Vietnam Heart Surgery: Mission Trip Opportunity 2018

Agape Fish Fund partners with Vets with a Mission (VWAM) to provide life-saving heart surgery for poor children in Vietnam. 

You are invited to join our partner Vets with a Mission on one of three medical mission teams to Vietnam in the spring of 2018. These trips include experiences to: 

1. Thua Thien Hue Province
2. Near Hue City
3. A Luoi Near the Laotian/Vietnam Border

 
​If you are a medical-health professional, your role will be hands-on with the patients. Physicians, Physician Assistant's and Nurse Practitioners all serve as patient examiners. Nurses serve in triage working up the patients, identifying their health issues before the patients are examined. If you are a dentist, you will be very busy! A Pharmacist is needed to supervise the VWAM pharmacy, a Physical Therapist would do PT, an Ophthalmologist/Optometrist would see eye patients, and so on. Each medical-health professional has an assigned interpreter. 

Those who are not medical-health professionals play an integral role on the team in either pharmacy, patient services, or security. There is an important role for each team member to play!

Team 1: March 1-17, 2018

Dates: March 1-17, 2018
Cost: $3,995 plus a $125 non-refundable deposit​
​Eligibility: ​This is a medical mission team for medical/health and non-medical/health volunteers; vets and non-vets alike. There is room for 35 individuals on each medical mission team. Priority is given to Vietnam veterans and repeat trip team participants. Both medical and non-medical team members are needed, and you don't have to be a health professional to join a team! ​
Itinerary: Team 1 meets in Atlanta on March 1; departs for Vietnam March 2; arrives in Da Nang the evening of March 3. March 4 is a jet-lag recovery day with travel to A Luoi (Near the Laotian border 65 kilometers west of Hue) on March 5. March 6-7-8 and a half-day on March 9 are clinic days in A Luoi. In the afternoon on March 9 the team travels to Hue. March 10-11 is an R&R Weekend in Hue. March 12-13 is clinic in Hong Ha at the Floyd Olsen Memorial Clinic. March 14 is a travel day to Da Nang, no clinic. March 15 because it is an R&R Day in Da Nang, with the team dinner honoring Vietnam veterans this evening. March 16 is the last day in Vietnam with hotel check-out at 6 pm. Team departs for the US that evening and arrives Atlanta mid-morning on March 17. 
Travel: ​You will experience rural Vietnam at clinics located in mountainous areas. You will see not only the modern cities of Da Nang and Hue, but enjoy the "real Vietnam" of the countryside.

Team 2: March 28 - April 14, 2018

Dates: March 28 - April 14, 2018
Cost: $3,995 plus a $125 non-refundable deposit​
Eligibility: ​This is a medical mission team for medical/health and non-medical/health volunteers; vets and non-vets alike. There is room for 35 individuals on each medical mission team. Priority is given to Vietnam veterans and repeat trip team participants. Both medical and non-medical team members are needed, and you don't have to be a health professional to join a team! ​
​Itinerary: Team #2 meets in Atlanta on March 28; departs for Vietnam March 29; arrives in Da Nang the evening of March 30. March 31 is a jet-lag recovery day with travel to Hue on April 1. April 2-3-4-5-6 are clinic days in Nam Dong near Hue City. April 7-8 is an R&R Weekend in Hue. April 9-10 are also clinic days in Nam Dong. The team will serve at three different locations/clinics. April 11 is a travel day to Da Nang, no clinic. April 12 is an R&R Day in Da Nang with team dinner honoring Vietnam veterans this evening. April 13 is last day in Vietnam with hotel check-out at 6 pm. Team departs for the US mid-evening and arrives Atlanta mid-morning on April 14. 
​Travel: Team #2 has hour-long commutes each day to clinic and will experience rural Vietnam at clinics located in mountainous areas. You will see not only the modern cities of Da Nang and Hue, but enjoy the "real Vietnam" of the countryside.

training team: March 17-31, 2018

​Dates: ​March 17 - 31, 2018
Cost: $2,995 plus $125 non-refundable deposit​
Eligibility: This team is for medical/health professionals only.​ ​The Training Team has 3-4 openings for EMT's/EMS or Nurses for the Village Life Savers Program, and 3-4 openings for Physicians to teach at Hue Central Hospital or Hue Medical College and /train clinic staff.
Itinerary: Training Team members go to Atlanta March 17. Fly to Seoul & Vietnam March 18-19. March 20 is a jet-lag day. March 21 is a travel day to Hue. Teaching and training March 22-23. March 24 is an R&R day in Hue City. March 25 is a travel day to A Luoi. March 26-28 is VLS & Clinic Staff training in A Luoi. March 29 is in Da Nang, March 30 is the return flight from Da Nang to Seoul, and then onto ATL arriving mid-morning on March 31.​

General trip info

All trips include:

• Round-trip international economy-class airfare from Atlanta, GA (Team members near the west coast fly from LAX, SFO or SEA. They meet ATL team members in ICN/Seoul & all fly together to DAD/Da Nang).
• Hotel (In Atlanta & Vietnam based on double-occupancy); 5 Star in Atlanta, Da Nang & Hue.
• All airport-hotel-airport transfers & team ground transportation in Vietnam. (All ground transportation is by experienced drivers in vans. )
• Breakfast each day; lunch on days the team has clinic; one team farewell dinner in honor of the Vietnam & Vietnam Era veterans.
• Health & Medical Evacuation insurance & Vietnam visa.
• VAT, service charges, airport & departure taxes, fees and gratuities.
• Interpreters for all medical/health professionals.

​Participation requires an email address for all team trip communications; a passport that doesn't expire any earlier than September, 2018; two passport photographs for the visa; completed application with all requested documents; personal spending money for other meals and incidentals; and you are responsible for getting to and back from Atlanta, GA or your departure airport, if on the west coast.

​If you want to stay longer to do more touring, your visa and airline ticket (valid for one month) will support that without any additional charge. You do, however, need to pay for that extra time in-country and VWAM will help you make those arrangements.

A deposit of $125 reserves your place on the team. This is a great way to go to Vietnam! Volunteering on a humanitarian medical mission team is very rewarding, and you will still have time to visit those places where you served and/or are interested in seeing again. 

for more information

To request an application or to find out more information, please send an email to Chuck Ward at [email protected] or call him at 803-405-9926. You can also request a 2017 medical team trip report to learn more about what happens on a medical/health team trip.

In its 28th year, Vets With A Mission is a 501 (c) (3) charitable corporation supported 100% by private gifts. The ministry/organization is recognized by the U.S. State Department and the government of Vietnam. VWAM is a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) with offices in Newberry, SC and Hue City, Vietnam. It has permission to operate in Vietnam, a Certificate of Registration, granted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Peoples Aid and Coordinating Committee/Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations through April 2020.