Who are your local sponsors:
A: Palo Alto Menlo Park Parents Club
Abundant Life Christian Fellowship, my home church
Center for Community Action
Palo Alto Young Professionals
Many schools from Palo Alto Unified School District

Why not the existing medical organizations: IMC, PiH, Salvation Army, Project Hope?
A: they want long term commitments and are currently recruiting surgeons only, for inpatient work. Outpatient work is completely neglected. Many outpatient docs are working outside of the hospitals triaging. next phase is to get to the areas far from the hospital. I'll focus on being a mobile clinic. That's what we did well in Katrina, move with the aid convoys and use their military protection

Is this religiously affiliated?
A: Although I am an evangelical Christian, my volunteer work is not limited to church missions, and this Haitian mission will provide medical relief regardless of the patient's religious background. Prayer will be offered on an opt-in basis. Team members may or may not be persons of faith. My home church, Abundant Life Christian Fellowship is sponsoring the trip. The church sponsoring my past relief work, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (MPPC) has been enormously helpful in providing us volunteers, bags, and contacts such as to JIA and Blessings international.

Are you going to Haiti without coordination and just going to make more of a mess?
A: don't just show up. i agree. my medical missions work has always been coordinated by a local NGO that receives and is asking for help. In both Katrina & San Diego, local churches - same here in Haiti.

Why not wait until it's more settled?
A: there is a great urgency. they are letting any MD & RNs in without visas because of that urgency. The tent camps have no physicians to care for patients at.

Are you responding to a specific need, a clinic that is unmanned?
A: We're going to work in the tent camps that have sprouted up wherever there's open space & responding to a need. I wouldn't go if there wasn't.

Are you trained?
A: I'm a Family Physician who's practiced Urgent Care medicine for a decade. I am a federally sworn in medical disaster relief worked registered with Santa Clara County's MVDR which is a Army Medical Reserve Corp.

Who are the participants?
A: Other ALCF members, past short term missions participants from MPPC, physicians from PAMF and Sutter affiliates, and the legions of supporters locally and online without which we wouldn't have the funds or the information on how to access resources to get there and get prepared.