Thursday, November 5, 2009

Medical-Dental Teams - El Salvador 2010

Plans are well underway for a return visit to El Salvador next February. This will be the first time we have taken our team back to the same country, having been in El Salvador in April 2009.


Our largest team ever (30 people) will leave on Saturday, February 13 and spend the following week treating up to 3,500 patients with primary medical and dental care. Based on a survey in early December by Dr. Tony Brown and Ken Dick, a decision will be made regarding the communities to be visited. We expect to return to some of the same communities visited in April 2009.


This team will consist of six doctors and four dentists, aided by paramedics, nurses, dental assistants, a pharmacist and several support staff. In addition, we will be joined by some of the Feed The Children staff based in El Salvador and Guatemala.


Over the next couple of months there will be a lot of activity – shipping a container from Guelph; purchase of medicines; arranging accommodation for the team; arranging in-country transportation and a number of other logistical things.


This will be our fifth project since we first went to Honduras in February 2007. Interest has increased, as more Canadians hear about what we are doing. Inquiries from doctors, dentists and others are received on a regular basis, most indicating an interest in being part of a future project.


On the subject of “future projects” - we will commence planning for our next project soon. A major decision is always, “where should we go?” Dr. Tony and I are travelling to Haiti in mid-November to scope out possibilities in that country. Watch for further updates.