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Want to Help? Sponsor  a Mission!

DOCARE needs you to sponsor a mission!  We will provide you with the materials you need to develop and carry out a medical mission, and we can match you with prior sponsors who can answer your questions along the way. We will support you while you provide support to others by using your time and talents to coordinate a mission. 
Interested?  
Learn more.
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Upcoming Missions

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
January 1-10, 2010

Riobamba, Ecuador
February 6-15, 2010

Antigua, Guatemala
Feb. 12-27, 2010

San Andreas, Guatemala
Feb. 20 - March 6, 2010

Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic
Feb. 20 - March 27, 2010

Leon, Nicaragua
April 10 - 17, 2010

Lilongwe, Malawi
April 12 - May 12, 2010

 


ABOUT DOCARE

DOCARE International is a medical outreach organization dedicated to providing much-needed healthcare to indigent and isolated people in remote areas around the world. DOCARE's team approach in providing total health care is unique in that services may include medical, dental, eye, foot and, on the rare occasions, animal health problems. DOCARE has gained wide acceptance in host countries and recognition in the United States.

DOCARE has a philosophy about the establishment of services in a new area. There must be a need based on unavailability of care in the area -- this can be that the area needs more help than the local physicians can provide or can include the need for specialty care not readily available in that area. DOCARE prefers to have the assistance of a local physician when possible. Once a clinic is established, DOCARE tries to continue periodic care to that area until local medical services are adequate. This requires a tremendous amount of effort on behalf of DOCARE members to periodically make themselves available for these missions.

HISTORY

DOCARE was founded in 1961 by an osteopathic physician.  The all-volunteer membership has always included DO and MD physicians, nurses, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists, optometrists, podiatrists, physician assistants and interested lay people who contribute special skills. During the early years of DOCARE, teams flew their own private planes to mission sites. Though this practice is not continued today, it is an integral part of DOCARE's history that has helped us become the organization we are today.

MISSIONS

DOCARE missions can be organized at any time of the year. In the past, these have usually been in the Spring or Fall. It basically depends on the availability of members and their schedules. A Mission Coordinator handles all details of a mission and participants bring their own supplies and equipment. Upon arrival in the program area, DOCARE members are sorted into teams to provide health care services to the host and neighboring communities for the next several days. The lengths of the missions depend upon the volunteers' time schedules. Seven to fourteen working days are ideal but can be more or less.