Our treasure, our heart

Chiropractic Services in Micronesia

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 14:42:08 -0700

Throughout the month of August and into early September, MAHI International hosted Dr. John Marelli, a chiropractor from New Jersey who wanted to introduce the islanders to the alternative form of healthcare. Dr. Marelli, who has been a chiropractor for over 30 years, contacted many non-profit organizations around the world searching for the opportunity to serve. During his time in Micronesia, Dr. Marelli conducted approximately 1500 adjustments, speaking and introducing chiropractic medicine across the islands of Pohnpei, Pakin Atoll and Pingelap.
Reflecting on his travels throughout the islands, Dr. Marelli said, “I was always treated like a family member wherever I traveled and was welcomed home.” Dr. Marelli, affectionately known as “Dr. John” on the islands, hopes to come back and serve throughout Micronesia. Ultimately, Dr. John hopes that the College of Micronesia will start a chiropractic program to graduate native chiropractors. MAHI would like to thank Dr. John for his service and looks forward to seeing him again soon!

[SEE PICTURES]

June 2011 Volunteer Team

Fri, 5 Aug 2011 22:20:43 -0700

Our pictures of June 2011’s volunteer team are finally up! Check out each album and read above the pictures to find out what we did!
BLS Training
Health Fair
Mass Casualty Exercise
More Work: Education, Reconstruction, Mechanic Work, & Experiencing the Island

Read the PROFILES of our June 2011 team!

Health Volunteer Team To Serve On The Island Of Pohnpei

Thu, 26 May 2011 16:12:01 -0700

During the week of June 13, MAHI International will be bringing in a team of 14 volunteers that will consist of nurse educators, American Heart Association Basic Life Support and Advance Cardiac Life Support instructors, respiratory therapists, and firefighters/paramedics.
This team is under the leadership of Krystal Ball (ICU nurse & nurse educator) from Bakersfield, California who assisted MAHI International in November 2009 with the first American Heart Association Basic Life Support training in Pohnpei. She is returning with a team of 14 individuals this time to serve the island in the following ways:

1) American Heart Association BLS for Healthcare providers
A team will be training and re-certifying 250 healthcare providers & airport fire rescue and security personnel.

2) fire disaster training; mock mass casualty exercise
On Thursday, June 16 at 2PM, the team’s firefighters will be educating and assisting in a mock mass casualty exercise (airplane crash) to help Pohnpei to prepare for the FAA exercise later this year.
Pohnpei Port Authority is needing 150 volunteer victims to simulate the crash. If you are interested, please contact airport operations assistant Jayson Ringlen at Pohnpei Port Authority (320-2793).

3) diesel engineer visiting for the week
All week, a diesel engineer will be working on the Department of Public Safety’s firetrucks and the Pohnpei State Hospital’s generator.

4) nurses and physicians training at the hospital every day
Every day, the volunteer team will be training nurses and physicians at the Pohnpei State Hospital, focusing on diabetes, respiratory therapy, heart disease and stroke. This team will be doing an initial ICU assessment for the hospital.

5) small scale remodeling project at the Pohnpei State Hospital

6) Health Fair - Wednesday, June 15 from 12PM to 5PM at the State Government building
MAHI International will be conducting a health fair for the community. We are inviting other health related government and non-government organizations. The College of Micronesia will be having booths for health careers. Bring your children to the Kids Korner and a team of volunteers will teach them basic CPR and the; your children will be involved in games, fun activities, and prizes! All who join can participate in our raffle; we will be raffling out a brand-new flat-screen television and other raffle items!
For additional information or to participate in the health fair, please contact John Schroer at 921-1800.

Copy Machine Donation

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:07:34 -0700

Today MAHI International donated a much-needed copy machine to Our Lady of Mercy, a private school on the island of Pohnpei. The Sister working at the school commented that since they opened up their co-ed high school about 3 years ago, they’ve been praying for a copy machine.

[SEE PICTURES]

First EMT Class In Micronesia

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

We are proud to announce that the first batch of 20 locals in all of Micronesia has begun the first ever EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) training on the island of Pohnpei! MAHI International will regularly be part of the process of getting these individuals to serve their community with hopes to develop the emergency response on the island.

[SEE PICTURES]

A Few Cups for Romeo

Wed, 8 Dec 2010 19:38:57 -0800

by a MAHI board member
My friend Joey loves Starbucks coffee... Each morning he joins millions of Americans who start their day sipping the blessed brew administered by their local “baristas.” Today his flavor is Pumpkin Spice.
I challenged Joey today and asked him to share a few cups of coffee with Romeo.
Romeo, a little 9 year old boy who lives on the island of Pohnpei, Micronesia, up until a month ago, had never seen a doctor. Recently a visiting volunteer dentist with MAHI International came to his village and fixed his abscessed tooth as he sat on an old folding chair.
My challenge wasn’t for my friend to give coffee to Romeo… Romeo doesn’t drink coffee…
My challenge was to give the equivalent of a few cups of coffee this month ($20) to help the compassionate mission of MAHI International as they support medical and educational needs in Micronesia.
We are raising $50,000.00 this month to finish the Hospitality Center where visiting physicians, dentists and educational volunteers and staff will stay as they participate in this much needed work. Below is a picture of the Hospitality Center. It’s almost finished.
MAHI’s work is under the leadership of John and Kat Schroer who have dedicated their lives to assisting the island people of Micronesia. For the past 10 years they have served to bring God’s compassion to the needs of this country. They have deeply won the hearts of the community.
MAHI International is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. (Contributions are Tax Deductible.)
Will you help?
Click here to GIVE to MAHI

Reflections of a Volunteer

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:52:29 -0800

by Betty Jo Vercio
It was simply a magical morning, my first full day in the island of Sapwaufik, a 4-8 hour motor boat ride (depending on the waves) from the main island of Pohnpei. In just 7 days, my time in the islands would be over. I awakened earlier than the others who joined me in sleeping on the cement floor with a quarter inch straw mat. We stayed in the lovingly built schoolhouse that no longer housed eager students. I went to use the toilet which the islanders had carefully put together for us. It included a black bucket where one could draw water from the outdoor rain water reservoir to flush with. I quietly set out for an early morning walk on the beach. I stepped over the low stonewall which kept roaming pigs from the footpath and houses inside. I loved the feel of the gentle warm humid breeze across my face, for really, I believe I am an island girl at heart.
       Having lived on Guam for over 10 years helped prepare me for the life I now was growing to love. My sandals patted the sand down deeper; each step brought me closer to the water. The tide was out. I wasn't in a hurry; I wanted to take in the beauties of the morning sunrise. Soon I found a log where I could sit and enjoy the splendor. I sensed I had company and turned to find a local school-aged girl who was eager to practice her broken English. We chatted about simple things -- what grade she was in, what I was doing here.
       Soon a young girl donning her Pohnpeian skirt came along with her 9 or 10 year old sister who was completely naked. She sat gracefully on the log in front of me resting her chin in her hand and staring at me with her big beautiful brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair. Total acceptance of her appearance permeated the air. It seemed surreal. I'm embarrassed to admit feeling slightly perturbed that my quiet solitude with God and nature had been interrupted with humans.   After a few minutes, her sister came and handed me an orange plastic bag, which I opened and to my surprise found shells that she had been collecting on the beach for me. I looked up and smiled at her wishing I knew how to say thank you in her language but she seemed to understand my gratitude. A few more minutes passed mostly in silence as we each enjoyed nature's bounties. I arose and started walking a few feet more down the beach. There in the shallow water was a toothless grandmother sitting in the water enjoying its warmth along with the squeals of her 2 1/2 year old naked grandson. They were playing together. She too held out her hand offering me a bigger conk shell that she had found beside her. I basked in the simple sincere generosity.
       I had experienced that same generosity many times before during my stay on the main island of Pohnpei. It had come in many forms and ways -- the lovingly prepared local foods at a teacher's home; the boisterous enthusiastic singing of the kids who came to the Children’s Program and didn't want to leave after it was over; a hand woven pallet made of banana leaves overflowing with eggplant, tapioca, bananas, and taro dropped off at my door from the village people where John and I had spent the evening before doing health screening of blood pressure and glucose, and sharing a simple message of eating "local" foods, drinking plenty of water, and staying away from "crunchy" bags.    My mind could fill hours of thinking just remembering these simple sincere gestures given from the purest of hearts. These people knew how to express hospitality at its finest.
       This trip came at a time in my life that I had never personally experienced such brokenness. This trip from its planning to its culmination was a "God trip." Before July, I had not a thought of going on such a trip, but some money had become available to me and I knew immediately where I wanted to send the offering -- Pohnpei, for I knew from a previous trip to visit my son there in 2006 that someone was doing a work in that island for the health of the people. Being a certified diabetes educator, I was especially interested in helping in any way possible to stop the ravages of diabetes. As life unfolded, rather than sending the money, I bought a ticket and went to Micronesia to be of service for 5 weeks.
       I thought often of what I had heard on a Bible study tape before coming: "if you feel God has called you to a people or place, just remember you are not their savior, you are their servant." Those words echoed in my mind many times as I, along with John, experienced the tiresome tedious attention to the details of providing a children’s program and diabetes education amidst limited resources. Where else would one tirelessly and ever so slowly cut with the dullest of scissors cardboard to use as backing for posters or spend much too long just trying to get the simplest of things xeroxed?
       I ponder and savor the sacred special moments there. There were so many. I remember with fondness trying to get out to the track to run or walk by 6:15 so I could watch God's firework display of sunrise each day. Nowhere else in the world is there such an array of colors and clouds. It came with such quietness and subtlety; it would be suddenly over much too soon. I enjoyed the hot humid air along with the chats I had with fellow walkers. And I remember my feeling walking there with fellow exercisers during my last morning, wishing I had more time; there were so many more things I wanted to do, so many more observations in clinics I had hoped to make, and so many more people I had wanted to spend time with. However, the time was gone much too soon.
       I always took a trash bag and found a simple joy in picking up trash on the way back home. There was always more than I could ever contain, but I could make a little difference and maybe someone someday might follow my example. That was my hope -- that they too would come to appreciate the beauty of this lush green landscape and treasure its cleanliness. Then, up to "Cupid's Point," where I could rest my eyes on the beauty of the greenery along with the view of the ocean below, the ships, the birds flying, the butterflies flitting, the quietness, the scent of flowers. Just God and me; it was profound. It was sacred. It was here I gained strength and courage to grace another day.
       The days were filled with the excitement of understanding a new culture, eating new foods, meeting interesting people, and seeking to share some of the grace and love of God that I have been blessed to experience. Yet I was saddened as I faced the horror of the Western diet and the havoc it has wrought on the people in this island. The effects of "crunchy" bags filled with cookies, chips, or ramen have taken their toll. It's not unusual for kids to drink 5-6 sodas a day. It is estimated that one out of two people have diabetes. Heart attack and stroke are far too common at ages 40 and 50. The sedentary life is combined with their diet that is mostly ramen, white rice, fried meat or fish, breeds obesity. Most all adults male and female are overweight -- that's the norm.
       An American woman whom I met at the Rotary Club meeting which I was privileged to speak at, asked me to come to her shop as her Pohnpeian worker had been diagnosed a year before with diabetes. As she spilled out the details with worried lines on her face, she spoke about how she saw her making good changes -- eliminating sodas, eating less refined foods. BUT she also refused medication and was using some kind of local remedy. She even wondered if her worker would allow me to do the check, but she hoped maybe her example of letting me do hers first would decrease her resistance.
       The day I arrived, all went as planned and her worker succumbed to our gentle insistence. We rechecked because it was so high -- 480 -- but we got the same result. I tried to explain how important it was for her to go to the doctor. Unlike most others on the island, she was not overweight. She needed to receive medication so she could prevent the deadly effects of high blood sugar -- blindness, nerve damage, kidney shutdown, heart attack, stroke, and amputations. I wish time would have allowed our meeting again. I can hope she took it seriously and got the help she needed. And I hope that on my next trip, I will find her with normal blood sugars, happier and healthier.
       It was sometimes exciting, often mundane, but I began getting a glimpse of the profound in the simple. That's what 5 days on an island with no running water, electricity, or vehicles could do in my heart. I will be forever grateful for those 5 short weeks. They have changed me forever. I experienced a peace and calmness in my soul like no other.
       Back in Sapwuafik, I was blessed with a snorkeling partner, my 4'8" friend Saphina. Somehow our hearts were one. My experience in Guam with local women had already taught me that women are generally afraid of the water and never get in more than knee deep. But Saphina was different; she went out with us snorkeling our first day. Dustin, a previous volunteer to this island 2 years before and his fiancé Laura and I gathered our snorkeling attire and waded through the ankle deep water out to the reef trying to miss the coral as we gently stepped along. Saphina had no gear but she came. I have pictures of her with eyes open in the ocean water. She seemed to enjoy the time as much as we did.
       And she went with me each day when no one else wanted to; she was my partner. I questioned her, knowing that no other local woman snorkeled, and even her own daughter was scared to go. She told me how she had learned snorkeling as she joined her husband in his spear fishing endeavors which provided food for their growing family. She was a one of a kind woman; and I was honored to enjoy her company. We talked of more serious things, sharing our stories, knowing that our hearts were one. It seemed odd and yet so natural to feel so close to a woman with kindred spirit who had never known the world I live in. Her life consists of cooking taro every meal discovering ever new way to make it for her children and husband but most of all loving everyone around her and sharing her deep belief in God with everyone she touches.   Her simple example speaks to me and continues to quiet my soul in distress.
       The Children’s Program was such a joy and yet for me at times so stressful. It again was a steep learning curve as I finally accepted the fact that I was in an island where I wouldn't change their way of life. I finally surrendered to starting when kids and staff got there instead of on time, just letting their culture and ways be a part of the program and savoring their richness rather than stressing over their inefficiencies.
       The songs we sang are engraved on my heart and mind; I pray they are also in the hearts of the children and staff who came. "Ancient Words" was my favorite: "Words of life, words of hope. Give us strength, help us cope. In this world where ere we roam, Ancient words will guide us home. Ancient words ever true, changing me and changing you. We have come with open hearts; oh, let the Ancient words impart." As we together sang that song and made the motions for open hearts -- both hands held high with palms outstretched in surrender... surrender to the God in heaven who alone could change our lives and gives us open hearts, I found myself with goose bumps on very hot nights and tears freely flowing. Those were sacred times.
       And there was also the elementary classrooms at the school on the main island where I shared practical suggestions for simple choices those children could make to prevent diabetes from happening in their bodies. Hopefully little seeds of health and life were planted that will continue to grow and sprout and spread. The "doing" of the ABC's.
       After serving through MAHI International, I wonder, will there be more teaching? More learning? A Wellness Center? Only God knows; but one thing I know is that MAHI International is making a profound difference in many ways to the health of that community and people. It was a privilege and honor to be a part of that and to work with a man who seeks God's direction every step of his path among those islanders, who has a passion for guiding them in better health patterns, knows their language and much of their culture, is not afraid to find the profound in the simple, is not too proud to be busy with the mundane, is willing to trust God for the financial security of his family, and lives out everyday in practical life what he believes.
And as for me, where do I go from here? Praying, letting God direct my life. I learned in deeper ways how to trust the God who was directing my steps. Many times I was made aware of my own selfishness, control, and weaknesses. But God delights in using broken vessels and equips those He calls. I found strength in that.
       And I wonder and pray that God may direct my steps back to those islands of warm sandy beaches and beautiful coral gardens but most of all the precious generous people who are forever in my thoughts and prayers.

[Click here to learn more about our volunteer Betty Jo Vercio]

State of Health Emergency!!!

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:32:53 -0700

Our Pacific Islands are in a state of health emergency! According to a recent article released in May 2010 by the Pacific Island Health Officers Association, these island communities “have some of the highest-rates of non-communicable disease(s) in the world,” including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
Click here to read the ARTICLE!
MAHI International works to assist in the islands’ health emergency through education and healthcare.

BLS Instructors' Training

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0700

To meet the critical need of certifying first responders in Micronesia...

MAHI International has the great opportunity to undergo training with American Heart Association in order to instruct the local people of these island communities in Basic Life Support (BLS) skills including CPR and the use of an AED.

We realized this need after our first BLS training program in November 2009. MAHI board chairman John Garner visited the island of Pohnpei for the first time. He invited Krystal Ball, RN / MSN, a nurse educator to join him to conduct the training and certify the participants under the American Heart Association. With the help of MAHI volunteers Adrienne Brezovic and Asher Bolejack, MAHI International trained over 300 participants!

Since then, in conjunction with San Joaquin Community Hospital (Bakersfield, CA), MAHI International has been asked by the Pohnpei State Government to provide on-going BLS training to their people!

We’d like to thank San Joaquin Community Hospital, Krystal, Donna and the rest of the Education Department in their aspirations for MAHI International to certify healthcare professionals and emergency responders in Micronesia.

[SEE PICTURES OF BSL TRAINING IN PROGRESS]
For more on our BLS training program, please visit Discussion:“Recent Trip to Pohnpei” on our Facebook page!

Welcome, Werner One

Sun, 10 May 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Happy Mother’s Day! Today the new Pohnpei School boat arrived on dock. We are blessed to have received it in great condition through it’s long trip from the manufacturer’s in Florida all the way to Micronesia! Upon the boat’s arrival onto the school campus, the staff surrounded the boat in prayer, asking God to bless the boat as it supports the outer islands and furthers His work.

[READ MORE]

[SEE PROJECT PICTURES]