Medical Mission Program

Medical Mission Partnerships

The Catholic Medical Association does not organize or administer its own medical mission trips. To respond to the demand for Catholic medical mission trip opportunities, CMA partners with two large Catholic medical mission organizations – the Catholic Medical Missions Board (CMMB) and Mission Doctors Association. Both groups are well established, reputable and authentically Catholic. To learn more and to volunteer, click the logos below.

CMMB was founded in 1928, and initiates and operates healthcare programs that help build the capacity of local communities to provide long-term sustainable healthcare. CMMB’s Medical Volunteer Program -- MVPs for Change -- places licensed healthcare professionals at faith-based healthcare facilities in resource-poor countries, helping doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to serve those in need for periods ranging from a few weeks to a few years.

Founded in 1959, Mission Doctors Association specializes in opportunities for short-term (one to three months) and long-term (three years) mission trips for physicians and health care professionals.

CMA’s partnerships supplement its support for the Honduran Medical Missions program (see below), which has been led by CMA members for over 10 years. 

Honduran Medical Mission Program

In late October 1998 Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras and neighboring Central American countries a devastating blow. In over a week of torrential rain and with winds of more than 155 mph this “second most powerful Atlantic Hurricane ever“ caused more than 11,000 deaths, destroyed innumerable small mountain and river towns in awesome mud slides and washed out more than half of the bridges in Honduras. As the president of Honduras said at the time: the week of this storm “destroyed more than 50 years of progress for our country”.

Among the generous responses to the problem was that of Catholic American physicians and of Donald Mehan, M.D. of St. Louis and the CMA who organized the Honduran Medical Missions. Following Dr Mehan’s retirement in 2003, I have served as Medical Director of the organization.

Medical brigades to Honduras usually spend a week in Honduras a year and consist of one to as many as 14 members. Each mission is organized around a specific medical specialty and all volunteer physicians pay personally for the cost of air transport to Tegucigalpa. Other personnel such as nurses and technicians also volunteer their time but the program attempts to pay for their air transport. In Honduras the Honduran Medical Mission program pays for ground transport, room and board for the involved team members. In Honduras our in-country sponsor, host, advisor and friend is Bishop Maurus Muldoon, a Franciscan (originally from Dorchester, Mass. and a graduate of Boston College).

Typically 8-12 different brigades sent to Honduras each year. All medical care is free. In 2007-2008, the program sent groups representing specialties in ENT (X3), Ophthalmology, Neurology, Urology, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Gynecology, and Pulmonary Medicine. Brigades usually see 100-1,800 clinic patients and surgical teams typically perform 25-45 operative procedures during their week in country. Most teams bring large amounts of donated equipment, pharmaceuticals, and surgical supplies to facilitate medical care otherwise not available in the country. Most brigade members leave Honduras with the sense that they have received more in sincere, prayerful and warm gratitude than they have given.

In 2008 a new dream for Olancho province was announced, a plan to fund a Catholic hospital in the town of Catacamas, some 40 Km east of our current focus of care in the provincial capital of Juticalpa. Substantial monies have already been made available for this effort and we hope that the new hospital can be opened within the year. If funding can be found, a substantial increase in the numbers and types of “Brigades” will become possible.

Specialty medical and surgical care in a distant and very poor country is both difficult and expensive. The continuing success of this program is dependent not only on the commitment and skill of our volunteer medical personnel but also upon the continuing financial support given by many individuals and institutions under the sponsorship of the Catholic Medical Association. Please consider a donation to CMA’s Medical Missions program today. To donate, go to the “Book Store” tab and click the link in the center of the page marked “Donations.”

To find out more abut upcoming Medical Mission Brigades, use the "Contact" tab in the bottom navigation bar.

Daniel B. Reardon, M.D. Medical Director