Somewhere, there are children who haven’t really had a good night’s sleep, possibly because they are hungry, sick, alone, or scared. And that somewhere could be anywhere. The US, Europe, southeast Asia, and Africa. Tomorrow, Medical Mercy leaves for Kenya to be with those children. It’s been an interesting process. The team came together, a few had to drop out, medications ordered, some didn’t arrive, 100,000 vitamins are tied up in shipping somewhere here in the US, we found 100,000 vitamins in Kenya that we are purchasing last minute, we found out that extra luggage will cost a lot of money, flight connections coming home are tight, we hired a truck to take all our stuff from Nairobi to Malindi due to the small aircraft that we’ll be flying with that truck driving 10 hours to get stuff to us on time to start clinics (hopefully), packing over 6000 unit doses of prescriptions, preparing for 5 hours of lectures to be given to the Health Care Workers for review, and…the list goes on. But, is all that important? Not really, because from where I sit, the team that is going, has everything they need. Him. I have always said that the most powerful tool, the most powerful medicine that we bring to the bedsides as caring healers is…ourselves, and what we have in our hearts. Grace, compassion, empathy, understanding, trust, integrity, and love. We are silent servants taking hold of the hands that have reached out to us for help. We leave tomorrow. We’re privileged to be able to go and hold those hands.
In all things give thanks,
David
Our mission is to help The Forgotten Children reach their God-given potential by creating opportunities for spiritual, social, mental and emotional development, by ensuring that their physical well being is optimized. David H. Beyda, MD Medical Director, Medical Mercy
- David H. Beyda, M.D.
- Phoenix, Arizona
- I am a pediatric critical care specialist working at Phoenix Children's Hospital. I was the Medical Director and Division Chief of Pediatric Critical Care for 23 years, and stepped down to become Medical Director for Misson of Mercy.I am responsible for the medical care of 40,000 children that Misson of Mercy cares for in 22 countries. I grew up overseas (Africa, Southeast Asia) from the time I was 7 years old until I went to college. My father was a career US diplomat. I started my third world medical involvement when I was 15 years old working with medical groups in Laos, and learned to fly riding with Air America pilots in Laos and have been a pilot for over 30 years. My first formal medical mission as a doctor was in 1979 when I served as director of pediatrics in a refugee camp on the Thailand-Cambodia boarder (Khao I Dang) at the age of 27 years old, still in my pedicatric residency. My heart is in third world countries caring for the Forgotten Children.