The Fact Finders Arrive!

Above: The MMDM Fact Finding Team and Fr. Mike Chowning, from our stop at Mother of Good Counsel in Hazard. L-R: Cordell St. Cyr of Sugarland TX, Fr. Mike Chowning, OFM, pastor of MOCG, Fr. Gerry Kelly, MM, of Houtson TX, and Mark Tomasello of Sugarland TX

On Tuesday, April 6, the Diocese of Lexington welcomed three members of the Medical Missionaries of Divine Mercy to the Catholic Center for the first day of their fact-finding visit. Cordell, Fr. Gerry and Mark drove from Houston to Lexington over two days, with an overnight just north of Nashville, and rolled into town in time for our lunch meet-and-greet.

Things got started with introductions - attendees included diocesan staff, health care professionals representing St. Joseph, St. Claire and Our Lady of Bellefonte hospitals, pastoral directors, and parish health ministry participants. We had an impressive group assembled!

Next, Cordell St. Cyr, Director of MMDM, presented a Mission Information Overview, including Power Point slide shows that showed the MMDM's in action in 2006 in the municipality of Tamasopo in the State of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The MMDM's first visited Tamasopo on 2002 and over the years established a wonderful relationship with the people there, along with local health care providers and civic authorities. Collaborating together, the MMDM's were able to provide a wide range of medical services to over 2,000 people, young and old, during each week long mission visit. The MMDM's also brought thousands of dollars worth of equipment, prescription medicine and vitamins (which, given customs regulations, was quite a trick in itself).

With increased complications in the logistics of traveling to Mexico, the MMDM's decided to organize a stateside mission for 2009 in the Diocese of Laredo. Bishop James Tamayo enthusiasically welcomed the MMDM mission group, and as seen in the Power Point retrospective, pitched in to help unload trucks, stack boxes, move furniture, and then celebrate the opening Mass. The mission set up in an old parish hall and again saw thousands of people over the course of a week or so. Since Texas law had some twists on storing prescription medicine, the mission had runners drive to local Wal-Marts to fill prescription orders! The MMDM's return to Laredo in the fall of 2010 for more medical mission work.
Encouraged by their results in Laredo, the MMDM's are looking to help other stateside dioceses expand their health ministry efforts.

Some of the factors the MMDM's are looking for in conducting a mission:

What are the needs of the area? - the success of the mission hinges on identifying what kind of illnesses and medical conditions need the most attention and securing the best places to deliver this attention. The MMDM's mission is to bring healing for body, mind and spirit; along with the medical team, the pastoral and spiritual teams are other important components of the mission visit.

What resources are in place for support? - The MMDM's bring "What the Good Lord sends us, " as Cordell says, and mission teams have ranged from 25 to over 50 people from the Diocese of Galveston-Houston who volunteer their time for this mission. In addition, the mission needs volunteers of all kinds from the local area - not just health care professionals, but also folks to help greet patients and keep records, help prepare meals, pack/unpack, run errands, etc. After the mission, there will need to be a plan in place for follow up care for those folks who are found to need additional care, such as continued treatment for a chronic condition or possibly surgery.

The MMDM's estimated that their missions cost betweem $50 - $80K. About half of the costs are paid by the mission volunteers - they pay a fee which pretty much covers their travel, lodging and food costs. The other half of costs are covered through donations of all kinds. The MMDM's have gotten great support from their home parish in Sugarland for their Mexico and Laredo missions and expect their parish to be generous again. They hope that we can also find financial support in this Diocese, and obviously, the more support (of all kinds) that can be rounded up, the more that can be achieved by the mission!

How can we provide for team members? - The MMDM's need a lot of support to help locate accommodations and food service, for both the mission team that travels in from Texas and for the local volunteers.

Then the general discussion began, and it was pretty lively. Here are a few observations, in no particular order:

- dental care is a huge need in Eastern KY. There is already a shortage of dentists in the area, and very few take Medicaid patients. Children are getting better coverage through KCHIP (Kentucky Children's Insurance Program), but accessibility is still a problem.

- the population is more spread out in the mountains and rural areas; transportation (or lack thereof) is a big issue in getting folks to wherever the mission is conducted. This will also be a big consideration in planning a continuum of care after the TX volunteers have left.

- Catholic hospitals and many physicians already carry millions of dollars of charity care and stay overwhemed with requests to do more. That's something to keep in mind when talking about what financial and volunteer commitment could be offered on their part

- the population in Eastern KY is about 99% NOT Catholic, which is very different from what the MMDM team encountered in Mexico and Laredo. Spirtual/pastoral program components will need a different approach than previous mission trips. Volunteers will need to learn a lot about the unique culture of Appalachian KY.

After lots of input, comments and questions, it was time to plan the trips out into the field to find out more. Attendees gathered around the KY road map and after some more discussion, the fact-finding route was set up:

Wednesday - Hazard

Thursday - Grayson and Morehead

Friday - Berea (whence the team could head southwest back to Texas)

Many thanks again to all who attended the meeting and offered such great insight and input.

The next blog posts will take a look at what the team learned in their travels .....