Hawaii medical team returns from PH; served over 8,000

A previous OMM medical mission to the Philippines. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

HONOLULU – More than 50 volunteer physicians, nurses, medical personnel and non-professional volunteers recently returned from a medical mission to the Philippines from February 14- 21, 2015.

The Ohana Medical Mission (OMM) team provided over 12,600 surgical, dental and other medical services to nearly 8,700 individuals deemed “the poorest of the poor” in select regions of the Philippines, namely Bagong Silang, Caloocan City; Gawad Mandaluyong; Gerona, Tarlac; Naga City, Kalinga-Aloha Village in Agudo, Legaspi City and Bacacay, Albay of the Bicol region, reports Hawaii’s The Filipino Chronicle.

Mission co-chair and OMM president Dr. Russell S. Kelly says many patients in desperate need were able to receive vital medical care.

“The mission as usual presented us with many challenges but we were able to successfully perform the charitable works we had planned,” says Dr. Russell S. Kelly. “The people involved in this mission were all wonderful, generous and talented people who donated from their hearts and made this mission very successful.”

Other volunteer physicians were Dr. Romeo Perez, a retired U.S. military OB-Gynecologist specialist, and Dr. Carol Davide, president of the Philippine Medical Association of Hawaii (PMAH) which is the parent organization of OMM.