Aloha Medical Mission: Help with Many Hands

Aloha Medical Mission's program which is translated to Hawaii as "Kokua me ka Laulima," conducts a 6-day medical mission here in Negros Occidental.

Toto Bryan Camporazo, our 10-year old grandson, has availed this Aloha Medical Mission free service. He had been operated before  of his cleft palate in an operation Smile and he needs a follow up for the repair of it. So he was recommended by our health coordinator in our place. And several poor and needy residents with health problems that need to be operated had already been identified and recommended too.

Dr. Jeff Healy, one of the volunteer doctors in the said mission untouched Bryan's cleft palate which had already been repaired, instead he  revised the cleft lip to look natural.

I personally talked to him. He is friendly, approachable. I learned later that Dr. Healy is a certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery which is the only board in plastic surgery recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties as I searched the internet.

This mission is held at Teresita L. Jalandoni Memorial Provincial Hospital, Silay City, Philippines. 

AMM Vision

Culled from its website, Aloha Medical Mission (AMM) is a secular, nonprofit volunteer organization based in Honolulu, Hawaii. It provides health care service to and promotes the social welfare of the undeserved peoples in the Pacific, Asia, and Hawaii.

Bryan with Dr. Jeff Healy

AMM MIssion

And its mission so stated that: AMM strives to:

1. Deliver health-care services to and promote the social welfare of the people we serve.
2. Enable medical and lay volunteers in providing health-care and social services to the underserved.

3. Nurture and support the growth of our volunteers, recognizing that the process of delivering health care benefits the volunteers emotionally, spiritually, and professionally.

How does this program operated:

Bryan with his grandmother and aunties

1. AMM sends teams of doctors and nurses to medically underserved countries in the Asia-Pacific region. These teams work with local organizations and hospitals to address the needs of people whose health is challenged by poverty and poor access to health care.

2. AMM operates the only free dental clinic in Hawai‘i. We help those who lack insurance and do not have the financial resources to afford basic dental care.

3. AMM coordinates a collaboration of two O‘ahu hospitals, private surgeons, and private anesthesiologists who provide free outpatient surgical care to the indigent. This program is called Kōkua me ka Laulima: Help With Many Hands.

The mission started February 25 and will end March 1, 2013.

Recipients are recommended by their respective health workers and they are finally screened by the doctors who will handle their needs. Minor and major surgical operations are conducted.

More on AMM.