Vets With A Mission Blog

“Army Vietnam Vet & VWAM Board Member, Cal Dunham, at Binh Thanh Clinic in 2011″

As the Binh Thanh/Hong Ha/An Hoa medical team enters their last weekend home for three weeks, and while the Hoa Hai/Hoa Heip Nam medical team goes about completing their final preparations, lets reflect on Memorial Day with this posting:

…Thousands of Americans will officially kick-off their summer by camping out, going to the lake, or having their first official Bar-Be-Que over Memorial Day weekend. It’s the traditional start of summer!

It’s a great time for family fun and all of us have fond memories, from both childhood and adulthood, of the outings we’ve taken that last weekend in May. While I think about family and friends on canoe trips and camp-outs, there is also a sadness that dwells up in me each and every year.

The year was 1966. Over that winter we were the starting five on the Assumption High School varsity bowling team. Besides myself there was Bill Hart, Charlie Geller, John Lindner, and Johnny Pondoff. This was a small private Catholic high school in East St. Louis, IL. The senior class was also small, and everyone knew each other. Those were the days when we brought pocket-knives to class, and rifles or shot-guns on racks in pick-up trucks. No one ever got stabbed or shot.

I remember the day one of my classmates jabbed Johnny in the knee with a stylus during geometry class. The student sitting behind him kept pestering him, and I guess Pondoff had had enough. Also, when Bill set off a firecracker in class. He said it was an accident, which I don’t think it was. Mr. Hart was sent down to the principal’s office and awarded a three day suspension. The rest of us were pretty compliant young men, just kids really as Charlie, John, and I stayed out of trouble. I remember that Charlie was seriously thinking about becoming a Priest.

After graduation that spring, we all went our separate ways mostly to different colleges, but all of us except Bill were home in less than two years for various reasons. My reason was that I spent a lot of time “at” college instead of “in” college, if you know what I mean. My student deferment was rescinded and I was eligible for the draft. It was the same story for John, Charlie and Johnny. This was now the fall of 1967, and the US was fully engaged in a war at a far-away place called “Vietnam.” I remember what we did next.

You know how much bravado young men can have about things like this and after all, our Fathers were WWII veterans of the Pacific and Europe. Well, all of us, less Bill went together to the Army and Marine Corps recruiting offices. Taking Hart’s place was my best friend at the time, Ron Courtney. I really wanted to join the Marines, but didn’t think I could hack it. Ron wanted to join the Navy, and we ended up going in on the “Buddy Plan” volunteering for aviation and Vietnam.

Johnny and Charlie did join the Marines, but John said he didn’t want to serve four years. He’d said he could do two years, if he was drafted, and that he was shortly thereafter. By 1968 three members on that bowling team were in Vietnam, and three were dead. Except me, of course.

The first one, John, died on January 5, 1968, as a result of his wounds sustained on December 30. It was a booby trap. I remember how his casket had a bubble like plexi-glass cover. Evidently they didn’t know if the dead were bringing anything back that could make the rest of us sick. It was bitterly cold, with sleet and snow falling that day, when he was buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

“Lefty” is what we called him because he was the only non-right hand bowler on the team. On February 25, 1968, Charlie was a member of the infamous “Jacques Patrol” sometimes called the “Lost or Ghost Patrol” ambushed at Khe Sanh. Twenty-four other Marines were KIA with Charlie, although the families were told they were officially MIA. Due to several thousand NVA right outside of the base, the bodies weren’t recovered until March 30. I remember that I didn’t go to the funeral or burial that took place in April, I just couldn’t. That’s because I ended up going to another one before Charlie’s remains even got home.

Johnny was killed in Quang Tri Province on February 2, 1968, during the Tet Offensive and Battle of Hue. I was able to pay my respects at the wake and go to the cemetery. I remember how after an emotional rendition of Taps, and the flag was given to his Mother, she got up from her seat. She walked over to the casket, climbed up on it, and laid down embracing her son one last time.  No more funerals for me.

Over the years, as Memorial Day Weekend approached, I’ve tried to think about fun high school memories and positive things. I am focused on grilling-out, family, and Cardinal baseball games. I’ve even deliberately decided I’m not going to think about the funerals or the cemeteries. But I remember.

So on this Memorial Day Weekend when you see a vet looking off in the distance, a Dad or Mom staring down at the grill, give them a break.

They are just remembering…

Chuck Ward, Memorial Day, 2013

As these two medical teams prepare to leave for Vietnam, please remember the vets on both teams. I am continually amazed at the forgiveness, spirit of reconciliation, and the pride they have in their service four and five decades ago. They are universally generous, caring and still the “Best and the Brightest” just as they were called so long ago.

It is an honor for VWAM to have them return to Vietnam with us.

Medical teams to Thua Thein Hue Province and Danang will leave soon for Vietnam!

Rhea was an Army nurse and she will be working in Triage!

On May 31, the first medical team will arrive in Ho Chi Minh City. They will fly up to

Walt Griffin

Danang on June 2, and take vans to Hue. This twenty-one member team will be in HongHa, at the Floyd Olsen Memorial Clinic 65 km west of Hue, June 3&4. After an off day June 6 to rest, they will be at Binh Thanh Super Clinic, 40 km west of the city, June 6&7. Their weekend is free, but resume clinic June 10-12 at the An Hoa Social Caring Center in Hue City with “DS and special needs patients.” The team then vans down to Danang. Most of the team departs for home on June 14.

Steve Scott

The second team of nineteen arrives in Saigon on June 21. They will fly up to Danang on the 23rd with work beginning June 24 – 27 at Hoa Hai Clinic near the Marble Mountains. After a long weekend of R&R, they will resume clinic work at Hoa Heip Nam July 1 -3 which is near Son Tra or Monkey Mountain. This team leaves Vietnam on July 5.

Sam Tate

We have many Vietnam vets on these two teams, including our first veterinarian! I hope you enjoyed some photo’s from their younger days, and come back beginning May 31 for daily or every other day postings!

The numbers are impressive.

School Children Waiting On The Dentist

Dr. Cho and his team of dentists (Phnom Penh) treated 888 dental patients who received root canals, restorations, and hygiene treatments (Scaling/cleanings by DH Gina Vanderhorst (CA). Dr. Tom Love (CA) extracted approximately 600 teeth (With the help of his able assistants Holly (CA) and Tori Brewer (SC). Sarah Gallagher (WA) did double duty first in patient services and then with the dental team.

Dr. Makara From Dr. Cho’s Dental Team

The team’s MD Bill Bourland (ID), DO’s (Julie McCormick, WA and team medical director Dave Jester, WA) and PA’s (Karen & Tony Mebane, ID; Robin Moore, WA; Nhumey Tropp WA, Fred Belau, ID and Michael Overcash, SC) saw 2,589

PA Karen Mebane With Patient

patients.Obviously not a single patient gets to the Docs’ without first going through triage.

RN Peg McMunn (PA) oversaw patient intake with RN’s Leone Dipboye (TX) and Debra Mulnick (ID). Valerie Finkley  (WA) was recruited to help, and several patient examiners assisted here when triage

Triage In Kokpreach Village

was overwhelmed with patients. Libby, a local missionary and RN from Australia, also helped here.

And Physical Therapist Mary Ezzell helped 81 patients.

The VWAM Pharmacy (Led by Lou Cappiello, ME and then Scott Sawyer, SC) bought over $12,200 in medicines and it

Pharmacy

was all given away with the help of Muriel James (CA), Allie Keihn (WA), Grace Gallagher (CA) and a local NGO volunteer, Ann Marie (CA). Whatever was left over on the conclusion of the final day was donated to the small pharmacy at the Vietnamese floating village.

The Prayer & Counseling team (Mary, Shannon Lieberg (SC), Mike Nelson (MN), Joan Jester (WA), Tee Thompson (SC)

Mike Nelson – One of the Prayer Team Volunteers

and Luan Jenkins (SC & Ho Chi Minh City) saw just about all the patients, with over 300 professions of faith being celebrated! Most patients were prayed over, although some refused like a few Buddhist monks, and the local church will do discipleship follow-up on the new believers.

Team security and patient services, led by Rich Dipboye (TX), did an outstanding job.

Rich Dipboye – Leader of Patient Services & Security

(Canada), Cal Dunham (AK), Jack Jeffords and Joey Brewer (SC), Shawn Tucker (WA), Jim McMunn (PA), and the best gate keeper ever – David Gallagher (CA).

Of course, without interpreters, not a single patient could have been seen. The twenty-three person interpreting team was led by Cambodians Lim Nyda and Mony.

On The Way To The Vietnamese Refugees

Seven vans and one mini-bus prowled the roads with over 70 team members, sometimes up to two and a half hours one way to the clinic, and VWAM could not have done it without Sok Ren and his seven van drivers from Comfy Travel!

The Pegs Holding The Team Together: Peggy Belau & Peg McMunn!

We received some timely assistance from Randy and Krystal Odom (Siem Reap) and VWAM’s own Nguyen Van Chinh who came over from Da Nang.

Some wonder what it cost to sponsor a team like this? A few of the specifics are international airfare at over $61,000 (This doesn’t count domestic airfares getting to San Francisco or Seattle); hotel was in excess of $17,000; ground transportation was just short of $9,000; the dental team

USAF PT? Not! It’s actually Air Force Pilot Joey Brewer, Patient Services & Security, keeping the kids out of trouble. Thank you, Joey, for Serving Our Country

about $4,000; interpreters $2,400; meals $1,500 plus and the list goes on.

The Khmer people of Cambodian, as well as the Vietnamese refugees on Tonle Sap Lake, actually received more than physical healing. Their emotional health improved because hope was restored even if it was only for a day. They received spiritual encouragement and the opportunity to hear the “Good News.” What they do with that is up to each individual. The people knew that someone cared about their plight and situation in life, and that had to be uplifting. Hopefully all were encouraged and blessed in some small way.

I know the team was blessed in a big way!

Chuck

Sonle Top Lake Medical Clinic

You’ve heard the expression, no doubt, that sometimes you get the tiger by the tail or the tiger gets you. Yesterday the tiger got us! It was over 100 degrees, the barge/boats were rolling with the waves, the heat brutal, an conditions extremely crowded for both the patients and the medical team. VWAM underestimated the working conditions and facilities, in other words, the tiger got us for a change!

One photo below is of several banners that were at different locations at the floating village and on the boat as the medical team arrived. It let the people know in advance that the team was coming and free medical check-ups would be offered. Another photo shows the throng of Vietnamese that swamped the clinic.

The Vietnamese floating village began almost forty years ago when South Vietnamese fled communist Vietnam after the war. Over the course of the last three decades plus, the Vietnamese refugees have been the proverbial political football being kicked about by the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments. The United Nations has had little, if any, impact upon their refugee status or welfare. It is a very sad situation, and what is going on out on that lake is as close to a human rights violation as one can get.

Over the course of time, children have been born there and raised to adulthood. But they cannot have a Cambodian or Vietnamese passport, so they have no country to call their own. Birth certificates are not issued, only an ID card by Cambodian authorities with date of birth. If they go back to Vietnam, they will be imprisoned and the Cambodian government wants to keep them out on the lake because that’s where the Vietnamese want them to stay.

Vietnamese Families Tie-up To The Barge Where The Clinic Was Conducted

In fact, a private company known as the Aspara Foundation represents the Vietnamese government’s interest in keeping the Vietnamese right where they are for monetary gain and political leverage. Cambodia has made an arrangement with Vietnam to “Manage” Sonle Top Lake  and develop it into a profitable venture (Word on the street is that the Lake has been sold to Vietnam. The same with Angkor Wat, all under the guise of development and preservation). Already you have to pay a toll to get to the lake, and purchase a ticket for each person to go out on boat to visit the floating village. The lake will become a major tourist area by the Vietnamese and Cambodians.

All I can say is that based on what we saw while out on the floating village when conducting the medical clinic, very little of that “Profit” is making its way back to those who need it most: The Vietnamese refugees, who are literally a people without a country. But let’s not finish on a negative note.

Some 539 Vietnamese were seen in just over five and a half hours. The team truly sacrificed as the heat became unbearable, motion sickness developed (Rocking on the waves), and the children on the boat were out of control. Perhaps it was simply desperation? It doesn’t matter. While it was difficult duty under some adverse conditions, the Vietnamese knew somebody actually cared for them and were truly interested in their welfare.

Please come back tomorrow to see a final entry on what the team accomplished, and many more photographs…

Today we worked in the Ta Am village which was located down another dusty, bumpy road, a little over an hour from our hotel.  We quickly set up clinic in a school building right across the street from a large Buddhist temple and began what turned out to be our busiest day yet. We managed to see 518 dental and medical patients today!

The prayer and counseling team encountered some twists in their normal day today.  According to Cambodian law, proselytizing is not allowed within the immediate vicinity of a Buddhist temple.  The team was advised to offer prayer to each patient and to share testimonies of how God has personally changed their lives.  What was potentially a barrier turned out to be a great opportunity to share how personal and loving God is.

Triage and all patient examiners were really busy today and we finished just in time for the cows to come home…

Cows in the clinic

And just as we finished packing up the last of our dental equipment, the winds picked up and it rained for the first time since we have been here.  We made it to paved road just before heavier rains began.

We are heading to the lake tomorrow hold clinic at the Vietnamese primary school in the floating village.

In the tiny village of Kokpreach, in the northwest corner of Cambodia:

typical home – we passed a lot of these!

Kokpreach is too small to be on any of our maps!

Reaksa Himm was just 13 years old when thirteen of his immediate family, including his parents, were killed by the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot’s regime.
Today, he brought our medical team to his home village, to bring healing to all those in need.  Some of our patients were Khmer Rouge soldiers!

Our team set up in a school Reaksa built, for this very poor rural village, to help rebuild their lives after the atrocities a few years back. You can read more about Reaksa in his book “Tears of my Soul.”

the school Reaksa built

We saw some fat healthy babies, but also some very sad stories, including a 3 year old baby who lost his ability to speak or use his left arm, after an episode of meningitis.  We saw a young woman with a malignant facial tumor (Burkitt Lymphoma), and a very swollen 17-year old with kidney disease.  I know for sure we were able to help some people today.  Our team was hot and the drive was far, but everyone I saw was working hard and getting along joyfully.  The dental and oral surgery team was busy all day as always.  Today was so busy, we did not stop for lunch, everyone just grabbed some rice meals and got back to work.

Thank you you all for your prayers.  The Lord is changing lives here, physically and spiritually.  It is obvious He loves the Cambodians.  And so do we!

Tomorrow we are off to another village, so stay tuned…

Michael Overcash

Those were the words of Brother Reaksa Himm when he called me on my mobile this morning as the team approached two hours on the road.

While Michael Overcash will be making a post about today’s medical team, I just wanted everyone to know what a great team this is, and how they are making sacrifices to share the love of Christ through their tangible efforts.

It all began with an early wake-up and on the road by 6:30 a.m. That telephone call mentioned above came in just as the team entered the last couple of kilometers on the roughest road I’ve experienced in a long time. Those of you who have made the Hue medical team trips know what the journey is like to A Luoi or Hong Ha from Hue. Well, this road and ride was ten times more difficult, more bumpy, more potholes and riskier than that!

The last 2 kilometers was especially difficult, and everyone was a bit shook up when they arrived at the clinic site in Kokpreach Village (Where Brother Reaksa’s parents and brother were slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge). In spite of the harrowing ride, the team set-up quickly and performed extremely well today seeing 434 patients! Dr. Tom Love pulled 147 teeth, while the general dentists saw over 100 patients!

I’m sure Mary will have more to share, with pics, but I just had to tell you what an extraordinary day this medical team had today…

Chuck Ward, Executive Director

After 1,098 medical and dental patients in four days, the team is enjoying a weekend of rest and touring. They need to do this because next week will be a challenge. We have an expression that has proven to be very accurate: “Vietnam or Cambodia brings out the best – and the worst – in team members.”

Beginning tomorrow we have 4 hours of traveling on Monday & Tuesday, and 2 hours of traveling on Wednesday to and from our clinic sites. These are villages in the country-side without electricity, and Wednesday’s clinic out on the barges at the Vietnamese floating village will be especially challenging. The team will head out to the lake in two shifts and the ride is 45 minutes from the hotel to our boat pick-up point. Then it’s a 25 minute boat ride to the village.

The first boat is Dental, Patient Services & Security and Pharmacy. The second boat will head out 30 minutes after the first and that will be Triage, Patient Examiners and Prayer/Counseling. By giving the first group a head start, they will organize the clinic and be prepared for the patient examiners/triage arrival. We have to take “Everything” and the temps are forecast to hit 99-101!

The clinic work is tiresome and long, often a demanding schedule that will run people down physically and emotionally. There are many worn-out legs at the end of the day. Even though team members knew that coming in, and are performing incredibly, it is still difficult on the body. Imagine standing up all day like Dr. Tom Love does in dentistry, where he has extracted 500+ teeth so far! Dr. Tom has been ably assisted by his wife Holly (Oakland, CA) and new assistant, Tori Brewer, an oral surgery assistant from Daniel Island, SC. Even Dr. Dave Jester, (Aberdeen, WA), VWAM’s Medical Director, got into the dental action (Doing only nerve blocks)!

One of the things we emphasize is that it’s important to be F-L-E-X-I-B-L-E. That’s because both good and bad things happen like:

1. Jim and Peg McMunn (Greenlane, PA) are on their fourth room at the hotel. Yeah, fourth room in nine days (Chuck & Joette, Team Leaders, have only had to move twice). The McMunn’s may win the award!
2. In his down time, PA Michael Overcash (Dermatology) has removed skin tags, moles, a fibroma, and various precancerous body parts from nine team members. Just wait until they get their invoice for medical services from VWAM!
3. Rich and Leone Dipboye (Belton TX) recently came back from a trip to the Holy Land. They were nice enough to give all team members small crosses made of olive wood from Bethlehem.
4. The drive from Phnom Penh’s airport was advertized as 6 hours including a stop for lunch. It turned out to be 8 hours with a stop for lunch and two potty breaks!
5. Mary Ezzell, Prayer Team Leader who is from Greenville, SC, ended up doing double duty when it was discovered she was a Physical Therapist. Since the team is not paying her anything to lead the prayer team, we have doubled her pay for taking on PT referrals – that means double of nothing. Also, Prayer team volunteer Tee Thompson (Also Greenville, SC) decided to show-off his soccer (Football here) talents and promptly sprained his ankle. He’s had a light duty chit since.
6. One of our Vietnam vets in Patient Services/Security, was slowly escorting a prospective patient to their station, when a lizard ran up his leg. The patient arrived earlier than expected to where they were supposed to go! He gingerly removed the lizard from his pants and let him go.
7. Two interpreters, Mony (School teacher) and Nyda (Business graduate who works at a medical clinic) , are slowly taking over running the team! They are very bright, competent and smart. We are blessed to have them and all the interpreters with us. Right now one of them is tattooing the arm of one of their friends, Samnang (temporary, of course) out at the hotel pool.
8. Our van transportation, coordinated by Sok Ren from Phnom Penh, is doing an outstanding job for us. They’ve gotten stools to help a couple of team members, whose knees are not cooperating, to get them in and out of vans safely. They take us to tour locations and restaurants, and patiently wait for us to return. They run patients to hospitals, make water and ice runs, go get supplies and medicine, and generally are at our beck and call. The driver “Jacky” seems to be very popular!
9. This morning one team member is hosting a missionary couple here at the hotel pool. Randy is enjoying the water with his son Noel, and wife Krystal is enjoying a well-deserved and needed massage.

This gives you an idea how things go on an off-day and what can transpire in any given week. Right now the pool is full of team members, including the dental team from Phnom Penh, as all are enjoying their last day off for several days.

And I’m going to join them!!!

Chuck Ward

Today was our last clinic day at the Khmer Christian Center.  It is also International Women’s Day and we honored the women on our team by giving the them an individual red rose during our lunch break. Joette gave a beautiful devotion from Proverbs 31 about a virtuous woman.

Today we also honored VWAM Board of Advisers member, Lou Cappiello.  Lou is a talented, fun-loving, and caring pharmacist who has been serving with VWAM since 2006.  He is transitioning off the Board and his position will be replaced by a Vietnamese-American pharmacist.  We are grateful for Lou’s outstanding service over the years with VWAM.

Lou working in the pharmacy

The prayer and counseling area was almost completely run by Cambodian Christians today.  This is exactly what we were hoping for!  Over the past five days, there have been just over 200 professions of faith in Jesus Christ and many more requests for pastoral visits.  The discipleship work with these new believers will be carried out by the local church once the team leaves.

Malachi praying with a patient

We are off for the weekend and will start in a new village 2 hours away on Monday. But we’ll miss two of our team members next week.

Dr. Frank Cho will return on Saturday to Phnom Penh and the two dental practices he has there. He is the leader of the Cambodian dental team, which has done outstanding work providing much needed care to the Cambodians. Even though he has left his Cambodia dental team, they will continue to work with us next week under the direction of VWAM’s Dental Coordinator, Oral Surgeon Dr. Tom Love.

Finally, Luan Jenkins from Greenville, SC, who is a Vietnamese-American, will return to his work in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday for an American company…

Today at lunch, local missionary Randy Odom shared how a casual conversation at a California restaurant led to an unanticipated change in his life: he and his wife were inspired to move to Cambodia, to a community with great spiritual and physical poverty. Now, they have established programs for teenage orphans to transition them to independence.  They have forever changed the life of so many.

Our prayer today is that we see the Lord work the same way in the lives of our patients: that their simple visit to see the American doctor, will lead to an everlasting change in their life. There have been many examples, but I will share one from today:

Ly (sounds like “Lee”) , is a local lady who at age 62 has survived wars, the Khmer Rouge, and the Pol Pot holocaust. Today she came in for an increasingly painful and enlarging hole in her left cheek, inside and out.   She had smoked for many years, and our very experienced oral and maxillofacial surgeon (Dr. Tom Love) diagnosed her with probable squamous cell carcinoma.

Ly’s husband sat quietly and listened as we explained to her, that she has a serious cancer in her cheek (or a Noma ulcer), and without treatment it will continue to grow. It will become more painful, spread to consume her face, and eventually lead to slow, painful, disfigurement and death.

… gulp …

We told her the first step was to get a biopsy today, take the tissue and bone back to the USA for analysis, and then arrange for proper treatment.   Our medical director Dr. Dave Jester generously pledged to cover her treatment costs.  We will incorporate the skills of American pathologists and oncologists involved in her care, thanks to wonderful Christians in Charleston who have already done this many times for my patients on past mission trips.   But, Ly was in denial. She refused any treatment, even a biopsy. We respected her wishes, as it is her body and her decision to make. We took time to make sure she understood her diagnosis and prognosis, but she said she could feel “teeth” in her cheek (actually exposed bone) and “just need a dentist to pull them out”. Then she left. But, the Lord was listening. Outside, another interpreter, Nyda, crossed paths with her. She took some more time with her, counseled her, and guess what – Ly changed her mind! She came back, and we biopsied her tumor and some jawbone (Ly was a champ).  We will bring these back to America in labelled formaldehyde-containing bottles and be sure to get them to our dermatopathologist and then oncology as indicated. We also introduced Ly to Pastor Reaksa, who lives in her town and will manage her follow-up care.

Today I pray, Lord please give Ly and her husband your supernatural peace, and let her know that You love her; that You heard her prayers and sent our team to help her; that You will not forget or forsake her. Lord we ask you to heal Ly of cancer, heal her completely, even closing in the holes in her cheek.  Give her the strength to stop smoking.  Thank you Lord.  And thank you for the privilege of being some small part in You showing the Cambodians how much you love them.

Tomorrow is our last day at Khmer Christian Center…