In The News

WMMC Doctors Are Medical Missionaries

It’s the height of summer, and for most people that means vacation. For many WMMC employees and physicians, though, “vacation” is often a mission trip or activity.

Ramadas Abboy, MD, critical care medicine, grew up in a small rural village in southern India. Ten years ago he established a college and four years ago he started an elementary school, both near the city of Chennai. By opening these two schools, thousands of young students who would normally have to travel far or stay in dormitories to receive a proper education can now commute from their home villages. Dr. Abboy travels back to the town about four times each year to see the schools and plan for further improvements. His most recent trip was in early July.
“Everything I have I owe to my education,” said Dr. Abboy. “I feel I need to give back to that.”

Faisal Khan, MD, general surgery, has traveled to Peru every year for the past six years. He takes with him an organized group of physicians, nurses and technical specialists to provide free medical care for impoverished Peruvians. Each year the group advertises its upcoming visit in the surrounding area, and some people walk over a hundred miles to be there when the group arrives in order to receive free medical attention. The majority of cases they see are pediatric surgeries, but this past trip in June they also treated cleft palate patients.

Dr. Khan also traveled to Pakistan in 2005, after the Kashmir earthquake, to volunteer and provide medical relief to many who were injured
When asked where else he’d like to do missionary work, Dr. Khan replied, “Everywhere. I’d like to stop working, retire, and go wherever I’m needed.”
Lisa Ma, MD, family medicine, travels to Ensenada, Mexico, three to four times a year with Mosaic Los Angeles to provide free medical care and other services to the people there.
A week before the team of physicians and dentists arrive, flyers are distributed to families in the area. Each year, an indigenous population of migrant workers travels more than 2,000 miles from Oaxaca to receive care. While in Ensenada, the group also participates in local building projects, counseling and trash cleanup. In December, they lead a local toy drive.
Dr. Ma has been making these trips for nine years, and says the first couple of years presented the biggest challenges.

“We would live in tents with plastic tarps,” she said, “and work with local missionaries to provide food, refurbish the schools and offer free medical and dental care on the dirt roads, using neighborhood tables and a shower curtain for privacy.” In the past several years, the working conditions have improved. Now they use local schools that have some electricity and running water.
Luis Montes, MD, pediatrics, provides missionary services in his own community – Los Angeles. While he was completing his fellowship in the early 1990s at Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center, Dr. Montes witnessed hundreds of kids a year admitted for gunshot wounds due to violence in the community. At a state conference in Oakland on injury control and violence prevention/awareness, Dr. Montes discovered “Youth ALIVE!”

Youth ALIVE! is a non-profit public health agency focused on preventing youth violence and generate youth leadership in California communities. Years later, Dr. Montes founded the Los Angeles chapter and he currently serves as President of the Board.

One of the Youth ALIVE! programs that Dr. Montes is passionate about is called “Caught in the Crossfire.” This program provides support for family members affected by youth violence.
Dr. Montes also participates in missionary trips to Mexico with his church, Amore Ministries. Each year he travels with a youth group to Tijuana to build a two-bedroom home in four days, for a family that otherwise would not be able to afford it.

“I enjoy giving young people exposure to lifestyles that are much different than their own, to open their eyes and broaden their perspective,” he said.
Ismael Nuño, MD, cardiothoracic surgery, also performs volunteer and humanitarian work in the Los Angeles community. His biggest passion is education.
“In 2000 there was a formal study done in L.A., including Boyle Heights, that documented the number of CPR and 911 calls by the Latino population,” Dr. Nuño said. “The study concluded that thousands of people in the area aren’t receiving proper medical care. Most of them are not well informed, and they wait too long to get medical attention. My goal is to address this problem through educating them.”

Dr. Nuño has participated in educational programs for pre-med students throughout the L.A. area, including Monterey Park and Cerritos College. In the last three years, he has led CPR rallies focused primarily toward the Latino population. During the rallies, local residents are taught how to properly perform CPR. He is also director of a community health fair downtown on Olvera Street, which provides free health screenings and education.

Dr. Nuño is known for his work in the local community, and he has received several awards. In 2004, he was a recipient of the California Latino Medical Association’s Humanitarian Award. In 2007, he received the Louis B. Russell Jr. Memorial Award from the American Heart Association, in honor of his efforts to decrease cardiovascular disease in the Los Angeles
Latino population.

Posted 8/15/08