Travel abroad is often part of a vacation or business trip, but members of a Washington, Missouri-based not-for-profit group head out of the country each year to try to improve the lives of people who have very little. Doctor Jackie Miller, an orthodontist from Washington, is a member of Washington Overseas Mission. It’s a humanitarian aid organization that has been sending medical, dental, and construction teams to Honduras and Central America since the early 1990s. Doctor Jackie Miller, a Washington orthodontist, has been heading South since 1992. She says each of the health care professionals venturing South does so voluntarily, each paying his or her own expenses. About eighty people from Missouri went to Honduras on the last trip in March, each paying a little more than $1,300. Doctor Miller says that while it’s a lot to pay, it’s well worth it when she gets the smiles and hugs from the people who benefit from the health care they’re receiving through the Mission’s efforts. Next month, members of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Dental School will be heading to Honduras, performing operative care such as fillings and root canals in a part of the country in which many people have never been treated by any dentist.

Related web sites:
Washington Overseas Mission