The Mountain Fund: Another Successful Medical Trek, Spring 2010

Third-quarter beneficiary The Mountain Fund recently led a successful medical trek to Nepal. Here's their account of the experience:  

This spring, The Mountain Fund took another amazing and diverse group of people from all over the world on a medical trek through the Rasuwa District of Nepal, where we have been working for the last 10 years. We had members from Canada, the US, Sweden, the UK, and Germany. While only about half the group was comprised of medical professionals, everybody in the group was fully able to contribute to the needs of the people of Rasuwa. We hosted three medical camps over the course of 10 days seeing close to 700 patients. The busiest member of our group was Pete, an optometrist from Muscatine, Iowa. He diagnosed an 8-year-old with glaucoma and gave some much-needed glasses to a 7-year-old boy who can now really see the world for the first time. Pete, of course, was not the only busy person on the trip--everybody kept busy organizing, seeing patients, and giving out medicines.

And, as a bonus, everybody really enjoyed the trek itself. We had some wonderful comments at the conclusion of the trip. Pete, our optometrist for the trip, said “This is my fourteenth trip and comparing other organizations … this is the best organized, best led trip … I would certainly recommend this [trip].” Jon, a pilot, said “I was impressed with the flexibility, the lack of bureaucracy, the lack of egos … I felt like everything we were doing had the mission in mind and helping whoever needed help.” Farah, a pulmonologist from Alaska who has participated in other international medical endeavors, said “It's wonderful to see a medical camp that has involved the community itself and left somebody behind to take over … that was really refreshing.”

Our three medical camps were held in Kalikastan, Thulo Syabru, and Thambauchet. The patient ailments ran the gamut of the medical spectrum, ranging from skin infections to burns to gastric complaints to lung problems. The vast majority of the people in Rasuwa are subsistence farmers whose only access to medical care is that which is provided by our hospital, clinics, and the medical treks we do several times a year.

We have been fortunate enough to see a big change in not only the people’s access to health care in the district but also a clear improvement in infant, child, and maternal mortality. This work could not be done without the brave and ambitious people of Rasuwa, many of whom have significantly contributed to our efforts there, as well as your donations and support.

Check out a video of our trip--thanks, Joyce!

Written by Ari Stern

Reposted with permission from http://www.mountainfund.org/.