Mission Trips to Venezuela in 2008
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#3 -Medical Mission, October 12-20 - Trip Leaders, DianeOtsuka(di_ots@hotmail.com) and Dawn Nottingham(nottingham500@yahoo.com). The team will spend the first day in Maracaibo where the UEPV will try to get our team together with the Cuban doctor of the Wayuu discussing how we can lay ground work to be supportive there. The day will be devoted to planning for future Wayuu Clinics/support. There will not be a clinic that day. On Oct. 14 the team will travel to the state of Portugesa (a 7 hour drive), where they will spend most of the remaining time working with underserved people there.
Clinic # 1 -The first day will be in Espiritu at Betty's House working with pregnant women and with children. Needs here will include information, oral care, vitamins, etc.
Clinic # 2 will be out in the countryside. It will be a clinic for the very poor addressing issues like dental/oral, eye, parasitic problems, and vaccinations. (The UEPV will have a team gathering information between now and December to determine where the clinics will be and more specific information regarding care needed.) The VZ. hospitals will provide vaccines.
(Is it possible we could use a dental hygienist on this trip? What about starting now to work with Lions Clubs to provide glasses? How about an eye doctor or someone who can test and prescribe glasses that we take? Apparently there is a great need for eye testing and glasses. The Bishop said, "Many people cannot see to read their Bibles and we want to change that.")
Clinic #3 will be asking our team to do health education and a first aid clinic with UEPV leaders providing them with basic training for first aide and equipment in order to continue to provide some health care there. The book "Where There Is No Doctor" is especially helpful in this area since medical care is almost non existent. This is an area of the country where the government clinics have not been built. We might want to once again take first aid kits to give to those we train. There is time to dialogue with the Bishop about STD information and suggest training their leaders to do sex education. (Felix Ortiz has said he would help us discuss this with the Bishop. Perhaps the med. team can meet with Felix when he is here in October and try to get things moving in this regard.)
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If you are interested in going on any of these trips, contact one of the leaders listed or aontact Jo McCall Williams (Bjmwll@aol.com) or Alice Silver(agsilver@pair.com) for further information or with any questions.
Then go to the website where applications are available and down load an application.
www.rmcucc.org/outreach/globalpartners.htm
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