose of being a servant. Having a clinic is paramount for the development/advancement of healthcare in the above noted regions. Who will go? Here I am, send me. I am looking forward to the June trip! Let’s go! An-n ale! Vamanos! Let’s go!
Gachard Jean Pierre

Dinner/Dance & Auction
A Smashing Success

On a beautiful, clear, sunny day and cool evening Saturday, April 16, 2005, the Medical Missionaries held its 2nd Annual Caring Hearts Ball at Heritage Hunt Golf and Country Club in Gainesville, Virginia. Although the final monetary count is not yet in, it is apparent that it surpassed the success of last year’s event. We express our appreciation to the staff and management of Heritage Hunt for their support of this wonderful event.
Silent auction donations
The evening began with a Silent Auction, raffles, hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. Dinner and a Live Auction followed. Raffles included: a Nativity set; tickets to Nationals versus Marlins and tickets to Nationals versus Rockies; painting; -Basket of Cheer, and a 50-50.
Attendees at Dinner Dance
A Program Book was done in conjunction with the Dinner Dance and Auction. We thank all those wonderful people who provided Ads, Items for auction, and monetary donations to help this event to be so successful. We ask all to support our business donors. Anyone wishing to have a copy of the program book you may do so by calling Stan or Mary at (703) 361-684 3. Also, we will be happy to provide you a copy by sending an e-mail to krakow2@aol.com.
Medical Missionaries appreciates and thanks the co-chair persons of Cindy Curran and Mary Ellen Merchant and all those persons who helped obtain Ads for the program book and to those who actually did the work to organize and layout the program book.
The evening ended with music by Dr. Michael Morch’s Signature band and singer. A fine time was had by all. See you next year.

Medical Missionaries Presents Its Third Seminar
On the Medical Mission to Developing Countries

This conference features topics of interest for healthcare providers and lay volunteers seeking to work in impoverished or developing areas of the world. A wide range of topics in tropical and environmental medicine will be addressed. There will also be smaller groups and tutorials providing expert advice and instruction to enable the medical missionary to be more confident in leaving the comfort of healthcare in the USA to work with the poor elsewhere.
The program this year is new with different and expanded material. As before however, discussion among attendees will remain a vital part of the seminar.
The program has been set up to address features that make practicing medicine on a mission different. 1) The diseases are different or at least occur at different rates because of environmental or social issues. 2) Laboratory/diagnostic support is less or absent. 3) Medicines are less available. 4) Patient follow up is less. 5) Cultural attitudes to health/disease/therapy/death may be very different.
The following is the program so far. More sessions are still being added.
Edward Traimont, MD from NIH HIV and std
Ed Mitre, MD NIH Intestinal nematodes and Eradication programs
Peter Benedetto Water, water purification
Lt. Colonel Karen Geisler Walter Reed Nutrition topics
Robert Wilson/Frank Jordan US Marine Corps Emergency response/disaster relief
Margot Watson, MD Hands on Tutorial: How to deliver a baby, how and when episiotomy. Lecture: essentials of gynecology and prenatal care
Austin Meade, MD Essentials of malaria care
Douglas Willson, MD University of Virginia Respiratory illness in the child
Karen Rheuban, MD/ Gene Sullivan University of Virginia Telemedicine
Colonel Scott Norton, MD WRH Tropical Dermatology
G. Thomas Strickland, MD University of Maryland The changing face of liver disease School of Medicine in Egypt following attempts to eradicate schistosomiais
John Cross, PhD USUHS Tutorial on the parasitology lab
Susan Karlson, MD Opthalmology basics for the medical missionary
Wes Howard, MD What the medical mission gives to the American health worker
April Perry, RN Duke University Haiti: providing healthcare in the context of culture
Susan Hou, MD Loyola Hypertension and pregnancy
Jorge Arias, PhD The mosquito and associated diseases
Ron Burrell Topics in power/solar energy
Also scheduled are sessions on dentistry including dentistry in the field, fluoride programs, and a tutorial on dental anesthesia and tooth extraction. How to put together a medical mission. Surgical mission. Medication purchasing. Ideas for the portable laboratory. Engineering topics for the medical missionary: power, communication, water.
TIME and LOCATION
April 30 7:30 am to 6:00 pm
May 1 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
Prince William Hospital, 4th Floor Health Center Conference Rooms ABC
8700 Sudley Road, Manassas, Virginia
CME and CEU credits available
Registration Fee: Physicians: $100.00 others: $75.00 health care students $35
Includes seminar, syllabus, continuing education credits, and 5 meals
Questions/comments Ken Kornetsky, M.D. e-mail kkornetsky@msn.com

Change of Address

If you are moving, would you please notify Medical Missionaries so that we can send the newsletter to the correct address? It cost almost $1.00 by the time it is returned and re-mailed if it is returned because of an address change. Also, if there is anything wrong with spelling in the name or address, would you please notify us of that? You could send an e-mail to marykateski@aol.com for any changes. We would appreciate it, and thank you.

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Summer/Fall 2005

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES NEWSLETTER
Summer/Fall 2005

Hurricane Katrina Disaster

As of the publishing date of this newsletter, the early phase of recovery from Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast USA has started. Medical Missionaries has been in touch with Federal Energy Management Association (FEMA) and the Red Cross. The recovery process will take many years. Medical Missionaries will do as much as possible, with your support. Medical Missionaries has already sent 2 truck loads of supplies to southern Mississippi and is helping with distribution of supplies at several centers. With such great demand, our resources are limited. Medical Missionaries has been receiving calls inquiring how we will be assisting in this tragedy. Our immediate need is through monetary assistance to cover the cost of shipping supplies and personnel staying in hurricane areas. Please make checks payable to Medical Missionaries (Disaster Relief in subscript or on memo line). Send to Medical Missionaries 9590 Surveyor Court, Manassas, VA 20110. For local schools, churches, civic organizations, Medical Missionaries will accept soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, baby items (diapers, aspirin, baby formula, etc.). Please collect these items and bring to above address. Your help is greatly appreciated.

President’s Message

It was not quite the WWII invasion of Normandy but Medical Missionaries has acquired and sent to the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic (DR) a variety of vehicles. Under the careful scrutiny of Brian Brenner, a Board Member and self employed auto mechanic, a renovated school bus and retired army truck were delivered to Miami and sent via ship to the DR. These two vehicles will play a major part in moving personnel, supplies and equipment from airport to the border area. In addition under the direction of Dr. O’Dend’hal a 90 horsepower (HP) diesel tractor was purchased to enhance food production by local farmers. To date, all subsistence farming is done by hand or with oxen. The tractor will improve production of rice, beans and corn.

Water Storage Tower
Despite being 35 feet above the ground, a team of 3 Medical Missionaries volunteers (Tom Campbell, Charles Patullo and Dr. O’Dend’hal) were able to seal the water storage tower interior. The feat was a very demanding aerial circus act in the heat of Haiti. The 30,000 gallon storage tower will provide water to run the Haiti clinic.

Elsewhere in the Third World, more requests came in for help, especially from Africa. Under the direction of Bob Wilson, a team will leave in September 2005 to assess the evolving needs in Nigeria and Ghana. Plans are being made for shipment of sea containers filled with supplies and equipment to Africa. Medical Missionaries needs your support.

On the home front, Betty Lear and Susie Cornell continue to collect, sort and pack all donated items. Their sustained efforts are greatly appreciated and help many poor families not only in the Third World countries but also in the Greater Washington Metropolitan area and Appalachia.

Finally, in an effort to enhance our organizational activities several new people have been added to the Board of Medical Missionaries. These include: Michael Schwartz, CEO of Prince William Health Corporation, State Senator Charles Colgan, Steven Horan, PhD, Marvin Gillum, DDS, Robert Wilson, Col. (ret) USMC and Chaz Rannells, CPA. All of these people will provide Medical Missionaries with greater local/national influence. In addition, Board of Medical Missionaries has added a category of Trustee for people who we honor for their continuous support of Medical Missionaries. These include: Tom Campbell, Cynthia Curran, Eileen Drinkwater, RN; David Eisel, Craig Flanagan, Joseph Ireland, William McAveney, MD, Mary Ellen Merchant, Mike Morch, DDS, Fortune O’Dend’hal, MD, Charles Patullo, Jack Phalen, Vene Rodriguez, Bernard and Margaret Ragan, William Shelton, Stan and Mary Sobczynski.

Medical Missionaries
5th Annual Medical Missionaries Golf Tournament

The golf tournament took place on Thursday, September 8, 2005 at Bristow Manor G.C.Bristow, VA Our Fifth Annual Golf Tournament, a nice success, was greeted with a cool morning, clear skies, and a host of cheerful golfers. Medical Missionaries survived the wet weather we had before our tournament last fall. Many thanks to all the golfers who supported us and an added thanks to several new golfers.The morning began with registration at 8:00 AM. This gave time for our balloon specialist, Judy Gagat, whose experience with putting helium into the red, white and blue balloons earned her the right to return next year and do it again…Judy!!!

During registration, the golfers had an opportunity to have coffee and light breakfast snacks as well as take chances on raffle tickets for prizes to be awarded during lunch.Just prior to the shotgun start, Father Bob Cilinski, Pastor, All Saints Parish, said a prayer that all golfers have fun and do their best. Immediately following the balloons were launched into the atmosphere in honor of the Katrina victims.The golfers in their carts from both sides of the golf grounds began their 18-hole competitive assault on the course. Ron Burrell monitored hole #3, the $10,000 hole in one. Unfortunately, no one had this great success. As the golfers completed each hole, casual photos were taken.

Lunch saw the return at 1:30 PM of a thirsty and hungry lot. Water, tea, lemonade, beer and soft drinks quenched their thirst as did lunch. A special guest, Father John O’Hara, dropped by to see Dr. Irwin, president of Medical Missionaries as he delivered some nice photos showing the progress being made on our clinic building in Haiti. Father O’Hara served as a missionary in Haiti and Banica, Dominican Republic for several years.

The day ended with the awarding of winners for various feats achieved during the day. Dr. Gilbert Irwin presented the awards.

We wish to make a special note of thanks to Ken Newlin who solicited 7 teams of 4 to various golf courses in historic Virginia. I hope all and more will be coming back next September and bring more teams. Medical Missionaries is doing great work with the money raised with the different fundraisers throughout the year. Many, many thanks; you make it a fun day for me.
Shirley Armel

Engineering

One Engineering trip was made to the DR and Haiti in early April. Veterans Craig Flanagan, Dave Eisel and myself,Ron Burrell were accompanied by Lee Barta. We are sincerely appreciative of Lee’s assistance. Lee and his wife Joann are long time St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) volunteers in Manassas and Lee also contributes many hours to Mendahouse a local charity, that does repair and home fix-up projects for the needy. As indicated in the previous news, we had to finish installing the windows and siding on the Banica (El Centro) storage building. This was a fairly minor task for these guys.

El Centro Storage Building Completion
Our trip to Thomassique was uneventful. Good weather and dry ground allowed for a short trip (less than 3 hours). Our major task at the Haiti staff-house was the installation of new solar panels. This was not an easy task because the rack that was assembled during the fall trip had to be raised to get the proper clearance for the sunlight to strike the panels directly. No lumber and no local Lowe’s or Home Depot meant improvising with cinder block left over from the house construction. We got them installed, but additional anchoring was needed before the hurricane season. The Anchors were sent along with instructions for implementation. Several hurricanes have past and so far the rack has not flown away.

Haiti Staff-House Solar Panels
Craig put on his plumber’s hat and worked on the kitchen sink, clothes washer, LP tubing for the Gas stove and water filter system. The others assembled a few more beds and ceiling fans and I installed a make shift alarm system for the Solar Panels (we have been known to have a few stolen in the past). On our return to Banica, we had a day to perform some clean up tasks at El Centro, Pedro Santana and St Francis Rectory. We installed a porch light for the El Centro custodian, roughed in a garage door in the rear of the Storage Building, and repaired a plumbing leak at El Centro. We performed battery maintenance and light bulb replacement in St Joseph’s in Pedro Santana. We repaired and replaced several nasty wiring problems at St Francis Church and Rectory courtyard and installed a portable water filter system.Dave participated with the Mucachos in delivering Goats (St John’s Warrenton Christmas program) to one of the Compos. Finally, as the sun was setting on our final night in Hipanola, we rushed to complete the installation of Fr Ronel’s two-way radio in his new vehicle.

Christmas Goat Program Delivery
Quite a few engineering activities have been in process since our return to the states. Most of these have been related to the Design and Implementation of the new Clinic in Thomassique. With final agreement to the size and layout of the facility, the Haitians began the process of construction on the building site. Here in Manassas, we started the process of designing and purchasing the Electrical and Plumbing systems. Again with no Municipal Power system in Thomassique, we had to configure a Solar Energy System large enough to maintain the Clinic with minimum support from the existing diesel generator. We decided on an 11 KVA dual Inverter, powered by 24 (12V) Deep Cycle batteries and 24 (120W) Solar Panels (Configured for 48V). This system will provide lighting, cooling (Ceiling fans), a few medical instruments, and minimum refrigeration and water-cooling. The diesel generator will primarily be used as emergency backup, Dental Lab operation and for routine staff-house and Clinic kitchen operations (~ 3hours per day). We are going with Propane Instant water heaters for their efficiency and to conserve electrical energy. One other major electricity conservation approach adopted is the use of DC water pumps. We have purchased a DC Solar Force Piston Pump to bring water from our surface tank to our 30,000 gallon, 30 foot high water tower. It is a low wattage user and will be powered from the staff-house battery bank. This type of pump eliminates the start up power surge inherent in AC pumps detrimental to inverters. A DC Booster pump, 2 captive pressure tanks, and 2 large Ultraviolet Water Filter Systems have also been purchased for the clinic. Craig Flanagan, Geoff Brougham and Doug Taylor have all contributed to the pre- fabrication of two storage sheds which will be installed on the Clinic roof. They will serve as mounting for the solar panels, and housing for the electrical and plumbing systems as well as other potential storage. The roof slope is at the desired angle for maximum solar energy to the panels. Our construction site in Manassas exceeded the heat index of Haiti this summer. No luck in taking any weight off, but even my socks had to be wrung out after less than 3 hours per day.

Solar Panel Mount & Storage Sheds
We installed individual fans at every other seat in the bus which was shipped to the Dominican Republic. Hopefully, we will have pleasant trips to/from the airport now. Additional engineering effort performed on the Thomassique Water Tower by Tom Campbell, Charlie Patullo and Dr. Fortune O’Denhal. It sounded like quite an adventure and very scary. It will be reported in the next issue of Medical Missionaries newsletter. We need to invest in a Water Tower ladder.
Ron Burrell

Where Has My Donation Gone?

If you ever wonder where your donations are going, here are some recent examples:
Solar Panels (24) - $12,000
Dual Inverter - $6,000 (bargain same as staff-house $8,500)
Shed Materials (2) - $5,000 total
Water Pumps (2) - $6,000 total
Batteries/Cables - Clinic - $5,000
Water Filters (2) $2,000 total
Electrical Supplies (wire, outlets, switches, boxes, panels, circuit breakers, etc. $2,000
Instant water Heaters (2) $2,000 total
Ceiling Fans & Light Fixtures $1.000
Village Replacement Batteries (30) $2,000
Water Pressure Tanks (2) & LP Tanks (5) - $1,000
Other Misc. items for Plumbing - $1,000
Administrative Computer & Software - $3,000
Covered Trailer Purchase (Supply Local Hauling) - $ 5,000 2-1/2 Ton Army Truck Purchase (DR to Haiti Transportation & Hauling) - $ 9,000
Tractor D. R. Purchase (Villagers Farming Support & Road Clearing) - $40, 000
Bus Modifications & Spare Parts - $ 3,000
Bus & Army Truck Shipping Cost to Banica - $ 12,500
Sea Container to Banica/Haiti - $3,800
Physical Construction Of Haiti Clinic - $ 80,000 (50% completed)

Spring Seminar Medical Missionaries Developing Countries
April 30 – May 1, 2005

The Third Medical Mission Seminar featuring a wide range of topics in tropical and environmental medicine was highly successful. The seminar was attended by approximately 85 people from several states.
Seminar Attendees
Dr. Ken Kornetsky developed the format for the full 2-day seminar and delivered the keynote address to the attendees.
Dr. G. Thomas Strickland editor of a Tropical Medicine Book, addressed the changing face of liver disease in Egypt following attempts to eradicate schistosomiais (a parasitic disease).
Margo Watson, MD, OB/GYN gave a hands on tutorial: How to deliver a baby, how and when episiotomy. She finished with a lecture on essential of gynecology and prenatal care.
Mr. Frank Jordan and Robert Wilson Col (ret) USMC provided the latest information of emergency response/disaster relief.
All the professionals who participated or instructors and speakers gave their services voluntarily. The next seminar is anticipated to take place in 2 years. Professionals interested in participating as guest speaker and/or may wish to participate in on-hands field work should contact Dr. Ken Kornetsky by e-mail Kkornetsky@msn.com or phone 540-347-5696 and also Dr. Irwin e-mail irwinmed@aol.com or phone 703-361-5116.

Dinner, Dance & Auction
Medical Missionaries 3rd Annual Fund Raiser – 2006

The American Spirit

Whenever summer comes there is always the joy of families getting together on vacations, assisting and working with one another. It usually is the season to relax… but, wait, summer here lately has brought fear to many of our friends and relatives on the southern shores of the USA. Hurricanes have produced this fear and uncertainty among many. Katrina, the greatest natural disaster, will be remembered a long time because it wiped out a city considered an icon. But worst yet it devastated many, many poor people. However, devastation brought many people who gave and continue to give continuously. Medical Missionaries is an organization of givers. They provide healthcare items, clothing and food as needed. This spirit of giving freely is truly done through charitable people of the USA who want to raise the living level of the Poorest of the Poor.

Winter 2005

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES NEWSLETTER
Winter 2005

President's message

What a year… like the universe, ever expanding. In addition to all the usual demands and challenges to the POOR of the world, 2005 was laced with unexpected disasters: the Tsunami, hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and the earthquake in Pakistan. Medical Missionaries was stretched to the limits with so many disasters placed on top of an ever growing requirement for support from the Third World as well as the greater Washington metropolitan area and Appalachia. Nevertheless, the battle tested volunteers of Medical Missionaries put their shoulders to the wheel and responded.
Routine shipments of supplies, equipment, medicines, clothing and household items were sent to Appalachia and the local POOR. Charles Patullo and Bob Wilson accompanied shipments to Sri Lanka following the Tsunami. Sea containers with 20 tons of related basic supplies were sent to Jamaica, Congo and the Ukraine. Other recipients included Central and South America, Viet Nam, Middle East, Africa and the former states of the USSR. All these transfers leaving our warehouse at Linton Hall School are under the careful helping hands of Betty Lear, Susie Cornell and Elsie Sullivan, the three angels of Medical Missionaries.
Under the direction of Bob Wilson evolving programs in Nigeria and Ghana were explored (see article by Bob Wilson). Chuck and Patrick Elms organized and collected relief supplies for Katrina disaster victims. Patrick spent 7 weeks in Mississippi using the Medical Missionaries truck to shuttle supplies to the people from depots (see article by Patrick Elms). In 2005, the Board of Medical Missionaries was expanded to increase our effectiveness. Dr. Ken Kornetsky led a major educational conference for medical teams which was highly praised by all who attended. Over 400 shipments of bulk medicines were sent to medical teams throughout the world under the direction of Carolyn Jeans, RN.
While all these programs were underway, the Haiti clinic construction progressed towards completion (see article by Ron Burrell). Vehicles, including a bus, truck and diesel tractor, were deployed after careful review by Brian Brenner and Dr. Fortune O’Dend’hal to the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. These vehicles will help alleviate the many logistical hurdles Medical Missionaries volunteers face in the continuing saga of helping the POOR there.
All these projects were supported by Medical Missionaries administrative staff just to name a few: Tom and Melanie Ebert, Mary Ellen Merchant, Stan and Mary Sobczynski, Jack Phalen, Carolyn Jeans, Ray and Lois Battistoni, Eileen Drinkwater, Geoff Brougham, Vene Rodriguez and Bernie and Peggy Ragan and finally my enduring family members, Ed and Carolyn Wyrsch and Joan and Pat Irwin.
Yes, 2005 has been a lot of work and a great challenge to the volunteers of Medical Missionaries. But even though we are a small group with limited budget, many thousands of people have been touched. We look forward to an ever expanding work in 2006 and take hope in our motto “People of All Faiths Striving to Help the Poorest of the Poor.” To all our donors and supporters who contribute in any way, know that over 99.5% pf your donation goes directly to the POOR. All our volunteers serve without pay and donate their time, talents and resources unselfishly. A small group can and is making a difference in a confused, chaotic world. Thanks for all your help and continued support. I wish you and your families a joyful and blessed holiday season.
Gilbert R. Irwin, MD

Medical Missionaries
Fundraiser 2006

Medical Missionaries is offering its 2006 Calendar. You have a chance to win $ and your donation helps support the Medical Missionaries’ need for funding to provide healthcare and shipping of clothing and other items as needed by the Third World Poorest of the Poor.

Adventures in the Mud

Our Medical Missionaries Medical, Dental and Engineering team returned to Haiti October 21st to October 29th, 2005. We saw hundreds of sick poor Haitians at the clinic in Thomassique, but had to cancel clinics in Saltadere and Las Cacayos when our truck became mired in the horrendous road mud created by recent hurricanes.
In Addition to other new and old participants, we were particularly blest by the addition of three new first time local volunteers – the Quintana family, Michelle Q. Reilly DO was joined by her father, Richard, and youngest brother Zachary. Their help was invaluable in direct patient care, pharmacy and a lot of eagerly undertaken miscellaneous duties as assigned – such as crawling into knee deep mud to attach a tow hook to a mired vehicle. Also, dental clinics were held in Thomassique and Circe la Source by Drs. Mike Morch and Jeff Massie, where many patients were seen for advanced and often painful dental conditions rarely encountered in US practice.
As we arrived at the clinic to start the second day, I was presented with a faded cardboard box containing a new born premature infant of about 28 weeks gestational age. She had been born the evening before, and thought to be stillborn but feeble motions were noted the next morning. On exam, the baby was barely alive. Painfully, Dr. Reilly and I had to inform the family that the infant could not survive – knowing that she would have had a fighting chance in a high tech Northern Virginia Neonatal Intensive Care Unit – unavailable in Haiti. I baptized the infant, and we sent her home for palliative care after washing her and encouraging the mother to hold her and bond for the final hours. In addition, knowing that premature delivery is often caused by maternal infection, antibiotics were administered to the mother.
After four exhausting days in the ramshackle, grossly overcrowded Thomassique clinic, we returned to Banica in a three vehicle convoy led by Fr. Ronell through often knee deep mud. We are eagerly awaiting completion of the partially finished new clinic where we hope to provide efficient orderly care in a satisfactory physical plant on our next visit.
William McAvemey, MD

NIGERIA TRIP
(September 5th - 13th, 2005)

The mission of the Nigeria trip was to assess and identify medical, clinical, and public health requirements, distribute several cases of drugs and pharmaceuticals to our sponsors, and explore the potential for a long-term relationship. Mr. Richard Attipoe, a nurse supervisor at Prince William Hospital; Mr. Jude Onyebuchi, a professor at American University (a Medical Missionaries U.S. contact for Nigeria); and I conducted the needs assessment in Imo and Abia States. Our sponsors for the trip were two healthcare Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) that are attempting to develop community based healthcare programs.
Our first stop was Imo State. Our point of contact was Mr. Chima Chikwunyere, President of the Welfare and Health Community Group. We visited several hospital clinics to determine drug and pharmaceutical, equipment and supplies, and facilities needs. In addition, the team toured several villages to determine the potential for future public health and clinical field trips. The team’s findings suggest that the NGO’s immediate needs are drugs/pharma-ceuticals, clinical supplies, and HIV and Malaria serological test kits. In the long term, the key requirement is medical and durable equipment, particularly surgical supplies and for conducting periodic field clinics.
From Imo State, the team went to Abia State. Our sponsor here was Dr. Kalu Kdukwe, past Commissioner of Health and President, Ukwa Community Health Clinic. The team repeated the assessment process used in Imo State to determine overall medical requirements. The team visited the NGO’s clinic hospital that is under construction and several villages in the area. The greatest short-term requirement here is medical supplies and equipment; drugs and pharmaceutical; HIV and Malaria serological test kits; and field medical clinics. In addition to the assessment, the team participated in a one-day field clinic for the local population. We dispensed many of the drugs and pharmaceuticals we brought with us, conducted HIV testing, gave shots, and performed blood pressure testing.
The team ascertained that the highest priority of disease/non-disease prevalence in both states, in order, is Malaria, HIV, hypertension, Guinea Worm, Hook Worm, River Blindness, and diabetes. In both Imo and Abia States, there is a critical need for laboratory equipment and supplies for performing overall clinical tests and particularly, for conducting HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and TB confirmation testing.
Based on the team’s findings and in conjunction with our sponsors, we developed a short term and long-term support plan for both states. In December, Medical Missionaries will be sending an air shipment of drugs, pharmaceuticals, and medical supplies to meet short team critical needs. We will follow up this shipment with a sea shipment early in the New Year. In addition, we are planning two field clinic trips in the summer and winter of 2006.
In summary, our trip to Nigeria was very informative and productive. The team was able to see first hand what their real medical and clinical requirements were. We were able to participate in a field clinic and assess field requirements. Finally, the Medical Missionaries were able to forge a long-term support relationship with both states.
R. J. Wilson

Medical Team Accomplishments
October 2005

A medical mission team just returned from Haiti. It consisted of an assortment of volunteers with an interest in helping the people of Haiti. Many had been on previous trips. All contributed greatly whether it was through their experience in education, language skills, mechanics and engineering, medicine or dentistry. Everyone brought an eagerness to help in whatever way was necessary. Were we successful?
In about a week over 1000 patients were evaluated in Thomassique by the medical and clinics. Did we make a difference? I think the answer is yes by at least three different means.
Probably a few lives were saved. One woman was carried in at the end of a very frustrating day. It was getting dark and at the time no electricity was available. She was about 22 years old very thin and 6 months pregnant. She had been coughing for several days and had a fever of 102. Blood pressure was 70 systolic. It was felt that the fetal heart sounds could be heard although she had not noted the baby moving in the last few days. Our suspicion was that she had pneumonia and possibly tuberculosis. She was not stable enough nor was the muddy rutted roads conducive to moving her to the hospital in Hinche before daylight. She was unable to take oral fluids in sufficient quantity. We carry with us serologic tests for TB, HIV and Malaria which were negative. Urinalysis was normal. Hemocue showed she was profoundly anemic with a hematocrit of 20. (half of normal).
Members of our team stayed with her throughout the night. In Haitian manner several members of her family brought bedding and slept on the floor of the clinic as well. She was given IV fluid, IV antibiotics, medicine for fever. Vital signs and urine output were monitored just as you would in your standard ICU. She improved; her temperature returned to normal, her blood pressure improved. She began to urinate. She ate. Potassium supplement was supplied in the form of a grapefruit. She walked out of the clinic at daybreak, supplied with oral antibiotics, iron and vitamins supplements, and the instructions to proceed to Hinche if she begins to feel sick again or before to make sure she does not have TB. Hopefully we will see her and her baby in January when we return.
Another very sick young woman was coughing up blood and edematous. Her urine test showed a lot of protein signifying kidney disease. She was short of breath and if anything hypotensive especially and receiving a small amount of diuretic. Tests were negative for HIV, Malaria. Nephrotic syndrome and heart disease of unknown type. It did not seem that we had the diagnostic capabilities, nor the time to help this woman. One of the Haitian interpreters suggested that the rest of the work might be done at the hospital in Peion. We took up a collection for her and her companion's transportation there and to pay for hospital fees, food, etc. I have heard that she did get there and is making some improvement. I would love to learn the details of her workup and treatment.
The second day in Thomassique a women came to the clinic asking us to come to her house to see her sister who was too sick to move. The one room house with dirt floor was on the other side of the market. The woman spoke Spanish so Richard Fontana served as interpreter. The patient, a 20 year old woman, was sitting on a wooden straight back chair, unable to lie down without being short of breath. She was hypotensive, edematous but did not have protein in her urine. She had delivered a child 3 months before. She had been sick for several weeks. She was unable to breastfeed but her sister was serving as wet nurse. My impression was that she was in congestive heart failure possibly secondary to a cardiomyopathy. The out look was clearly poor. I decided to try giving her a small dose of diuretic overnight (it was either that or do nothing) and to reexamine her in the morning. Her sister did not come the next morning to get us. It was a very bad omen. We found our way back to her house later in the day. As we approached it a neighbor shouted in creole, that she had died. Certainly not unexpected, but you can not help hope for a miracle. We found the sister as they were carrying the body out. She was very grateful for what had been tried and thanked us. I think this was a measure of success as well.
Ken Kornetsky, MD

Engineering

Disaster Relief Water Purification

As a result of the Hurricane disasters, we came to the realization that we should have a few more portable water filtration systems available for use in the US. We ordered one AC and one 12-V filter system similar to that used for the Haiti staff house. We also purchased two DC pumps, an AC pump and two small generators. We hoped to prepare these to accompany our truck to the aid of the victims of Katrina. The Filter Company sent the wrong filters, which had to be returned, and by the time the right ones arrived this need was over. Two versatile water purification systems will be available if or when a similar emergency is encountered in the future.

Haiti Clinic Planning Meeting

Joe Ireland and I traveled to the DR and Haiti September 12 through 17. The main purpose of the trip was to meet with the Thomassique Clinic architect, Franciois LaRouche to discuss our plans for the new Clinic electric and plumbing systems. The first obstacle to overcome was, as usual, the long and grueling trip. We left for Dulles airport at 4:15 AM, arrived in Santo Domingo about 2:00 PM and Banica at 8:00 PM (Labor Day holiday required no work). The Banica power had been out all day and with the diesel generator inoperable, requiring Manufacturer repair, so no cold beer awaited us. The El Centro battery bank water had been neglected and it was supplying less than 16 volts instead of the 24 required for the Inverter operation. After a check on the status of the bus and our army truck we had a warm beer and decided that we needed some rest before we did anything else. The bus was operational, but the truck would not start.
Fortunately, the Banica power came back on overnight and we had cooling fans for a brief, but needed rest. In the morning knowing that Fr Ronell would be along soon to take us to Thomassique, we put a charger on the truck batteries and got distilled water into the Inverter battery bank. The Lord was with us and the Banica power stayed on long enough to get the truck running.
The battery bank was in worse condition and we had to remove 4 batteries that had dead cells. We reconfigured the bank from a 4 by 5 (20 6-volt battery) bank to a 4 by 4 (16) bank. When Fr Ronell arrived we had been debating whether or not to take the truck with us for its maiden journey to Thomassique. Joe drove this type of vehicle while in the service so we were prepared. But, after driving it around Banica for a couple of hours, Joe commented that he knows now why he got out of the military. We decided that our chief mechanic, Brian Brenner was a better choice for this honor and had Fr Ronell chauffeur us. Surprisingly, the road was very dry and our journey was uneventful and short (less than 3 hours).
In Thomassique, I was relieved to find that our interpreter Jeremy Mercier was waiting for us. We had planned and I had expected him to meet us at the Santo Domingo airport. He changed his plans and flew to Port au Prince and then by Tap-Tap (Truck Taxi) to Hinche his hometown prior to coming to Thomassique. He has been living in Santo Domingo and is planning to attend Medical school there.
Things in the staff house appeared to be in good shape and as we looked over the clinic construction we realized that we were just in time. They were running Rebar and installing cinder blocks in preparation for pouring the concrete roof.

Thomassique Clinic Roof Preparation

On Wednesday morning the architect from Port au Prince showed up and we began our planning session. As mentioned previously, our timing was fortunate. He had assumed that our circuit breaker panel would be placed in the basement. He had not received our plan for the two solar sheds on the roof (See last newsletter).
We toured the inside of the clinic and agreed on a few layout modifications as well as the location for our two tank less water heaters. We marked out the footprint for the solar sheds and the approximate location for wiring conduits into the roof. With the aid of our skilled interpreter, I believe he had a complete picture of our needs especially the requirement for a three wire electrical system with complete safety ground wiring. Also the special Generator only circuits for high power (X-ray, induction motors, etc.) were agreed upon.
After an all day session, the architect went off to layout a plan for running the conduits for our wiring system and by the following morning headed for Hinche with Fr Ronell to purchase the necessary PVC conduit pipes. After their return we discussed the plumbing system to a lesser degree. He knows we need both hot and cold water, but the use of a new main DC pump, filters, water shut-off valves, the booster pump and pressure tanks were not in his vocabulary. How we hook in to what he provides is still a mystery to be resolved next spring.
After almost a year of flawless operation in the staff house, we developed a problem with the electrical system. A number of lights and receptacles became inoperable and the generator did not appear to be charging the batteries. The inverter continually cycled between charge and invert. Am I “Joe Bzphvsck” or what? We were able to isolate the problem to two circuits on one side of the building, but with no physical diagram of how they had wired the house, we would need a week to track down and repair the problem. I asked Fr Ronell to try to get the original electrician(s) to solve the problem.
Thursday evening, about 50 Haitian roofing experts showed up from Hinche. Their plan was to sleep in the staff house in order to get an early start the next morning. They did. The singing and banging began at 4:00 AM and it went on through the day. It’s great to witness how they enjoy working together.

Construction Crew Sleep Quarters

We returned to Banica Friday afternoon and had time to go to Pedro Santana to evaluate an Inverter problem at the Sister’s home. It turned out that they had bad batteries with no replacements available. On our return to the airport on Saturday morning, we were able to purchase 4 new batteries for their power system. The El Centro battery bank was working and had charged sufficiently to give us electric power for packing and cleanup prior to leaving Banica.
October Medical Team Support
A total of nineteen Medical and support personnel traveled to Thomassique Haiti from October 21 through 29. The total luggage far exceeded our normal contraband. The airline rules have changed regarding the weigh allowed per bag. We are still allowed two bags per person, but limited to 50 lbs. each instead of the previous 70-lb. maximum. Overweight and extra bags cost have been increased from $50 to $100. Since we had made our flight plans before these changes we were not charged for extra weight between 50 and 70 lbs. We did end up, however, paying $1100 for 10 extra bags and one over 70lbs. Future trips are going to be expensive since we generally carry a lot of medicines for our clinic activities.
We enjoyed a much more pleasant trip from Santo Domingo to Banica in our converted school bus. The fans worked fine. We weren’t crowded and had no loud music. On reaching Banica, we found that we did have city power, but our generator had not been returned from repair. Fr Gee and Fr Ronell were there to greet us. Fr Ronell with his “jeep” was there in order to carry part of the team and lead our truck to Thomassique on the following morning. After a good nights rest we had to jumper the truck, pack it to the hilt with diesel fuel, propane, bags and people. We got a reasonably early start on the expected nasty trip.
Brian Brenner got the honors of driving the Maiden trip to Thomassique. The road was as nasty as expected and even Fr Ronell’s vehicle got stuck once. Brian backed up and found a tight space to turn around. We tried to use the wench to pull the “jeep” out of the muck, but there was no good tie point on the vehicle. After we almost pulled the bumper off, Fr Ronell reverted to his own driving skills to get it out. We picked up a couple of extra passengers in Saltadere, one of them being a candidate for the Senate. When we came to a particularly mean looking part of the road, Brian gunned the engine and gave it full throttle for about a quarter of a mile bringing us safely through the slop. When we stopped, the candidate said to Brian, “There’s no need to drive that recklessly”. Good job Brian.
At the Clinic, the first order of business was to unload personal bags and food, get everyone setup with a bed and mosquito netting and start purifying drinking water. The new clinic was not sufficiently ready for use. It was decided to use the old clinic so the medical bags had to be taken there.
The fuel was then off loaded and the propane tank connected to the stove. The team sorted through and inventoried the food supplies, which had been stored at the staff house.
Fr Ronell’s staff prepared dinner for us and brought it to the staff house. Church services at St Thomas were to be held at 6:30 AM. Start of clinic would follow after breakfast.
It began raining during the night and continued all day Sunday (Fringe of Hurricane Alpha). Because of the rain, the Mass didn’t begin until after 9 AM. The medical team had a late start, but from what I heard there were plenty of customers even with the rain. We were fortunate during the week to have several very talented cooks, bakers and entertainers.
Richard Quintana visited the local markets and made delicious Tortillas. His daughter, Dr. Michele baked brownies. Yvon Aristide, a Haitian Contractor from Silver Spring, MD made a Haitian Bean and Cornbread casserole. Zac Quintana entertained us nightly with his guitar playing and singing accompanied, of course by our multitalented team.
Fr Berthran came to Thomassique on Tuesday evening. He led our two dental teams, Brian Brenner and our truck to Circa la Source on Wednesday AM. The plan was to hold dental clinics there and return Thursday AM when we would all go to Saltadere for clinic and then on to Banica Friday AM. On Thursday PM we got word via radio that the truck got stuck leaving Circa la Source. Before too long some UN military personnel showed up with our crew. It turned out that the UN was checking out plans for the upcoming elections and could not get past our truck. They were kind enough to bring our team members home, but our truck had to stay because it had been “Eaten by the mud”. Although no driving errors caused the problem, we have to acquit Brian because another former Military truck driver, Jeff Massie, had been at the wheel.
Our Medical team, which had had a very busy schedule including an all night session for Dr Ken and his nurse, Janice, was faced with a major change to their plans. With no transportation they had to cancel the scheduled Clinic at Saltadere and Los Cacaos.
Fr Ronell was able to hire two small Toyota trucks and drivers to haul us back to Banica on Friday. Along with his “jeep”, we were barely able to fit everyone with his or her personal belongings. We had to leave all the medicines and empty bags at the staff house. Several people had pretty sore butts by the time we arrived in Banica. There were a few touch and go places along the way, but we did make it safely.
Not mentioning any names, but his initials are Dr. K. K., someone scheduled the bus for our return to Santo Domingo for 3:00 AM. Needless to say, we had a long wait at the airport even after a few hours in the shopping markets.

Thomassique Staff House Problems

Our old Maytag repairman, Brian, was able to ascertain that we had not removed all of the packing pins from our clothes washer. After removal, the washer works great and stays in one spot throughout the wash cycle. We found that the water line filter was completely clogged seriously limiting the washer’s ability to fill. Cleaning it was not sufficient because it clogged again on the next operation. The strainer was then removed. Brian also found that the source of all the silt was a broken pipe at the inlet water tank. Our water is coming from the concrete holding tank instead of the plastic tank (no wonder we have a water hardness problem). One of the members of the Medical support team, Yvon Aristide, was extremely helpful to me in trouble shooting the staff house electrical problems. On Monday morning, the Hinche electrician showed up. He had an electrical schematic of the staff house wiring, which he had prepared because of the problems found in September. With Yvon as interpreter, we were able to go through the entire system and correct 6 wiring reversals and one instance of two separate circuits being tied together. The last problem was the one that caused the major circuit blow out in September. It could only manifest itself when both circuits were activated at the same time (This took a year). The wiring reversal is not as unusual in Haiti. They normally use a two-wire system with no safety ground and reversing the hot and neutral does not matter. This is something I should have been watching for as I’ve seen a lot of it in the Thomassique rectory wiring and in Banica. One other electrical problem, I found was the Generator bypass on the Trace Power Panel was miss-wired and the bypass would not work. After all of these problems were corrected everything worked very smoothly. The battery bank fully charged each evening after a short period on the generator.
I installed a new modification to our Solar Panel alarm system. It was a replacement for the power source to the alarm siren, previously a battery, with a circuit that works off the inverter. The batteries have a tendency to go bad after a period of time and the alarm system is then useless. I fully tested it and it was working as it should when we left.
After returning to the US, I received an E-mail from Fr Ronell, informing me that four Solar panels had been stolen in the middle of the night the day after we left. Where were our custodians and how could robbers overcome the alarm system without being detected? Someone in the community had to be responsible. Needless to say, Dr Irwin has notified Fr Ronell that all work on the clinic is to stop and no more funds will be expended until there is a resolution to this problem. As I am writing this, I have received E-mail from our interpreter, Jeremy, that a suspect is in custody. We have not received official word from Fr Ronell as yet.

Banica & Pedro Santana Conditions

On October 2nd, Fr Gee reported on his Blog-site that the new school had a roof fire as a result of an errant spark while the fence was being welded.
Medical Missionaries teamed up with, Manassas All Saints parish, the K of C and Warrenton St John’s parish to cover the replacement costs.
As mentioned previously, the El Centro Diesel generator had to be sent back to the Onan Vendor for repair. It was returned by the time we came back from Thomassique on October 28th. Dr. Dave Schenk a “Want-to-be” engineer and I decided to check it out along with the power panel/battery bank operation. We found that the lower inverter was putting out 145 volts while the top one was correctly giving 120 volts. This is not only a problem, which would result in rapid appliance and light bulb burn out; it was causing the built-in charger to continually cycle on and off. As a temporary solution we had to disconnect the Banica city power from the panel and bypass that inverter’s output. Hopefully the vendor can provide a replacement module so that I can repair it on the next visit. The Panel weighs about 300 lbs. and would not be too easily removed to send out for repair.
Fr Gee informed me that the Pedro Santana church was also having electrical problems. Suspecting that no one had bothered to check the battery fluids, Zac and I got some distilled water from Fr Gee’s crew and headed off to check it out. Sure enough all eight batteries in this system were pretty much depleted of fluid. The city power was on so we were able to see that the inverter charger was doing its job after we filled the batteries. Fr Gee promises that one of his crew (Lulun) will be checking all batteries once a month from now on.
Our new tractor was at El Centro. For some reason, I did not get a photo, but it is impressive. The plow had never been installed so Brian Brenner, the local driver and several of the medical team proceeded to install it. It must have been a successful install because the driver had the opportunity to do a little practicing before it got too dark. It’s fortunate that this was done because the tractor was sent to Circa la Source a couple of days later and successful freed our truck from it muddy grave.
Joe Bzphvsck alias -
Ron Burrell

50 – 50 Raffle at Dinner-Dance

Medical Missionaries will conduct a 50-50 Raffle – To be awarded at the Annual Dinner-Dance, April 29, 2006. Funds raised will benefit the cost for medical and dental healthcare, and administering to the Third World Poor. In addition, it will be used to defray costs associated with shipments of needed items.
The cost for each ticket $1.00 / 6 for $5.00.
50-50 Tickets will be available beginning January 2, 2006, and sold at the Dinner-Dance.
50-50 tickets can be obtained by calling (703) 361-6843 (Stan & Mary) or Shirley at the Office (703) 361-5661.
Winner will be announced at the Dinner-Dance. Winner need not be present. Winner will split the pot with Medical Missionaries

Devastation in the Gulf States

Standing on the beach, there is devastation as far as the human eye can see. Cars in trees, boats in cemeteries, houses moved off their foundation stacked up side by side, street after street of rubble, and neighborhoods completely wiped clean down to the foundations. That is just the material toll. The human toll is greater, as always, is those who lost family members and friends and everything they own, except the clothes on their back, the “lucky” ones who were able to salvage a few things here and there, and others who miraculously went unscathed. Despite the loss of life and all the devastation the people are grateful, showing true kindness, and determination which doesn’t even begin to do justice in describing their wonderful spirit.
Our endeavor to assist them was sincerely appreciated; and, it was an honor to help them and share with them in their tragedy as much as we could. Despite all the negative news stories, these people proved they are resilient, thankful and generous souls. Our work was over a period of about 2 months, beginning with the first trip about a week after the hurricane hit. The effort was spearheaded by the hearts of Ed Elmore, Chuck Elms, and Tony Suarez, along with Dr. Irwin, and me. The first trip was funded primarily by Chuck Elms’ incredible generosity of heart with Dr. Irwin providing use of the Box Truck and many additional supplies. Through the organizational efforts of Ed Elmore along with Chuck and Tony, donations and supplies were collected for the second trip, made possible by the generosity of individuals from St. Stephen’s Catholic Church and those in the South Riding and Bull Run Catholic communities, and Dr. Irwin and Medical Missionary supporters. Two truck loads of food, cleaning supplies, and over $100,000 worth of requested medicines and medical supplies were brought to the most devastated and needy areas. We were able to support clinics and serve individuals and churches in the hardest hit areas, which were Waveland, Bay St. Louis, and the vast rural areas of the “Kiln”, along with Biloxi, Gulfport, Long Beach, Pass Christian, Ocean Springs, New Orleans East and other areas. Also, we were able to utilize the truck for many purposes such as moving food and supplies that we located that were “stuck” due to “bureaucracy” in storage areas and warehouses. We were able to get it directly to the people, even handing out aid directly from the truck. Also, we did numerous jobs including debris removal, helping people clean out their flooded homes and recover what items were salvageable. We listened to many sad stories and tried to offer support in any way we could which was sometimes just a simple smile or hug.
Aside from missing meals and eating wherever and whatever we could find, getting little to no sleep, sleeping in shelters and on school floors, showering outside by a hose, and sharing a little blood with the mosquitoes, I would say the real devastation. It was beautiful to hear the astonishing stories of how people survived and to see how they are now courageously facing the harsh realities since the storm. There were many gifts given to us by locals offering whatever they had to help us, such as places to sleep, kind words and lots of smiles. It was truly a blessing to see and experience the respect to the suffering people.
Patrick Elms

Car Raffle – 1985 Impala Classic

Car Details – Single owner, original 45,000 miles, garage kept, continual maintenance update. New Ball Joints & Suspension have been installed and with recent Emission Inspection – new Catalytic Converter. Excellent as a 2nd car for a family or for new, young driver for use as a 1st car or hold 4 years and have an antique.
***Note: Car was given to a Medical Missionaries volunteer following the death of his brother. The brother used it very sparingly because he was ill the last few years of his life.
For a Donation of $5,000, the car can be purchased outright. Funds raised will benefit work of the Third World Poor.
Cost of tickets $1.00 6 for $5.00
If the car is not sold, via $5,000 donation before February 1st, 2006, the car will be up for raffle up through the night of the Dinner/Dance. Winner will be announced at the Dinner Dance.

Spring 2006

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES NEWSLETTER

President’s Message

Katrina Disaster Relief Effort

Traveling with the Medical Missionaries

Republic of the Congo Trip

Medical Missionaries Gala

Nigeria Update

Engineering

Marathon Golf Classic To Benefit Medical Missionaries,br> Monday, May 22, 2006To Be Held At Piedmont Golf/Country Club

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