LOCAL PEOPLE JOIN IN MEDICAL MISSION TO JAMAICA

A number of local residents have gained first-hand knowledge of how satisfaction from helping the less fortunate can transcend the desire for life's finer comforts.

Dr. Richard and Susan Martin and family, along with former Southeast Missouri State University student Scott Roth, recently returned from a medical and dental group mission in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica.

"We were under difficult circumstances," said Mrs. Martin. "We lived with big cockroaches and spiders, and we had to adjust to the heat, dirt and poverty.

"The medical team couldn't drink the water when they went out to the clinics, so everybody had to carry water with them. We worked long days probably 10 to 12 hours."

However, she said the sense of achievement the family derived from their work in the mission made the hardships worthwhile.

"We really felt like we helped a lot of people in Jamaica," she said. "Most of the people with us on the mission want to go back again. It seems like something gets in your blood you feel like you can never do enough."

The Martins and Roth were part of a 45-member team of physicians, surgeons, dentists, nurses and other medically-related workers. The team saw 1,832 patients and performed 123 operations and 745 tooth extractions.

The mission, which ran from June 22 to July 6, was sponsored by the Christian Medical and Dental Society. It was one of 30 group missions to third-world countries scheduled by the society this year.

Dr. Martin, an ear, nose and throat doctor in Cape Girardeau, is a longtime CMDS member who has now completed seven missions in Jamaica. "Each of the countries where we sponsor trips is in much need of medical care, but my call is to Jamaica," he said.

The CMDS also conducts missions in Africa, the Phillipines and several Caribbean and Central and South American countries.

Martin said Jamaica is medically advanced enough to support the expertise of ear, nose and throat surgeons. However, he said, only four such doctors service the country's population of 2.5 million.

This was the first mission for the rest of the local group. Mrs. Martin described the Jamaican people as very open and appreciative of the services the missionaries were providing.

She worked as a general helper in the casualty room. "My job was to screen patients to see which ones needed surgery," she said. "It was very difficult because we had to tell over 100 people to come back in October, when the next mission would be there.

"I hoped I was picking the people who really did need to be seen and that I didn't miss anyone with really acute problems."

The four Martin children, Andrea, Jennifer, John and Betsy, also worked as general helpers with the recovery nurses and the medical team.

"The children really felt that they had helped," Mrs. Martin said. "They gained a sense of accomplishment from the trip."

Roth, a Jackson resident who will be attending Union University in Tennessee to earn a bachelor's degree in nursing, was active with the family physician team, which traveled to a variety of medical clinics.

"I was in charge of getting the patients screened, getting them into the doctors' office and getting them their prescriptions," he said. "I was kind of a mediator from the nurses to the doctors and from the doctors to the pharmacy."

Roth said his trip was a genuine learning experience.

"I always thought the dream of the Jamaican people was to come to the United States," he said. "Now I realize that they'd rather stay there. They are happier there because it's not so fast-paced like it is here."

The experience also helped the mission participants appreciate the luxuries of everyday life in this country.

"I'll be honest," said Mrs. Martin. "It was very nice to come home. We really enjoyed the air conditioning and good food when we first got back. This trip really made us appreciate coming home to the states."

Roth said, "It was meaningful to notice the things the Jamaican people don't have that we do in the United States, like cars, air conditioning and medicines all the little things in life that I take for granted."

The group presented an account of their mission experiences at Cape Bible Chapel.

The CMDS, based in Richardson, Texas, sponsors medical group missions in order to promote fellowship among its members from different areas and to significantly contribute to medical, dental and spiritual work in other countries.

Participation in the missions is open to any interested persons. CMDS missionaries pay their own expenses and contribute medical and surgical supplies to the mission sites.

Mission personnel include medical and dental professionals, third-year medical students and non-medical personnel, who are needed for clerical work, interpreting and patient traffic control.