Medical Mission Trips and their validity?

[487806]

Ha pretty sure your posts were more useless than his by a longshot. I think we all saw NNs posy just fine, we don't need his personal echo.

That tends to be my standard response to an unnecessary bump. 😉

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[Bbutterfly]

Hi Bbutterfly and thank you for your kind words. I'll go straight to the heart of the issue.

If there was a chance that a medical mission could have saved my sister would we have taken it? Of course we would have , seeing as there were no other other diagnostic or treatment resources in the country which my parents, in their desperation to save their child could turn to which they hadn't tried already.

Let me state once again, that I am not deluding myself into thinkiing that aid to the underdeveloped world will ever stop. My whole issue is channeling this aid, especially in the realm of healthcare into more sustainable programs, with the goal being independence.. For each child that a medical mission saves, there are hundreds if not thousands of others who perish. The whole "this is the bit we can do" line of thinking does not cut it for me anymore.

"A grain of sand does not fill the bottom of the sea, but a multitude does." That sea is never going to get filled if those grains of sand make short trips to the bottom of the sea fill it for a bit and then return to the safety of the party on the beach. If the sea life that depend on the presence of those grains of sand at the bottom of the sea are going to survive or even flourish, they need a continued presence of those grains of sand so they can form roots, carve out niches, develop strategies for survival. Dumping sand from the deserts of the world into the sea are likely not going to help... How much of the desrt sand is going to go to the sea before the creatures whose lives depend on the desrt sand say enough is enough? If the consistent presence of those grains of sand cannot be guaranteed, then the sea life are better off making sand of their own by working on the rocks at the bottom of the sea.

Now if you want to talk about those grains of sand coming from the beach to help the sea life at the bottom rub against those rocks and create sand, so that they do not bruise their delicate bodies battering against those rocks...thats a conversation i am willing to have.

I see you are all fired up! As prefaced in my post, I am not one to dwell on these kind of polemics. I felt the need to reply simply because I could relate in many ways and wanted to offer a different perspective

It seems to me that you did not fully understand me; the mentality that I advocate is that one life is precious, way too precious to let it go, in the name of changing the system! It is not saving one life because that's all we can do, but it is saving one life, because sometime, one is better than none, some other times it takes saving lives one at a time. Because saving one life on a medical mission trip doesn't help the system, does that mean that that life is not valuable? It is not worth it? As stated previously going on one aspect doesn't negate the other one, that is, working from the inside out, going to the depths of the issues. It can be done simultaneously

By the way, the one grain of sand would be you and I, native or non native, healthcare workers or not, medical mission trips or not, anybody that has the passion and the drive, the heart and the resilience, the will and determination to see things change and willing to put his/her hands in the mud. It would take healthcare worker, and politicians alike, policy makers...you name it. Anybody that believes in the impact of one, because of ten believe in the power of one, we have 20 hands! if each of these ten think the task is so much they can't do anything, then we loose the 20 hands!

 

[45408]

Wasn't America a floundering state, wracked by war, disease and poverty stricken masses at some point? Did other countries rush to your rescue and babysit you into your current state of relative prosperity? Or did you people buckle up and take matters into your own hands?

No, no, and yes.

France showed up with a navy that sealed the deal for Cornwallis, but the US was a prosperous colony that defeated the world's current superpower.

Now, the US has rushed to other countries and babysat them back to prosperity, but no one ever babysat the US.

The money you pay often goes towards employing staff in the host country and towards supporting nonprofits.

Yeah, instead of funding the actual need.

If you just sent a check, they would still need to find someone to do all the manual labor (counting and labeling pills, completing logistical tasks, the list goes on), only they would most likely have to be paid, reducing the effectiveness of the service since less is spent on medications and professionals.

Less is spent on professionals? No, your money is going to support the local economy as well as provide medical care. Win-win.

Also, student organizations often bring down a large haul of medications and over-the-counters that benefit communities that state they have a need

Just send those too.

 

[Freesia88]

I see you are all fired up! As prefaced in my post, I am not one to dwell on these kind of polemics. I felt the need to reply simply because I could relate in many ways and wanted to offer a different perspective

It seems to me that you did not fully understand me; the mentality that I advocate is that one life is precious, way too precious to let it go, in the name of changing the system! It is not saving one life because that's all we can do, but it is saving one life, because sometime, one is better than none, some other times it takes saving lives one at a time. Because saving one life on a medical mission trip doesn't help the system, does that mean that that life is not valuable? It is not worth it? As stated previously going on one aspect doesn't negate the other one, that is, working from the inside out, going to the depths of the issues. It can be done simultaneously

By the way, the one grain of sand would be you and I, native or non native, healthcare workers or not, medical mission trips or not, anybody that has the passion and the drive, the heart and the resilience, the will and determination to see things change and willing to put his/her hands in the mud. It would take healthcare worker, and politicians alike, policy makers...you name it. Anybody that believes in the impact of one, because of ten believe in the power of one, we have 20 hands! if each of these ten think the task is so much they can't do anything, then we loose the 20 hands!

Perhaps we have different ideas on how to fix the problem?

I am all about changing the system, because the system runs the whole. I do not imagine I will accomplish this in my lifetime but I intend at least to sow a seed and I am not alone in this.

Even though one life saved is precious I am not satisfied that others perish due to fixable issues.

I am done talking this issue. Nothing I say here will stop anyone from going to save African babies if that is what they feel they need to do.

Meanwhile, I will thank you not to patronize me.