Frequently Asked Questions
I want to join a medical mission team—is this a medical mission recruitment site?
No. We do not recruit medical specialists for teams. MMEX is a place where medical mission organizations can provide specific information about their medical mission trips so that other groups can refer patients from their group to another group. It is not a recruitment site. To find a list of organizations that help with medical mission recruitment, please check the Finding a Medical Mission Opportunity link here.
Why should my group or my organization share this information?
Adding the dates, locations and specialist information that make up a medical mission trip entry on MMEX might seem like too much trouble. After all, it could mean you will be contacted by another organization looking to refer a patient, or to ask about health situations in the areas you serve. Resources are stretched thin enough as it is, right? But what if your organization has an equipment shortage while in country, or encounters a patient in desperate need of a specialist not available through your connections or organization? Then your organization could benefit from knowing who else is in the country and where, and how to get in contact with them. In every scenario the ultimate beneficiaries of increased communication between medical mission organizations are the patients themselves.
Our organization can’t accept referrals or help with another group’s follow up care—why should we participate in MMEX?
Sharing information on the Medical Mission Exchange website in no way obliges any participant to take on referrals. The shared information can help in many other ways:
Why does MMEX only support information for Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Belize?
Any country where the medical mission organizations involved have a strong desire to communicate with one another and capitalize on one another’s strengths could be supported by Medical Mission Exchange. We chose these countries to start with because of personal experiences serving medical missions in the region. As soon as a high percentage of the medical mission organizations involved in these countries actively participate in Medical Mission Exchange on a regular and consistent basis by sharing their trip information, then MMEX will add neighboring countries. The greatest challenges to creating this network are organizations that don’t believe there is value to the patients they serve in sharing information, or organizations that are wary of sharing credit or turf with another group, because of the perceived threat to their donor base. The more medical mission organizations that participate in MMEX, the better the chances that all patients being served will receive referrals to specialists, or receive follow-up care. Help spread the word!