Bill McClure, ReSurge volunteer plastic surgeon and team leader pictured right during a ReSurge trip in the 1990's.
In just a few days, we'll be meeting at SFO to begin our trip to Quang Ngai. I want to thank each of you in advance for volunteering to join this team. We ask a great deal of our volunteers and understand that it is a burden to leave family and jobs to work in a difficult and foreign environment. I will do my best to make this a rewarding experience for each of you and keep you volunteering for future trips. The team at ReSurge also want you to have a memorable visit.
The true leader of this team is our Vietnamese counterpart, Dr. Hien, whom some of you have met. I first met Hien at Pediatric Hospital #1 in Ho Chi Minh City in 1990 where she worked as the head anesthesiologist. She and her staff got so bitten by the then-Interplast "bug" over the course of five trips to her hospital, that by 1993, they were ready to form their own team. Using the ReSurge model, Hien and her boss Dr. Trai, the pediatric surgeon, raised money, put together a local team, and traveled to the provincial hospital in Quang Ngai to operate on children and teach. This was the first of many trips that Hien organized to different provincial hospitals where there was a tremendous need. Hien worked tirelessly on these trips doing all the prep work and organizing, as well as the anesthesia.. Hundreds of ReSurge volunteers have met Hien over the years and have all been impressed by her. ReSurge honored Hien at the 2011 gala with the Donald R. Laub Humanitarian Award.
This Quang Ngai trip is very special to me since I was part of that first 1993 Quang Ngai trip. For our 2012 trip, Hien has put together a great volunteer group of Vietnamese medical professionals to work with us. Like us, they are taking time away from their families and jobs. One of the Vietnamese volunteer surgeons is a young man (old now) who I had helped train back in the early 1990s. He jumped at the chance to work with us again. We will completely integrate the teams, which will give us the chance to work truly as partners. This is the Resurge ideal.
Bev has put together a fine team. Though we will be working very hard, we will have time to get to know each other, sight see, and enjoy time together. Though I've been on more than 60 trips, I still get as excited for each new trip as I did for the first. I got bit by the bug very early in my career when I was a resident. There are so many things to love about this kind of work, but the best part for me is getting to know new team members, renewing friendships with former team members, and forging long lasting relationships with our hosts.
A final thought to share. A year ago, while sitting down to write Christmas cards, I realized that outside of my family, most of the people I've grown to care about and consider to be friends, in the deepest sense of the word, have been those I've met doing this volunteer work. We share a common bond that is difficult to explain to those who don't give of themselves in this way. This act of volunteering puts you is a special category -- a small select group of persons who have made the commitment to help those who otherwise would be left behind. Because of people like you, each mission has become a special moment in my life, a highlight that stands out from the day-to-day work. Each of you has a quality that I will remember long after we return to our everyday lives. I know now, even before this trip begins and meeting you, that come March 2 when we have said our goodbyes at SFO, I will already be missing you.
See you soon!
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