Medical Teams International sends out 2,000th team of

medical volunteers

    TIGARD — Medical Teams International last month sent out its landmark 2,000th team of medical volunteers.
     The team went out Thursday, Oct. 15, from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport headed to Uganda, where Tigard-based Medical Teams International has been working for the past four years.
     Jo Hauser, an emergency room physician from Ottawa, Ont., Canada, led the team of three volunteers. The other team members included three experienced Medical Teams International volunteers; Janey Pinneo, Children’s Hospital nurse and wife of Horizon Airlines CEO, Jeff Pinneo and Deanna King, a registered nurse from Harrison, Idaho.
     This team traveled to southwestern Uganda to provide relief to refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
     The team work alongside the ministry’s national Ugandan staff to provide primary and emergency healthcare services in resettlement communities.
    “This team represents thousands of volunteers who have touched lives around the world over the last 30 years,” said Bas Vanderzalm, president of Medical Teams International. “Dr. Hauser and this team are a great example of the compassion and dedication which drives our volunteers to bring hope and healing to the sick.”
     Since 1979, Medical Teams International has shipped more than 1.3 billion in antibiotics, surgical kits and lifesaving medicines to care for 35 million people in 100 nations around the world. More than 2,000 volunteers meet the needs of people worldwide each year.
     In related news, Medical Teams International on Oct. 1 started a four-year, $2 million program to reduce child morbidity and mortality in Uganda.
The Child Survival program is an initiative to serve 107,000 people (46,000 children under 5 and women of reproductive age) within Lira District, northern Uganda. The program will work with women's groups from the local churches and healthcare staff from health facilities to significantly prevent illness and death among children younger than 5 years and pregnant women.
    “We are pleased to be awarded the opportunity to serve the people of northern Uganda and with them, prevent loss of lives of young children and women,” said Janis Lindsteadt, director of technical services for Medical Teams International.
     Funding for this program is provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and Medical Teams International.
     This award permits Medical Teams International to be part of formal learning among the U.S.-based nonprofits that are setting high-impact standards in maternal and child health worldwide.
     Medical Teams is also working with Portland-based Hands to Hearts International as a consulting partner to achieve the early childhood development objectives in this project.
     This grant goes specifically to save lives of mothers and children in Uganda; Medical Teams International has to reach a funding commitment of $500,000 over four years in order for the grant to go through as planned.
     Donations to Medical Teams International can be made by phoning 503-624-1000 or by logging onto www.medicalteams.org.