Our story…

In 1996, six medical and two business professionals; Robert Weiss, M.D., Mohamed Siddiqui, M.D., Mrugendra Ghandi, M.D., Rodrigo Endara, M.D., Yuhkol Lertsburapa, M.D., Christopher Guerrero, M.D., Clarence Nagelvoort, R.Ph., M.B.A., FACHE and Charles Quattrochi, C.P.A. with a common need to help the underserved and underprivileged of the world, gathered to form a group that would provide free medical care to these people.

This diverse, multi-ethnic group of professionals had personal experiences that helped them understand the realities of the lives of poor people barely existing and devoid of the most basic things in life—especially medical care.  Their experiences provided the vision to reach out to the less fortunate people of the world through ongoing medical and surgical missions.

 The original eight members gave of their time, effort and money to create Global Medical Foundation.  All of the members work on a voluntary basis and all have paid the entire cost of their travel to some fifteen different countries in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.  Donations are solicited only for medicine, equipment, supplies and shipping costs.  The unused provisions are left for community use.

What we do…

Each country or community has medical needs specific to that country.  The board members of Global Medical Foundation assess the needs of communities that request medical missions and recruits volunteers to manage the surgical and medical requirements of that mission.  Missions have included Ophthamologic surgery, Cardiothorasic Surgery, Oral Surgery, Endoscopic, and General Surgery as well as Family Practice.

The physicians and nurses, along with humanitarians, step forward to serve the particular needs of each region. Relationships are established with local hospitals to utilize operating rooms, regardless of how basic, in order to perform surgeries and set up temporary medical treatment centers. Some missions are conducted as teaching programs, working with local surgeons and physicians to instruct them on the latest techniques to help their own people.  Donated equipment is left for local use.

Global Medical Foundation also has joined forces with other charitable organizations including: Our Chance International, Lyons Club International, Norwegian America Hospital, Advocate Illinois Masonic Center, Surgical Eye Expeditions, Inc. and numerous pharmaceutical and surgical supply companies (Alcon, Allergan, Storz, plus many others) to provide medical services to communities in need around the world.

The humanitarian aspect of GMF continues to grow with more volunteers and more projects to provide medical clinics, clothing and other needed items. From the inception of Global Medical Foundation up through our current missions, one-hundred percent of donations are used to support mission needs and shipping.

Volunteers….

There is a great need to continue the quality of medical care and concern for people benefiting from our missions.  Medical and humanitarian volunteers are always welcome to apply and join a mission. If you are interested, please contact us directly or fill out the volunteer form on our Web site and email it to us.

Missions….

Global Medical Foundation volunteers have served on medical missions, surgical missions and didactic information exchange programs in the following countries, some of them multiple times:

Philippines

Colombia

Bolivia

Ecuador

Dominican Republic

Ukraine

Romania

Thailand

Peru

Egypt

India

Mexico

Ghana