SUMMARY BLOG 2014

The Barefoot Dr. training program has come to a close for 2014. All the instructors have returned safely home and the students are well on their way. It was a very successful program that was able to cover the entire book “Where There Is No Doctor,” a week of CHE (Community Healthcare Education) training, and a wealth of additional knowledge from all the instructors.  In addition to medical skills they attended night classes on how to use computers and the internet. For many of the students it was the first time they had touched a computer, not to mention the internet. As Burma develops, computer skills may prove to be just as life changing as the medical skills.  The students also received a starter kit of medicine including many potentially life saving drugs. Their medical kits contain 23 of what we believe to be the most needed medicine in their areas, medical equipment such as stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs, digital cameras and log books to record their work. They also received many other useful devices for the treatment of their patients and a backpack to carry it all. We fully expect that this group will save lives this first year. Not only by treating life threatening illness but also in knowing when to advise patient to make the long trek to the closest hospital and in preventative medicine. This program emphasizes that in the long run they will save many more lives by community healthcare development and preventative medicine than by simply treating those already sick. We cannot wait to see them all again next year and hear their stories!

Putting this program on is a team effort and it would not be successful without all those who support it locally and globally. Our trainers came from all around the world including multiple areas of the USA, Canada, Thailand, India, and New Zealand! The financial and equipment donors are from hundreds of individuals, a handful of churches, and a few medical companies around the world. Of course, the students came from all across Burma in some of the most remote and under-served areas left on the planet. They included many different ethnic groups all working together for a greater good. Their Christian belief in God gives them incredible dedication and drive to do this important work often times at great sacrifice to themselves and their families in the form of time, travel, and physical effort.

Fundraising is always stressful and this year it looked like there would not be enough to get it all done. However, as providence would have it, in the last week of the program some extra funds came in. They were just enough to complete the necessary tasks. It was far less than we had originally hoped for but thanks to some incredible cost saving efforts from our Thailand and Burma team, the program ended up fully funded!

The plans for the second year of this three-year program have already begun. A start date is set for mid January 2015. We hope to have enough funds to include the very necessary dental extraction training in the next class. Please pray for the success of the Barefoot Dr. students in the field and for next year’s program.

Thank you all for support in so many different ways and may God Bless you.

Rick Astone

Picture from Feb 20th, 2014 the day Alice and I returned home. The students are holding badges they received as gifts and some of the instructors are wearing the tribal ties they received from the students.