Amigos de Salud Headed by Nick and Terri Morrison to Provide Medical/Surgical Care to Underprivileged in Ecuador

Humanitarian effort will aid 2,500 children and adults who do not have access to needed care

SCOTTSDALE & TEMPE, Ariz. – Aug. 2, 2007 – Under the direction of Amigos de Salud Co-founders Nick Morrison, M.D., F.A.C.S., F.A.C.Ph., and his wife Terri Morrison, R.N., a team of more than 40 volunteer physicians, nurses, other clinicians and support staff will travel to Guayaquil, Ecuador August 10 to16, 2007. During this weeklong trip, the team will screen, evaluate and treat approximately 2,500 children and adults. The non-profit Amigos de Salud is dedicated to providing medical and surgical care and supplies to those with limited resources in South America.

“This is grass-roots medical care,” explains Dr. Morrison, a world-renowned expert in the effective treatment of vein disorders, and co-founder of the Morrison Vein Institute in Scottsdale and Tempe, Arizona, and the Morrison Training Institute. “It is a remarkable experience for all concerned and embodies a unique one-on-one impact that is difficult to describe,” continues Dr. Morrison. “As medical professionals, we can give back in time and talent to individuals who desperately need our care.”

This is the Morrison’s 16th trip to Ecuador and they have made similar trips to Peru, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. This humanitarian effort comprises a multi-specialty medical team of physicians specializing in general surgery, pediatrics, orthopedics, vein disease, gynecology, family practice, anesthesiology and colorectal surgery as well as an audiologist and nurses with experience in numerous fields. Because this is a general medical trip, the team will treat a broad range of ailments including hernias, hysterectomies, varicose veins, parasites and worms, diabetes, heart disease, fractures that haven’t healed properly, and uterine/ovarian fibroids.

CompuDiagnostics, an ultrasound imaging company that provides the most advanced equipment in the industry, is also donating time and equipment for this year’s mission, and is expected to conduct a wide range of ultrasound diagnoses and ultrasound-guided treatments.

The audiologist will screen about 250 children for hearing disorders. To fulfill the anticipated need, the team has already purchased 50 hearing aids for this trip, but the group is still seeking hearing aid donations, particularly behind-the-ear models – any donation is welcome.

Terri Morrison, an experienced nurse who helped found the Morrison Vein Institute, adds, “It is an amazing experience to witness a child hearing sounds for the first time. A hearing aid donation can bring a new quality of life to an underprivileged child. What a remarkable gift that is!”

Anyone interested in making a tax-deductible donation of cash, supplies and/or equipment for this or future trips can contact Amigos de Salud, c/o Nick & Terri Morrison, 6698 Rockford Drive, Tempe, Ariz. 85283. Amigos de Salud is a non-profit organization founded by the Morrisons more than 16 years ago. Because all the team members are volunteers who pay their own way, there are no administrative costs for these humanitarian missions − 100 percent of all donations go directly to providing care. Amigos de Salud’s tax identification number is 205423802.

Each year, the humanitarian medical effort attracts thousands of patients. The Ecuadorian Ministries of Health, Defense, and Social Welfare declare the visit as jornadas de salud, “Days of Health.” Children and adults in need will converge in Guayaquil, a large coastal city in Ecuador, for assessment and treatment offered by the medical team at a local military hospital.

“People sometimes travel for days to get treatment, often refusing to eat when they arrive because they’ve heard you have to fast before surgery, and they don’t want to risk their chances of being eligible,” comments Children’s Dental Village Owner Joyce Anne Ware Longfellow, a non-clinician volunteer who is handling most of the arrangements for this year’s trip. A former Arizona State University professor of women’s studies, Longfellow is making her fourth trip with Amigos de Salud. “I know that we answer a critical medical need in Ecuador, and I always return a better, more enriched person. But we all learn a great deal from the people there, too and we always receive an incredibly warm welcome.”

According to Terri Morrison, all volunteers not only donate their time and skill, they also pay for their own airfare, trip expenses and some equipment. The team will ship 120 trunks of medications, medical equipment and supplies, which the Ecuadorian army transports and guards. Care is provided at an army hospital. Sutures, operating room equipment, an anesthesia machine, gloves, gowns, drapes, antibiotics, dressings, IVs, etc. are all purchased, donated and corporate-sponsored under the auspices of Amigos de Salud. At the end of the trip, any unused supplies are donated to local medical facilities.

“This is the type of care that gets to the heart of why most nurses and physicians initially chose their professions,” states Mrs. Morrison emphatically. “In Ecuador, we just take care of patients…no paperwork, just one-one-one care.”

Because of the multi-specialty nature of this trip, Dr. Morrison will diagnose and treat vein disease, as well as perform general surgery. However, the next humanitarian medical mission sponsored by Amigos de Salud, scheduled for January 2008, will focus solely on vein disease and care. In-country arrangements for these humanitarian trips are made through Zorayda Figueroa, director, Fundacion El Cielo para los Ninos (Heaven for the Children of Ecuador Foundation).

For more information about Amigos de Salud, contact Holly Rinaldi at the Morrison Vein Institute, 480.860.6455, hrinaldi@morrisonveininstitute.com.

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