YCMF has funded two surgical missions to Laos: to Vientiane in 2006 and to Savannakhet in 2008.

The following is a photo documentary of YCMF's first Lao mission. 

In 2006 York County Medical Foundation funded a surgical mission to Laos, the poorest nation in Southeast Asia. These YCMF volunteers were the first US medical team authorized to work in that country since the Vietnam War era.

The foundation donated $25,000 worth of laparoscopic components to the country’s primary teaching hospital in the nation’s capital, Vientiane, where the team performed surgical procedures on children and adults. Children’s surgeries included cleft lip and cleft palate repairs; adult surgeries included gall bladder removals, gynecological procedures, and an historic first laparoscopic hernia surgery ever performed in Laos.

This groundbreaking mission was well received and paved the way for the foundation’s return in 2008, this time to a poorer city in the south, Savannakhet, where the foundation donated another $25,000 in laparoscopic components and instruments, training in laparoscopic technique, and further surgeries to Lao children and adults in need.

A third surgical mission, to a northern province in Laos, is planned for early 2009.

If you would like to work with YCMF in fundraising efforts to support national or internation relief missions, then please contact Rhonda S. Renninger to obtain materials including this PowerPoint presentation.