For anyone involved in international medical aid, patience is a virtue above all others. You must have patience with the frustrations of global travel, with the difficulties of language translations and with the lack of medical standards to which we are accustomed.

Most of all, though, the medical aid community must be patient with the slow pace of progress. The American approach of “see a problem, fix it, move on” just doesn’t apply in the under-developed world.

VESI’s experiences are illustrative. It often takes us several visits to a country, over two or three years, before we begin to see progress in the quality of eye care. Over time, though, patience is generally rewarded through small but steady improvements in surgical technique and patient outcomes.

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Chairman's Message 2009

Sometimes it takes a personal experience to really appreciate what we take for granted here at home, even for those of us who are associated with international medical missions.

Case-in-point: Recent news reports about Cairo, where trash is piling up in the streets because Egypt slaughtered all its pigs in a misguided attempt to curb swine flu. (The pigs were eating the trash.) That overcrowded megalopolis now faces an acute sanitation crisis, which will likely lead to a public health crisis.

The situation hits home for me because my granddaughter is studying in Cairo. While she will soon return, millions of Egyptians will continue to face serious health risks from a situation that would be inconceivable here.

We are, indeed, a fortunate people. Events like these serve as valuable reminders to renew our support of efforts to improve the lives of those around the world who are not nearly so fortunate..