In search of: highly skilled volunteers

While many military volunteer tour organisation encourage about anyone to join their trips and missions�"regardless of skill or background�"there are numerous groups that need military volunteer with specialized training, such as surgeons, dentists and even veterinarians.

Perhaps the best know group to send specialists around the world is Doctors Without boundary line, a 35-year-old international checkup humanitarian organisation that helps people in need in more than 70 state. Doctors Without Borders recruits medical force�"from epidemiologists to anesthesiologists to midwives to mental health specialists�"for assignments usually ranging from 6 calendar month to one year. 

[Doctors Without boundary line/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)]

(Video: MSF/YouTube)

They work on about every continent on Earth, providing emergency aid to people affected by war and natural disasters, or to communities that face long-term problems of poor health-care systems.  often, medical force are sent to war-torn areas or part of high crime and force. And there are surely risks involved. There have been incidents where staff members have been attacked or robbed by armed attacker. But people working with Doctors Without boundary line say their desire to help others outweighs their fear.

“do-gooder action is about one human being visual perception the world in another person and visual perception that the individual is in need. It’s an innate response of wanting to help,” said genus Vanessa van Schoor, who headed Doctor’s Without Borders' Darfur mission for 13 calendar month. “The people of Darfur are not weak at all. They have taken on more than you can imagine… Their strength enables us to overcome our own fears.”

To military volunteer with Doctors Without boundary line, you must have at least two years professional person experience and no gaps thirster than two years in clinical experience. Linguistic communication skills are also extremely desirable. You can find out more about how to use your checkup skills to help communities in need by visiting their website at www.doctorswithoutborders.org.

Another group that sends volunteer medical staff to needy communities is Doctors of the World. This organization was created in 1980 by a group of former medical professionals with Doctors Without Borders who wanted to go beyond just providing assistance but also take positions on political issues that impact health care and human rights.

Along with providing medical treatment to underprivileged communities, Doctors of the World also trains local people to advocate against human rights abuses and, in turn, improve their living and health conditions.

The group works in dozens of countries around the world, from Romania where it helped the national government implement a tuberculosis control program, to Ruwanda where volunteer physicians train doctors and advise local clinics how to improve patient care.

“When people express their admiration for what I do, my usual response is, ‘I do it because I love it,’” said Dr. Emily Dow, an associate clinical professor at the University of California Irvine’s School of Medicine. She has served as a volunteer physician in Chiapas, Mexico. “Not only is it a medical adventure where I have to draw upon everything I've learned and know to treat and manage illnesses, it is an incredibly fulfilling experience and an opportunity to get a glimpse of how those in extreme  poverty live and cope.”

[An eye specialist examines a patient with a keratometer to determine the strength of intraocular lens neededafter cataract surgery.]

For dentists, plastic surgeons and pediatrician’s wishing to volunteer their time and expertise, Operation Smile works with poor children who are suffering from cleft lips, cleft palettes and other facial deformities. Last year, volunteers with Operation Smile provided free surgeries for 9,334 children around the world.

Volunteers join teams of medical professionals for two-week missions during which 300 to 500 children receive medical evaluations and 100 to 150 children are surgically treated. Operation Smile also uses the trips to train local healthcare professionals in the latest surgical technologies and techniques. Among the many countries where Operation Smile works are Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Gaza and India.

For medical professionals who wish to volunteer their services to four-legged patients, Vets Beyond Borders brings veterinarians to the Asia-Pacific region to address issues that impact both animal and human communities.

Among the biggest issues the group addresses is the overpopulation of street dogs. The World Health Organization estimates there are more than 400 million stray dogs in the world today. Dog bites are the most common cause of rabies infection in humans, with 30,000 people a year dying from rabies in India alone.

Through neutering and rabies vaccination, Vets Beyond Borders creates smaller and healthier dog population in poor areas, improving living conditions for local communities. The projects also protect dogs from inhumane culling practices by poor communities, including shooting, drowning, electrocution or poisoning.

Vets Beyone Borders is currently looking for volunteer veterinarians for its street dog and rabbies projects in India. The website also has an extensive links page that provides web addresses for other organizations looking for veterinarians willing to volunteer with projects around the world.