Med Access International

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Med Access International Mission Team Selection Criteria

IMAHelps selects volunteers for its medical missions based on their professional education, licensing and experience.

Med Access International organizes medical humanitarian missions with volunteers who provide free healthcare, including life-changing surgeries, to impoverished patients across Central and South America and the Caribbean. IMAHelps Mission Overview

Site Selection Criteria

IMAHelps selects locations for its medical missions in concert with local health officials who highlight specific communities where people suffer the most from poverty, lack of education and limited healthcare services. IMAHelps seeks volunteers from every healthcare specialty, including dentistry; optometry; general surgery; orthopedic surgery, plastic and maxillofacial surgery; internal medicine; obstetrics and gynecology; pediatrics; urology; physical therapy; prosthetics; and pharmacy. IMAHelps also seeks surgical and medical support team volunteers, including anesthesiologists, nurses, surgical technicians and interpreters. A limited number of student volunteers are also used on some IMAHelps missions, provided they can fulfill specific mission support functions identified by the IMAHelps Board of Directors. Provision of Basic Health and Hygiene Education

IMAHelps volunteers provide basic health and hygiene education seminars to patients waiting for appointments in an effort to provide long-term value. These seminars supplement the information our volunteers provide to patients during their appointments. IMAHelps often recruits local Peace Corps volunteers to help with the health and hygiene education portions of our missions because they often have specialized knowledge of local health and hygiene issues. Provision of Professional Healthcare Education

IMAHelps volunteers share their knowledge and information about some of the latest American healthcare practices with their local counterparts, including doctors, surgeons, nurses and other support personnel. By the same token, IMAHelps volunteers strive to learn from their local colleagues about specific medical conditions and treatment procedures not typically seen in the United States. We see these medical missions as a way for our volunteers to work as a team while developing professional relationships and friendships with local doctors, surgeons and support personnel. Costs of Medical Missions

IMAHelps volunteers pay for their airfares as well as their room and board during the medical mission. IMAHelps negotiates significant discounts for room and board with host country hotels. IMAHelps conducts ongoing fundraising activities to obtain funding for in-country transportation, medicines and medical supplies, including pharmaceutical products. IMAHelps also solicits donations of medical equipment and supplies, including pharmaceutical products whose expiration dates are at least six months after each mission, in accordance with host country regulations.

10/05/2026
After completing our medical humanitarian mission in Ibarra, Ecuador last June, we not only donated our remaining medica...
10/03/2026

After completing our medical humanitarian mission in Ibarra, Ecuador last June, we not only donated our remaining medical supplies to the hospital in Ibarra, but to a hospital in the Galapagos, which acknowledged our donation with this beautiful video.

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After completing our latest medical humanitarian mission in Ibarra, Ecuador, we not only donated our leftover supplies t...
10/03/2026

After completing our latest medical humanitarian mission in Ibarra, Ecuador, we not only donated our leftover supplies to the hospital in Ibarra, but to a hospital in the Galapagos. Here is a beautiful video from the hospital in the Galapagos recognizing our donation.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeAxLfwsupP/? stkn=c2QyMGIwMm1zem-
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We donated some of our medical supplies to a hospital in the Galapagos last June after completing our medical mission in...
10/03/2026

We donated some of our medical supplies to a hospital in the Galapagos last June after completing our medical mission in Ibarra, Ecuador. Attached is a beautiful video recognizing our donation.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeAxLfwsupP/? stkn=c2QyMGIwMm1zem-
F4

So what’s it like to volunteer on an international medical humanitarian mission in Central or South America? Dr. Cristob...
08/11/2026

So what’s it like to volunteer on an international medical humanitarian mission in Central or South America? Dr. Cristobal Barrios, Jr. and Martina Olson of Med Access International answered those questions today during an educational session at the annual conference of the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) in Charlotte, North Carolina. There was a standing room only crowd of over 100 Conference attendees who came to hear Dr. Barrios and Ms. Olson speak. Several attendees also voiced their interest in volunteering on our missions, conducting research, helping with marketing, and providing other support as we work to change lives around the world. We will be meeting with conference attendees again during a tradeshow tomorrow. We hope to not only recruit more volunteers, but identify potential sources of financial support for our medical humanitarian missions. Visit medaccessintl.org for more information. Many thanks to our philanthropy director, Olaya Daki, for identifying this opportunity for us and making it happen.

We are looking forward to our 2027 medical mission in Panamá. We’ve already made two planning trips to Panamá and are pa...
07/24/2026

We are looking forward to our 2027 medical mission in Panamá. We’ve already made two planning trips to Panamá and are participating in regular video calls with the Ministry of Health and the hospital in Santiago where we will be working next June. Everyone has been so warm and friendly with us. There are also plenty of sites to see, from Panama City’s French Quarter to the Panama Canal and beyond. Mission dates are June 16 to 25, 2027. We will post more updates soon.

Med Access International is pleased to announce the dates for our June 2027 medical humanitarian mission in Santiago, Pa...
07/23/2026

Med Access International is pleased to announce the dates for our June 2027 medical humanitarian mission in Santiago, Panamá. The entire trip will be June 16-25, 2027 at Hospital Dr. Luis "Chicho" Fábrega. June 16 will be a travel day with volunteers arriving in Panama City in the afternoon or evening. June 17 we will travel in the morning to Santiago and spend the rest of day in orientation activities with hospital staff. June 18-23 will be regular mission work days with June 24 being our last day with a half day of hospital work. June 25 will be a group activity day before volunteers start to fly home in the evening. It's only a 6 hour flight to Panamá from LAX and there's lots of flights so it's easy -- and more affordable -- to get to Panama than other countries we have visited in recent years. The hospital in Santiago is very spacious and nicely air conditioned. Both the hospital staff and Ministry of Health officials have warmly embraced us and are looking forward to welcoming us next year.

For the first time ever, students and their mentors from the Great Lakes Science Center have trained local high school s...
07/07/2026

For the first time ever, students and their mentors from the Great Lakes Science Center have trained local high school students to design and fabricate mechanical arms and hands as part of a Med Access International medical humanitarian mission to Ibarra, Ecuador. The Science Center has donated a 3d printer to a local high school in Ibarra along with all the supplies the students need to get started making prosthetics for child amputees in their own community.

Cleveland students have spent the week in Ibarra, Ecuador, changing lives one prosthetic at a time and this trip, they are making sure the work continues long after they leave.

07/05/2026

One of the busiest providers on Med Access International's recent mission to Ibarra, Ecuador was Dr. James Conkey, an optometrist from Reno, Nevada who joined our mission for the first time this year. Dr. Conkey was swamped every day with patients seeking to improve their vision. Cyndy Maria and Jeff Crider interpreted for Dr. Conkey over several days. One patient, an elderly woman, broke down in tears when Dr. Conkey gave her a pair of glasses that enabled her read again. We're looking forward to having Dr. Conkey with us again next. We've also recruited an audiologist who has committed to join our mission next year in Panama.

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P. O. Box 2727
Rancho Mirage, CA
92270

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