Flying Doctors of America (FDA) is celebrating its 25th
anniversary this year. In its 25 year
history, FDA has completed over 220 missions and treated more than 200,000 people
in developing countries or in countries in crisis with free dental and medical
care.
Earlier this year a group of dentists, physicians, and
nurses treated 1500 Syrian refugees in a refugee camp in Jordan. One participating dentist described the camp:
“Out in the desert, with brutally hot temperatures, are rows and rows of
tents. The devastation, the despair, the
look on children’s and adults’ faces---these people have been taken from their
homes and have been abused at all different levels. They have no place to go and nobody wants
them.”
He goes on to describe an 8 year old girl from whose face he
picked shrapnel. She was inexpressive,
non-communicative, and visibly traumatized.
She’d seen her parents and brother killed, a horror we cannot fathom. Years of service by this practitioner and
scores of others working through the FDA in countries around the globe has
taught these professionals that they must remember those they did treat, those they did save rather than ruminating over
the thousands they could not see and
care for.
Several flying dentists I have known acclaim the work of the
FDA. They feel privileged to help
provide health care for the poorest of the poor, disaster victims, and refugees
around the world. These professionals
serve with no thought of compensation or of politics. Their aim is to give in the best way they can
to fellow human beings who need their care.
To a person, upon returning home from a mission trip, these Flying
Dentists are already eagerly anticipating their next opportunity to help those
in need.
For information about Flying Doctors of America, visit their
website, fdoamerica.org.
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