2011

April 3 - 12th

Cost*           

Approximately $2600 from Houston IAH                       

*(Subject to cost increases in international air, hotels, ground transportation, departure taxes, visa costs and fuel surcharges) 

Itinerary 

The BMI medical team departs Houston IAH on Continental Airlines and flies to Honolulu. After a three hour layover at the Honolulu Airport, the group departs Honolulu on Hawaiian Air and lands in Pago Pago, American Samoa that same evening.  The group is met at the Pago Pago airport by members of the Pago Pago Lions Club and transported to the Clarion Tradewinds Hotel.  Each day, the team is transported to and from the hotel to the LBJ Tropical Medical Center by the Lions Club who has agreed to provide all ground transportation for the team during the week.  The BMI clinic and surgery team examines and treats patients Monday through Friday.  Saturday and Sunday are rest days and the Lions Club arranges for sightseeing around the island during this weekend time.  The Lions Club also arranges and provides all of our meals during this medical mission week.   The group departs Pago Pago on Hawaiian Air late Sunday evening and arrives in Honolulu early the following day.  The team then has nearly a full day to visit sights in Honolulu but the activities in Honolulu are not part of the medical mission and are at the expense of each individual participant.  Many people arrange to share and book a room at a hotel in Honolulu so that they have a place to rest, shower, swim, etc.  The team then departs Honolulu on Continental Airlines early evening on Monday and arrives  back in Houston IAH early Tuesday morning.

Background Info

In 2002, BMI was invited by Dr. Ernest Oo, Chief of Ophthalmology at the LBJ Tropical Medical Center,  the Lions Club of Pago Pago and the Governor of American Samoa to bring BMI eye teams to American Samoa to help treat eye disease in that U.S. territory.  BMI teams had previously worked with Dr. Oo when he was Chief of Ophthalmology in Fiji.   In 2002, Downey Price, M.D. and B.T. Williamson, M.Th., did an initial investigative trip to determine the ophthalmic needs there.   Diabetes Mellitus affects 25-30 % of the  American Samoan  population so the incidence of  complicated eye problems was very high.  Beginning in 2003, BMI annually has sent both a Retinal team, headed by Dr. Alan Lacoste of Lake Charles, Louisiana, as well as a general ophthalmic team to provide pro bono medical and surgical eye care to the underserved.