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Medical Mission Trips With Foundation For Peace

Get an In-Depth Look at Foundation For Peace and the Medical Volunteer Opportunities They Provide Around the World

Close up of a doctor's coat

Medical mission trips provide healthcare professionals, including nurses and students with a practical and hands-on way to bring desperately needed healthcare services to the world’s most impoverished people. By volunteering for a medical mission trip, you gain valuable and instructive healthcare experience and gain first-hand experience with how medicine is practiced in developing nations.

The organizations that sponsor medical mission trips range from large, multi-national operations to smaller-scale efforts coordinated by modestly sized charities and local churches. Foundation For Peace may be a smaller operation when compared to others, but it achieves outstanding and lasting results in some of the poorest communities around the world. Their success stems from the strong partnerships they’ve made with local churches, community organizations, governments, and local medical professionals to bring ethical healthcare services to the local population at no cost.

(Click here to see our full list of the best medical volunteer opportunities and medical mission trips)

What is Foundation For Peace?

Founded in 2002, Foundation For Peace (FFP) is a faith-based non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that provides medical care, educational services, and community development programs for the poor in Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Kenya. In addition to the Community Partnership and Education mission trips offered by the FFP, their Health and Wellness trips establish mobile medical clinics in the largest available structures in the communities they visit, often churches or schools.

Foundation For Peace mobile clinics are staffed by medical mission trip teams who cycle in and out as the clinics make their rounds through the countryside (mostly) or through urban neighborhoods – wherever the need is the greatest. FFP strives to bring its clinics to each of its Haitian and Dominican Republic destinations several times per year to help provide a reliable continuity of care. FPP currently visits Kenya once per year.

The FFP Country Medical Director and local physicians supervise mission teams to ensure healthcare decisions are consistent with the needs of the community and that country’s medical practice standards. On a practical level, the Medical Director and physicians also pitch in to deliver care and facilitate patient follow-up and referrals.

All patients are welcome to see a physician free of charge regardless of their ethnicity, race, gender, socioeconomic status, and creed. Patients are seen by the physician in family groups and by appointment so they don’t have to wait in a long line, wondering if they’ll receive treatment.

Where Does Foundation For Peace Serve?

Foundation For Peace is an international charity that provides free medical care to many impoverished and underserved communities in:

  • Haiti
  • Dominican Republic
  • Kenya

What Kinds of Medical Professionals Does Foundation For Peace Need?

Foundation For Peace teams provide ethical medical care to underserved communities in rural but sometimes urban settings. The duties performed by individual volunteers will be limited to the scope appropriate to their level of medical certification or education. Under most circumstances, FFP can tailor in-country curricula to support the educational goals of student nurses.

The list of the medical professionals needed by Foundation For Peace currently includes:

  • Nurses (all disciplines)
  • Physicians
  • Physician Assistants
  • Students
  • Pharmacists

Smiling nurse in an orange mask

Foundation For Peace Volunteer Requirements

Foundation For Peace requires volunteers to complete the application process before being considered for service. You’ll be required to provide identification documents, your resume, professional certifications, undergraduate and medical degrees as applicable.

All volunteers must be up-to-date on all vaccinations, as per the CDC guidelines for the country you’re visiting. Additionally, volunteers must provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19.

All volunteers are required to have a current passport that is valid for at least six months after their departure date. Trip costs vary per destination and are assessed on a per person per day basis. These trip fees are listed on the Foundation For Peace website. An initial deposit is also required to secure your position on a team, as well as a donation toward the medicines required for the mission.

What Benefits Does Foundation For Peace Provide?

The Foundation For Peace will take care of a number of your essential needs while on the mission, including:

  • Lodging
  • In-country transportation
  • Three meals per day
  • Purified water
  • Security
  • Translators

Volunteers stay in FFP’s own air-conditioned mission housing. While not luxurious, housing is comfortable and features 24/7 security, Wi-Fi, and a kitchen staffed by local cooks who understand and practice safe food handling and preparation. Volunteers sleep in bunk beds and share bathroom facilities.

FFP also arranges day excursions, enabling you to get out and enjoy the country’s natural beauty and experience the local culture.

What Expenses Am I Required to Cover?

Because volunteers come from all across North America, they are responsible for their own airfare to and from the destination country. Once selected to join a mission trip, FFP will provide you with all the information you need to arrange travel, including the time window for your arrival and departure from the selected airport.

Volunteers over the age of 65, or those with chronic illness, are required to provide FFP with a letter from a physician stating they are healthy enough to Join the medical mission trip.

In addition to the daily trip fee, several expenses are your responsibility to cover. These expenses include:

  • Airfare
  • Inoculations
  • Passport and visa fees (no visa is required for the Dominican Republic or Haiti)
  • Food and entertainment while in transit
  • Travel insurance
  • Malpractice insurance
  • Personal expenses
  • Toiletries
  • Snacks

How to Get Started

The process for joining a Foundation For Peace medical mission trip begins by visiting their website and learning more about their programs, approach to providing medical care, code of conduct, destination information, and trip costs. Once you find a trip that interests you, you can also sign up for a trip directly from the website. After the application is submitted, applicants are vetted and, once approved, will receive details of their trip and other important mission-related information.

Click here to learn more about Foundation For Peace.

 

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Start Your Career in Healthcare by Earning Your Degree or Diploma

Advancing your healthcare career is a great way to earn a more competitive salary*, but the rewards go far beyond the money and increased responsibility. By becoming a medical assistant, registered nurse, or earning a BSN degree, you’ll play a key role in restoring health to the patients you serve. If this sounds like the kind of challenge you’re looking for, then the perfect place for you to begin your journey could be at Provo College or its sister school, Eagle Gate College.

The Medical Assistant Program at Eagle Gate College can be completed in as little as 9 months and provides the necessary training for entry-level positions as a medical assistant in a healthcare facility such as a clinic, physician’s office, or urgent care facility.

Or, if you’re ready to take the next step towards becoming a registered nurse, you can start by enrolling in our BSN program. If you already hold an ADN, then you can earn your BSN degree online in as few as 20 months through the Eagle Gate RN-to-BSN program.

Finally, if you’re interested in helping injured or disabled people restore their strength and mobility, we encourage you to explore our Physical Therapist Assistant program.