About Medical Missions - Osborne Head & Neck Foundation

Hope Has No Boundaries

Medical Missions

Each year the Foundation organizes a humanitarian aid project in a community located in the developing part of the world. Since 2016 we have opened ear, nose and throat (ENT) clinics in Ethiopia, India, Belize, and Peru, and have supported local efforts to improve the quality of life for some of the poorest communities outside the United States.

With the help of our donors, we are able to provide life saving surgical care for families without access to ENT specialists, train local physicians, supply area hospitals with needed medical equipment, and partner with orphanages to improve the lives of children most vulnerable in these communities.

What Is The Need?

For families who live on as little as one US dollar a day, their very survival could be at stake when any illness takes hold. Being shunned from one’s community because of cultural stigma and fear of disease, distrust in state run medical facilities, and language barriers within countries that have hundreds of tribal languages, all contribute to higher mortality rates.

Barriers to reliable medical care in developing countries pile up quickly. Besides the lack of doctors, medical equipment, training, and local resources, many families are faced with the stark reality that medical care doesn’t exist in their community. Ear, nose, and throat diseases that are regularly cured or managed in the United States, quickly become a chronic illness, or even a death sentence for someone living in a village outside the Western World.

Our team is often the first and only hope for the patients we see. Most of the people we meet have never been to a doctor, and are unfamiliar with basic health questions. Families travel days on foot with the hope that our team can treat or save a loved one. When we can make an impact in the life of someone in need, their gratitude is overwhelming. For everyone we help, the joy is bittersweet, because we know there are hundreds more who need medical care.

Barriers to Medical Care

Discrimination in health centers because they are indigenous and poor
Lack of access to transportation. Many people have never left their village
Unaware of opportunities to access medical care available to them
Lack the financial resources to pay for medical expenses, surgical care, or being away from their livelihood
Fear of health centers and hospitals, many have never seen a doctor before
Language barriers when leaving their village and local communities

How Does My Support Help?

Donations to the Medical Missions give families in need hope. Your gift helps open ENT clinics in centralized locations within partner communities, and provide the necessary support to identify, triage, treat and care for families most in need. Donations help the Foundation cover related medical expenses, including:

Patient and family transportation from a village to a partner hospital, lodging and meals
Hospital fees for a patient’s room and board, laboratories and x-rays, operating room expenses and surgical supplies
Local health promoters and translators to help monitor, schedule, and interpret for patients
Post-operative care after the patient returns home, and other support activities.

Guatemala 2022

Donate Today

Your gift brings hope to someone in need, and allows the Foundation to purchase medical supplies and surgical instrumentation for this life-changing work.

Thank you for your support!

$183,126 of $200,000 pledged

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Did You Know?

Children First

On each Medical Mission we partner with a local children’s non-profit to support the communities most vulnerable children. While in Peru, we worked with Hogar De La Nina Belen, an all girls orphanage in the heart of Cajamarca, for children who have experienced sexual abuse. Over 100 girls from infants to 18 years of age call this facility home, and we were honored to play a small part in supporting their efforts.

Dedicated Volunteers

Volunteers are highly specialized ear, nose and throat medical professionals. Medical Missions always include at least one oncologist, plastic surgeon, laryngologist and anesthesiologist. With support staff, the team treats over 1,000 patients on each trip.

Fundraising

Each volunteer is required to fundraise or pledge to pay $1,500 or more to cover the cost of travel, lodging and food expenses. This financial commitment ensures donations you make to the Foundation, go directly to patients in need.

Specialized Care

Each community faces it’s own unique health challenges. Our team treats head and neck cancers, hearing impairment, infections, cleft palates, and physical trauma needing reconstructive surgery, and a host of other ear, nose and throat needs.