People living in rural areas of developing countries have either never received medical attention of any kind or have limited access to healthcare.
People of developing countries are exploited by anti-life propaganda and government sponsored programs which inhibit their choice of healthcare options.

HELPING HANDS Medical Missions provide short-term trips by medical personnel to poor areas throughout the developing world to provide medical attention in the fullness of the Catholic tradition.
Services provided include:
surgeries, dental care, physical therapy, consultations, distribution of medications, house calls, and Natural Family Planning courses.
Our HELPING HANDS Medical Missionaries also take part in the mission’s spiritual program of daily prayer, Mass, meditation, classes on the Church’s teachings in the field of bio-ethics, and door-to-door evangelization visits.

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Other projects in this area:

St. Joseph's School

Escuintla, Guatemala

Ghana, West Africa

Cotija, Mexico

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HELPING HANDS Medical Missions Program

Funding Priorities

	$1000		Help supply medicine for one mission
	$1000		Help fly a chaplain to a mission
	$10,000		Fund one of these missions
	$300		Help give urgently needed medical care to 30 poor patients

Amount Currently Raised: $17,345

Current Project

Funding the next four medical missions;

GUATEMALA: Santa María de Jesús
EL SALVADOR: SONSONATE
EL SALVADOR: SANTIAGO TEXACUANGOS
QUINTANA ROO, MEXICO: PLAYA DEL CARMEN

Project Goal

or call 800-961-8153 to make a donation

The Need

Funds are used to purchase medical equipment, surgical kits, medicines and other necessary materials. The average mission treats 2,000 poor patients.
Medical personnel volunteer their time and pay their own travel expenses; funds are needed to defray the expenses for one priest on the mission.

One of the saddest sights you will ever see is a child dying of malaria, lying under a tree because there were no beds.

MISSION UPDATE: Cotija

Thank you for making the Helping Hands Medical Missions during 2009-2010 the most successful in our 15 year history!

The eleventh mission of our 2009-10 program took place May 21-29th in Cotija, Michoacán, Mexico. The mission team included 45 people. There were 42 surgeries performed in the newly air conditioned operating rooms of the Rafael Guzal Vencia Hospital. The surgeries included: general surgery, ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat among others.

Medical clinics were held in the Cotija Altius Dispensario and in 3 outlying Indian villages. Over 720 patients were seen at the clinics. For the first time, Billings NFP (Natural Family Planning) method was taught at this mission site, using Spanish language videos, booklets and charts. Close to 20 women in the outlying villages were taught the method, as well as two couples from a parish in Cotija.

We thank all the missionaries who sacrificed their time, talent and treasure, as well as the benefactors who helped make this mission possible! Our 2010-11 Mission Program begins next month in Brazil along the Amazon River…please pray for the missionaries so they can be led by the Holy Spirit.

Progress

Ghana:

Number on medical team – 21
Number served – 1,799 (not including house calls)
Number of surgeries - 21 (in operating room and clinic)

Medical personnel and volunteers departed on April 15 and returned April 24th for our second medical mission to Asafo, Ghana. Some of the people were familiar to us from last year and it made the patients feel special to be remembered. Dr. Matthew Harrison and Dr. Gabriella Nanci worked in the clinic. Dr. John Petros and Dr. Deborah Martin performed surgeries in the existing operating room at St. John of God, and also worked in the clinic after surgery. Two new operating rooms are being added for mission work, but are not yet equipped, so were used for the clinic. [more]

Guatemala:

Santa Maria de Jesus

Number of missionaries on this team - 16
Number of patients served - 2,410

The chance to visit the local people in their homes provided an opportunity to get a taste of the Guatemalan culture and to see how the people live. One of the teams shared the story of a young lady who hoped to train to become a nurse, but because of the costs of education, this simply would not be possible. However, because of the generosity of the team, we collected enough money to pay for that girl’s two years of nursing education. While we may not see the fruits of this immediately, we should find joy knowing that we hopefully are helping to change this girl’s life forever. Your generosity and kind hearts shined upon the Guatemalan people.

El Salvador:

Sonsonate

Number of missionaries on this team - 33
Number of patients served - 2,100
Surgeries performed - 14

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.
~I Chronicles 16:34
He loves us and because of God's blessings the Scripture makes it clear that our joy is found in Him. For this, we are thankful and are encouraged to sing our thanksgiving to Him. On this trip he kept us safe in our travels and gave strength in our work and joy in our sharing. May you find peace in Christ and I hope that the coming year brings many blessings to you all.

Santiago Texacuangos

Number of missionaries on this team - 35
Number of patients served - 2,600
Surgeries performed - 40

Do any of you remember reading this from an earlier HHMM letter? "Get ready for a change of pace! Flexibility is an important virtue for a missionary. For some, this mission may require more of a change of pace than usual."

Flexibility would definitely be one of the key memories for me for this mission. Whenever we thought that we knew what was going to happen, things changed. It was a challenge and opportunity for us to show our trust and faith in God's plan, and to give more fully our "yes" to Christ.

History of HELPING HANDS Medical Missions

HELPING HANDS Medical Missions (HHMM) was formally established in 1996 after three years of developing a program for a Catholic medical mission.

The idea originated in Dallas in 1991, when a Catholic priest recognized the need for Catholic medical professionals to provide health care services for the poor in rural areas of developing countries.

In Holy Week of 1996, a pilot group of medical missionaries from various areas of the U.S. joined the youth missions in Michoacán, Mexico.

The mission was a success with a small group of seven medical personnel.

In the fall of 1996, the first mission under the name of HELPING HANDS Medical Missions took place in Cotija, Mexico, with 30 participants: doctors, nurses and volunteers serving more than 500 patients and providing 91 surgeries in just 5 days!