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The Medical Missions Initiative is one of The Shalom Foundation’s most important outreach efforts reaching people and changing their lives forever.
With the purchase and future opening of the Shalom Surgery Center in Guatemala City, The Shalom Foundation will impact thousands of lives through these efforts.
A number of excellent organizations such as the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, Batten & Shaw Inc., Project Cure, AmSurg, Rock City Mechanical and Belmont University currently collaborate and support this initiative with their time, donation, talents and expertise.
The Shalom Medical Initiative Program has brought two-year-old Joseline Vasquez to Nashville for treatment at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. Joseline was first seen by The Shalom surgery team in Guatemala City. Dr. Steven Goudy leads the Children's Hospital surgery team as they prepare for her surgery in Nashville on July 8, 2008. Click here to see photos of Josie. Click here to view the blog about Josie's visit.
The Project:
The Medical Missions Initiative (MMI) is our strategy for addressing the desperate health and medical care needs of children in Guatemala. It is difficult to understand the absence of available medical care for the poor. Even harder to comprehend is the fact that so many children go untreated often for years.
This reality is the motivation behind the Medical Missions Initiative. The goal is to improve the lives of children through better health care and improved access to treatment and education. This initiative includes facilitating week-long surgery trips during which children receive much needed operations that are normally financially and socially out of their reach. These efforts also include educating individuals, families and communities on how to better care for themselves and improving access to basic medical treatment.
In addition, we work to develop relationships with other organizations whose goals are similar. These organizations include children's hospitals in the United States, members of the medical community, humanitarian aid agencies, non-profits, universities and other NGOs.
The Objectives of the MMI:
- Providing periodic surgical specialty teams to operate in Guatemala
- Creating sustainable programs to provide health care service
- Providing possible elective international rotations for pediatric residents and nurses from the U.S.
- Educating the community on how to better care for themselves
- Sharing of technology and information as it relates to advancements in treatments, surgical procedures, medicines and education
Benefits:
- Needy children are identified, observed, diagnosed and treated for complicated medical conditions and emergencies that are typically out of reach for them financially and socially
- Medical mission team members including medical staff and administrative support reap great personal rewards for donating time, effort and expertise in helping these children
- Families of treated children are ministered to through our mission volunteers and from the local church to ensure they hear the Gospel
If you would like to learn more about the Medical Missions Initiative or participate in the funding of this facility, please contact us. We want to hear from you!
Read on to learn about past medical trips and the experiences of medical team members:
View Joseline's Surgery Trip Blog
Vanderbilt Children's Hospital Joins Initiative to Help Children in Guatemala
Personal Reflections from Belmont University's Physical Therapy Mission Team Members
My First International Medical Trip, by William Lowrance, M.D.
