Aloha Medical Mission to Lao PDR
Sakuna Thongchanh
LMT, Positive Touch Healthcare
Abstract:
This will be a slide presentation telling the story of the Aloha Medical
Mission. The members of this panel participated as volunteers in the remote
villages of Luang Prabang Province, under the auspices of the Aloha Medical
Mission, under the leadership of Dr. Phoumy Bounkeua. Medical volunteers
provided medical and surgical care to the underserved people of the Luang
Prabang. The group hopes to stimulate interests in recruiting volunteers or
donations to the mission, especially from the Lao American community. This is
another golden opportunity to share participation in building a philantrophic
project that benefits the underserved people of Lao PDR.
Background of Aloha Medical Mission (AMM)
Members of the Philippine Medical Association of Hawaii, wishing to share their
success with their home country through volunteer medical missions there,
founded the Aloha Medical Mission in 1983.
Going well beyond its original focus, AMM has since sent 64 medical missions to
underserved communities in Mainland China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vanuatu,
Laos, Cambodia and the Big Island of Hawaii as well as to the Philippines. Some
3,000 volunteer professionals, paying all their own travel and lodging expenses
while taking along their own equipment and medical supplies, have treated nearly
200,000 persons to date (June 2004). In addition, they have performed some 8,000
surgical operations without charge. Finally, AMM operates three free clinics—one
in Honolulu and two in Bangladesh, which ranks among the poorest countries on
earth. AMM assists a third clinic in Bangladesh and supports a free clinic in
the Philippines. The economic value of professional services rendered thus far
runs into the tens of millions of dollars. At the same time, mission members
have spread a sense of aloha (good will) and hope among populations with real
cause for despair. More details can be found at www.alohamm.org.