How to Prepare For an Eye Mission

How does one prepare for an eye mission?  I do not profess to be an expert but I have written down my experiences to help myself for future attempts on eye missions.  I truthfully feel anyone who thinks they have a foolproof plan is the fool.  The goal to achieve a successful mission trip can be daunting.  The early explorers used to draw maps so they could return to unchartered lands.  My first years were very much into unchartered waters when working on eye mission projects.  After a mission trip, I documented my work so I would not make the same mistake twice.  I also documented for my teammates in case the proverbial bus should strike me down.  As a team player, I will provide my twelve-month guide for any followers who might be thinking of an eye mission.  I will also accept any information from individuals that can make this endeavor easier (send me an email on your ideas for my records).  This trip takes an estimated 12-month preparation.  Some people reading this will be shocked and say why so long?  My answer…….I have a day job.  My hours combined to facilitate the average mission trip equals 80 hours to completion.  My objective was to make the attending surgeon walk from his ASC into a surgical suite in a foreign land with all products he felt was important.  I can safely say I have failed every time!

 

January

This month will require six major objectives:

 

• 1) Confirm Date of Mission
• 2) Confirm surgeons who will be attending

Make sure surgeons fully commit since the surgical mission depends upon surgeons.

• 3) Confirm Location
• 4) Start research on Ministry of Health (MOH) organization of country you will be attending. (Completion can take 4 to 8 months)

You will need to see what rules and regulations will be required to enter and to leave the country with donated medical supplies and equipment.

• 5) If working alone or collaborating with 501C organization, paperwork will need to be completed. (This information will be required for obtaining vendor products and for entry into country (HOH). I work with 501C organizations.
• 6) Confirm all individuals who will commit to eye mission. Any late comers will be required to get own passage and hotels. Be firm!

 

February

This month you should follow up on all previous issues and now start the next objectives:

 

• 1) Create check off list of all items needed for surgery.

 

Your checklist list can be up to 50 items long and can vary as to what type of product for type of location.  You will need to prepare since surgeons may want or require certain items to be present.  I have a check off list I religiously work from and this objective requires about 6 months of diligent follow up.  This objective will cause the most ulcers for the prep team.  You will require many items and best to require from all major vendors.  You will need to require from all major vendors since product will be released from the excess of the vendors inventory (remember these are donations).  You should inform vendors you will leave November 1^st.  I will explain this maneuver later if you succeed your 6-month objectives.

 

• 2) Have firm commitment from surgeons.
• 3) Schedule airline tickets for all and get people committed. An airline ticket is best commitment.
• 4) One individual should be over products during transport.

The responsible individual should also have available designated credit card or cash for emergencies.

 

You will need to inquire from airline the weight restrictions and the amount of secondary boxes that will be allowed, on commercial flights, if you plan to take product on same flight.  Many airlines today give no preferential treatments to missionaries with extra boxes or suitcases.  The airlines have been burned in the past and airlines need to make money in today’s economy.  If traveling with large number of people, inform your fellow missionaries they need to live from one suitcase.  The surgical team may need the other suitcase for supplies and you will use fellow missionary’s names’ to transport needed supplies.  (This is when airlines approve two suitcases per person.  Our last trip we paid fines of $500 for extra luggage.  As of this writing, cost for suitcases and extra luggage may make it financially impossible to carry product via same flight).

 

Today it may be more economical to ship down products via national freight carrier companies.  Many of the freight carrier companies have ports of entry in airline terminals where your product can be waiting for you.  It is worth a bit more to have the freight carrier get it through customs and be waiting then to take a chance on commercial airlines.  My personal experience has been to lose boxes of product along the transfer of commercial aircraft to destinations.  You have no clue as to what box they might confiscate, lose or misplace and the lost box may contain your lenses!  Airline freight carriers can respond and deliver to most places in the world in three weeks upon notification to ship.  I strongly recommend working with airfreight carriers.

 

• 5) With committed team, does ANYONE have friend, relative, acquaintance that lives in country or may be working with United States government in any fashion? Send note to individuals that can help you gain access to names of government officials of the country you are about to enter. To attend the country you are to perform your mission will require all avenues of contacts and communication. The more contacts the better chances for you to succeed on your mission.

 

Always do your home work and be prepared, the best-laid plans can go awry at anytime.  To be understanding is a critical component.  You are working with no pay as well as all of your counterparts.  To criticize will only lead your team of charitable workers into camps of dissent.  Upon arrival, you will be working with few hours of sleep and in strange settings so your team should consist of team players and few glory seekers.

 

 

March

March has roared in upon us.  If you have completed all objectives to this point, you are ahead of the game and maybe you should go into this line of work.  This month our big objective is to go over again, number one objective of the month of February.

 

• 1) Follow up on Check off list.

 

You will also be following up on cancellations of other surgeons or individuals who were 100% going on an eye mission who now need to cancel.  Note to all; Make sure you have at least three surgeons agreeing for any major surgical mission.  One surgeon will usually cancel (my calculation of 10 years experience) because of an unforeseen reason.  You do not want to burn your surgeons out or cancel because your surgeon cannot attend.  Surgeons participating on first mission will seek to conquer the world in first days and it will become difficult to maintain their happiness.  So much to do and so little time will swallow up your surgeon.  The first time mission surgeon has left their well-oiled organizations back home and will expect the same.  An experienced missionary surgeon understands to perform to the best of their abilities and take in consideration the location and effort of the team.  A great friend and surgeon of mine said once, ” If you help just one individual you have succeeded, everything else is icing on the cake!”

 

April and May

This month you will need to move your objectives to all at least 75% complete.  Catch up on every goal or start to reconsider departure date or cancelling.  Reviewing your objectives and hitting your goals should be paramount.

 

June

This month is the deciding period.  If you DO NOT have your MOH issues 80% resolved and if you do not have 80% of all other objectives completed you should seriously consider cancelling mission trip.  Remember the Ministry of Health (MOH) of your proposed missionary country is a Government and ALL Governments run on their time frame not yours.  This is the hardest objective to satisfy.  You may work this objective until the day you depart because of a single unanswered issue.  If you depart without all issues resolved, they will meet you at the airport and you should settle in for a few hours of negotiations.

 

Most entry through MOH governing bodies, require many individuals to sign off on volumes of paperwork.  Be prepared upon arrival to also be asked to pay entry fees (bring extra cash) which are not stated by any Governmental departments.  Some countries still work with an accepted practice to provide monetary entry at local levels.  It is good to know which countries may still perform these types of practices.  We consider these practices in the United States as kickbacks.  Know the issues of the country you are to enter.

 

July August September

We have now jumped forward into September and we have had a much time.  I have found these months to be flooded with emails and communication to  MOH.  Emails will not stop during these months and it is important to stay in touch with all team members on ANY issue.  Your contact in the foreign land you will be visiting will now be like an old friend or pen pal from all of your email questions and request.  You will be looking forward to meeting the individual(s) upon your arrival.  We are cleaning up small miscellaneous issues, which often lead to more small and important issues.  We look to leave in December. 

 

October

I now need to remind you of the warning comment stated back in February!  I will explain this maneuver later if you succeed your 6-month objectives.

We have departure date for our team leaving in December BUT we informed our vendors that we actually were leaving November 1^st.  My answer for this warning is from my terrifying experience of years prior, please read;

 

We had product requested on donation orders to our vendors.  Vendors replied that many if not all products were available and would arrive, a checklist was supplied by vendors and I felt secure.  We supplied all 501C papers in February and vendors assured us they would send one month PRIOR to departure date.  Our plan was to leave in December and all products would arrive the first week of November.  We received product November 1^st, but the bill of ladling informed us that product had been cancelled due to low inventory from mission department.  One month from departure and I did not have product needed for our mission.  The product was phaco machine cassettes.  My answer was to scramble and bring down a different phaco machine.

 

This is why I stress to provide a premature departure date.  The extra time will be essential to scramble and plead to your reps or other vendors for product that was not provided. 

 

• 1) Review products received and now confirm what you CANNOT leave without. Begin to beg, borrow, and beg again.

 

The extra time will give you a chance to get the products you need.  Remember you have been working your day job so why bring on ulcers that are not needed.  Be prepared to think on your feet because once you land you will be continually be thinking on your feet to make things work.

 

November

Product is in and 95% complete to inventory request.  Now we need to pack!

 

Packing should be in sturdy boxes that can withstand the rigors of travel.  You can obtain boxes from some freight companies with no cost or minimal cost by working through their companies.  Individuals who will be shipping via the aircraft they fly should research the approved weight of a suitcase.  Many airlines have different weight parameters per bag.  Weight is an important issue that can lead to expensive penalties if not prepared for properly.  Be prepared.

 

• 1) A sturdy large box is important. Remember we deal with weight for each box if we fly commercial or your product flies via freight. You may need to experiment packing many items to achieve the least amount of boxes to optimal weight.
• 2) Strengthen angled corners of each box with duck tape. Today’s duck tape comes in neon colors and makes each box easily visible coming out on baggage pickup. It is also easily visible in large warehouse of boxes when picking up from Airfreight Company. Duct tape should also be packed for mission. It has been used on the space shuttle and I guarantee you will use it on a mission.
• 3) We are not shipping clothes and we need to remember to consolidate our product in many boxes. What am I speaking about? If you place all of one product in a box and that one box is lost or stolen, your eye mission could end.
• 4) Label your boxes 1 to whatever number with large bold numbers on outside of each box. This informs you or another individual when picking up total number of boxes all are present just by scanning from a distance. This also eliminates us to walk up and read labels on each box to confirm ownership if other boxes are present. You will be moving boxes multiple times before you arrive and making things simple and easy on front side will be welcomed when you are tired and run down on the backside.
• 5) Each numbered box should have contents of each box on inventory ledger sheet, which travels with person over product. Upon final arrival, you will be unpacking multiple boxes containing similar products; the inventory ledger will make less work for the many hands that might be available for warehousing your product. The inventory ledger should also carry all-important information. This information could be serial numbers of equipment going down but coming back into the United States. This sheet should also contain what is to be left down in mission country. The more formal paperwork you carry will be less time spent in entering each country. Proof of ownership is easier if you carry paperwork. Receipts of purchase and serial numbers are valid for equipment movement between countries.
• 6) If you need certain drugs, make sure your MOH have been advised. Remember viscoelastic is NOT a drug. Any product that is not a drug should have its labeling available. A description of the product in the language of country you enter is helpful to have inside the box if inspected. You can find many labels on line by supplier of the product. Cut and paste the words from label into any interpreter program on line and print out. This paperwork is proactive and seldom used. However, past experience has kept me from many hours of standing in line. Just as our country does not like illegal drugs, other countries do not. Be proactive.

 

Summary: the first patient you witness on post op day will reward the many hours you have slaved for this long arduous project.  There is no other feeling like it and the bug of Eye Missionary work may have just bitten you.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!