INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S MEDICAL FOUNDATION'S (ICMF) next Medical Mission Project has not been scheduled yet. However, for your information this is how the program works. Our Mission Projects run for a full 2 week duration. These two weeks are broken up into two, one week segments. We attempt to do all Plastic Surgeries one week and other kinds of surgeries the next week; and not necessarily in this order. If a volunteer doctor or nurse is not available for the full two week duration of the mission, they can sign up for one of the two week segments. Depending upon the individual host country's regulations, the following may vary somewhat, but "generally" all first time visiting doctors are required to have a pre-scheduled personal interview with a Govt. Health official in the host country, so they must arrive one or two days early for this interview. There are no interviews on Saturday or Sundays.

All patient screening will take place on the first day. Surgeries are scheduled according to age; infants and small children are worked on first. However, if we have (for example) a burn patient whose scar tissues are being removed or skin grafted, those patients too are scheduled early so they can have post op attention by our doctors. One doctor is required to stay in-country for seven days after all surgeries are completed to travel throughout the country doing the needed post op care.

ICMF is an ALL VOLUNTEER organization. All doctors and nurses are responsible for their own expenses. ICMF will notify participants of total mission cost for the country we will be visiting (they all vary!), make all the airline reservations, purchase tickets, etc. and notify participants of needed inoculations, etc.

We ask those interested participants to get all your documents and registration fees in "now." You will be notified of the next scheduled trip, when, where, total cost, etc. These trips are always scheduled several months in advance so you will have time to plan accordingly.

We endeavor to secure air conditioned hotel facilities, however, that is not always possible. Our volunteers must be prepared to "rough" it. The cost of housing and meals vary, depending upon what country we are working in.

As long as we have an "in-patient," a medical doctor is required to be in the host hospital 24 hours a day. This is accomplished by our medical doctors taking turns sleeping at the hospital. Also, as long as we have in-patients, we must have a nurse in each pre-op and post-op ward 24 hours a day. The nurse in the post-op ward MUST be an RN. Likewise, nurses must be willing to take turns sleeping at the hospital.

Our schedules are filled on a "first come, first served" basis. If a nurse is a trained O.R. nurse and desires to work in that capacity it must be so stated in the application. However, we are unable to "hold" a position open for a person, i.e. if the position of O.R. nurse is filled and another O.R. nurses' application arrives, that nurse will be scheduled in the post-op ward. In some countries we are not allowed to bring in O.R. technicians as these countries do not recognize this job description.

Our agreement with all host Governments is to not only serve the citizens of that country with free medical care but also to train the medical personnel in the host country. We have a dedicated handful of nurses and O.R. personnel in some of our host countries that do volunteer their time when our teams visit. It must be clearly understood that these persons MUST be allowed to WORK (not just "observe") in the operating room as well as the pre/post op wards. We will always inform the medical team if any volunteer is new (needing direct supervision) or if they are one of our "regulars." Our host country nurses do not sleep over at the hospital.

Sometimes we work with two tables going at all times, so we must be careful to control the number of people in the O.R. at one time. As an example, if a nurse is scheduled in a "pre-op" position he/she will be required to stay and work in that position... not in the O.R.

ICMF is not opposed to allowing a U.S. Resident doctor to participate in these medical mission projects, receiving their needed training and experience. However, all Resident doctors are assigned to and work under the direct supervision of a FULLY QUALIFIED MD.

Any Resident doctor going to a host country under the auspices of a "training institute" must have that institutes director get in touch with our director, Ms. Ruha'mah, prior to the acceptance/ scheduling of their Resident.

All volunteer doctors and nurses must also understand that upon being cleared by the host Govt. and given temporary work permits for the duration of their stay, (that) they must also be available to the host Govt. if called upon to assist should an emergency arise outside the scope of their Medical Mission Project. A good example: our medical personnel was called upon to assist one night when a multiple car accident occurred in which lives were lost and those who lived needed a Plastic Surgeon.

The following is a list of documents that must be faxed and/or mailed to arrive in our U.S. office NO LATER THAN 60 days prior to departure. These documents are submitted, as one package, to the host Govt. to obtain temporary work permits for each team member during their stay in the country we will be visiting.
 

ICMF is always looking for U.S. HOST FAMILIES, VOLUNTEERS, participants in our "PARTNER" FUND RAISING PROJECTS as well as various donated, medicines, medical supplies and equipment. Perhaps YOU cannot physically participate, but know another doctor or nurse that you would like to help sponsor. Or perhaps you have a friend that you feel might be interested in helping our children in another area of ICMF's needs. If so, won't you please take a few minutes, print out our home page and pass the information along to them?

We extend our hand to YOU. Won't you take it and do all you can: help us MAKE A DIFFERENCE -- GIVE HOPE to our medically needy children? THANK YOU!