Volunteers: Healthcare Volunteers
Healthcare Volunteers
At the center of every LMV clinic is a volunteer healthcare professional – or, more often than not, two ore more. We welcome volunteers with the following specializations: MD's, DO's, OD's, DDS's, DMD's, DC's, PT's, acupuncturists, PhD's (psychologists), marriage and family therapists, and others. All professionals must be current and licensed to practice their specialty. A license may be current from areas other than the United States.
LMV invites nurse practitioners to volunteer, as well. Depending on the location of the clinic, nurse practitioners must work with or be associated with a physician who is available in case of emergency. (In Mexico, for example, many of our clinics are located in a village with a doctor who can serve in the latter capacity.)
In all our clinic locations, healthcare support professionals also fill essential clinic roles. These include PA's, RN's, RDA's, RDH's, and others. Health education specialists are an important part of this group.
And last but not least, volunteers, unlicensed student professionals, helpers, and anyone on a mission with LMV must work with and under supervision of a licensed professional in any activity involving patient care by medical, dental, optometry, and other specialty healthcare professionals or local professionals at any destination.
Please note that as with all trip participants, healthcare volunteers pay a trip fee that varies according to the location of the clinic. Please visit our trip signup page for more information.
We Value Your Time
LMV is accustomed to facilitating the participation of medical professionals. We understand that your time is valuable, and have in place a number of mechanisms to help make it easier for you to volunteer.
- Our trip coordinators will take care of most of the details of your trip, from selecting team members to making travel arrangements for the team, whether the team will be traveling by car (as is possible to Oasis or some Mexico clinics), small aircraft (Oasis and Mexico), or commercial aircraft and in-country ground transportation (Central America). Trip coordinators and team leaders on the ground also make arrangements for most meals and for all accommodations, regardless of the location. You will be responsible for your own transportation from your home to the US departure airport, and possibly for the occasional meal on the ground; your trip coordinator can give you the best idea of what to expect in advance.
- LMV can provide most or all supplies and medications from donated stores or from purchasing funds in advance of a trip (Mexico and Oasis) or on the ground once in country (Central America). For the latter, each team member carries a 50-lb bag of supplies in addition to his or her own luggage, assembled and checked by you yourself. You may wish to bring your own portable equipment, or you can ask LMV for assistance in assembling a travel kit. Larger equipment like generators and autoclaves exist on site in some villages or, in some cases, can be brought with the team. In some locations, teams must function without such equipment. Your trip coordinator can let you know what to expect.
- If this is your first LMV trip, we'll be happy to have an experienced medical volunteer of a similar specialization contact you for an informal orientation by phone, email, or in person, depending in your location. Just let your trip coordinator know when you sign up that you'd like to pursue this option.
For further information, refer to the relevant section below.
Medical
General and family practitioners, pediatricians, and obstetricians and gynecologists are the medical specializations the villages we serve request most frequently, but we do have occasional need for those with other specializations. Our work in remote areas of Mexico and Central America often prevents us from having access to lab services or from coordinating anything more than basic patient follow-up with local providers where they exist. And the remoteness of most sites also means that in most cases, LMV clinic teams bring with them all or most of the equipment, supplies, and medications needed for a clinic.
If you are a resident or intern and would like to volunteer but lack the funds to do so, LMV will cover some or all of your trip fee, depending on clinic location, if you qualify for our Residents' Fund.
Further questions? Contact David Morgan, MD or your nearest LMV chapter.
Optometry and Ophthalmology
All of our clinics have a high demand for optometry and ophthalmology services. Most residents of the villages we serve have no access to local eye care, and lack the money or ability to travel the often great distances to the nearest clinic. There's no greater joy than helping a child who's having trouble in school because they can't see, or an older person who has trouble doing close-up work. You can see the delight on the people's faces when we give them a pair of glasses on the spot.
Optometrists need to bring eye charts and any other tools or instruments you will need on a trip. LMV owns an auto-refractor which is available to take on any trip, but which must be requested in advance from your LMV trip coordinator. LMV supplies approximately 120 pairs of glasses for each Mexico clinic, either newly purchased or obtained through our Used Eyeglasses Program. For our Central America trips we supply approximately 600 pairs of new reading glasses in addition to the prescription glasses obtained through our Used Eyeglasses Program.
Further questions? Contact David Morgan, MD or your nearest LMV chapter.
Dentistry
Nearly all of our trips include a dentistry component; the absence of services in most villages we serve, combined with lack of dental hygiene education and a sugary diet, means the need is very high.
While dentists do need to bring supplies and tools with them on trips, LMV can provide a full dental kit to take, and can either reimburse you for supplies you purchase in advance, or can help you fundraise or collect donated supplies before the trip starts. We have certain supplies already on hand in our donated stores. You may also wish to refer to our member resources pages for a sample supplies packing list.
Further questions? Contact Adrian Fenderson, DDS or your nearest LMV chapter.
Health Education
LMV works to bolster people's understanding of the key health issues they face as a means of helping them help themselves. These issues range from basic dental hygiene to type II diabetes prevention; and from the importance of breast self-exams to treatment for alcohol and drug abuse.
LMV seeks healthcare educators specifically, but also any healthcare professional willing and qualified to add a healthcare education component to his or her volunteer work during a clinic trip.
We have a broad variety of health education materials available for teams to take on LMV trips. These range from low-literacy, Spanish-language printed materials, to videos, mouth models and large toothbrushes, food pyramid posters, and artificial breast models. See our member resources section for a list of free materials available online, or talk to your LMV trip coordinator when you sign up for a trip.
Further questions? Contact Art Schmauder or your nearest LMV chapter.