Medical Mission Trips Can Unite Disparate Cultures, Broker Peace

The concept of the medical mission as a currency for peace has always been an intellectual exercise for me. Very recently, I got to see it in action. My other passion, understanding the keys to physician well-being, was also on display during this experience, but in a different manner than expected.

So let me explain. Earlier this month, my boss took me overseas to the Middle East where one of our teams was on a cardiac surgical mission trip. Now I had heard the team's stories many times; I have even supported the mission from afar with morale and financial efforts. But I never knew the heart of the mission until I saw it up close and personal. I am not exactly a touchy-feely person, but this experience was enough to spear me right in my heart.

The first thing I will say, in a Dr. Seussian kind of way, is that parents are parents wherever they are, no matter how near, no matter how far. Regardless of language or dress or religious beliefs, those parents stand outside the operating room, waiting, pensive, hoping to their creator that their child will be OK. On this trip, as I walked down a hall with a doctor colleague of mine, a family was standing by, waiting and worrying. She went straight to them. When they saw her smile and give the thumbs-up sign, they immediately understood: Their child had made it. Without words, without many cultural commonalities, I could see their worry ebb and the love in their hearts pour out: the love for their child, the love for this team. It was a stark realization for me -- no matter how far apart we might be politically, at heart, we all love the same. All the families touched by the team were not only grateful but truly generous of heart to all of us.

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Secondly, my research has taught me that doctors will put up with a lot of administrative tasks if they can just focus on their passion 20 percent of the time. Now, that sounds easy -- I mean 20 percent isn't all that much, right? And while this team of six traveled halfway across the world to get the chance, they worked for their passion and it showed. Many of these people I have known for a long time. A few of them are truly near and dear to my heart. But there, in a place so far from their comfort zone, their passion came through. And it spread like a true halo effect. I, who contributed nothing to their work on this trip for certain, could feel the warmth spread through me, and I reveled in their joy and satisfaction.

So now, I'm left with many questions. Funny, but these questions seem like they are right out of centuries past because they sound eerily similar to the "What is the meaning of life?" conversation that scholars and the rest of us have been having forever. I mean what do we really know about the people from other lands? I am not referring to their gross national product or their natural resources or their culture. What is the music that comes from within them? I suspect it is likely the same playlist across all of humanity -- a love for their families, fear of the hurt their children may suffer and a need to connect to other humans in a meaningful way. Clearly, it does not have to be through words.

[See: 11 Simple, Proven Ways to Optimize Your Mental Health.]

Obviously the converse is also true. This team exposed themselves to something infinitely brave. They confronted their own vulnerability by leaving behind the emotional safety of their loved ones and headed out, using vacation time to find their passion. They knew it would be there, they had experienced it before, but it was not an easy trip to find total fulfillment; it meant wearing their hearts on their sleeves, which is understood in any language. The result? An obvious connection based on the purest of agendas -- human compassion for one another.

How do we look beyond the obvious? Sure, the politics are vastly different and the external threats are on clear display. That is as true in America these days as anywhere. But why does our sensibility have to stop there? Why can't we find a way to bridge those concerns? Is health care the road to understanding one another better? It might be, from what I witnessed abroad. It unites people in a time when they are truly scared. Sure, it costs the health care systems across the world, but what is the price tag for building peace anyway? What is the value of a team of doctors, nurses and perfusionists who again can connect with the reason they went into health care, down to their very toes?

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We all want to talk about increasing engagement, but this team is living it. And they are not doing it alone, but with their international colleagues and the grateful families who will never forget the Americans who helped their child. It is clear in their posture, their smiles and the other signs of affection the families display, like giving hugs and sharing treats and food; it's evident in all the ways they show love and hospitality in that particular culture. And it isn't over in just one trip.

Not only has this particular team done 20 missions over 10 years, helping upwards of 200 patients, but the patients they have served come back to reconnect. This time, it was a refugee family who returned for a visit. When their son was very sick, they had carried him on foot from Syria to Jordan to find help. By chance, they ran into this team, which surgically repaired the boy's heart about six months ago. On this day, his dad returned to the hospital to show his son the team that saved his life. I don't know if the baby was impressed, but the team was blown away to see this now chunky, normal toddler who had been through so much more than his heart surgery. It was a real connection that will never be broken, made without any words.

Look, I know that life is complex, both on a global scale (think: politics) and individually (finding our passion in the daily grind). But after this trip, I am definitely taking pause and thinking about what my 20 percent might be to keep me passionate about my chosen profession.

I will encourage those around me to continue to seek their own answer to that question. After this trip, where I watched six people team up with their counterparts across the globe and touch the lives of 14 families, changing the world just a smidge, I can attest that the quest is certainly worth it. When peace comes knocking, no matter if we live most of our lives in a hospital or on Capitol Hill, we need to open the door -- open it wide and walk right out and grab that peace in our embrace. There will never be another currency as valuable.

Dr. Elaine Cox is the medical director of infection prevention at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis. She is also the Riley clinical safety officer. Dr. Cox practices as a pediatric infectious disease specialist and also instructs students as a professor of clinical pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. The former director of the pediatric HIV and AIDS program, Ryan White Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Riley, Dr. Cox helped lead the effort to change Indiana law to provide universal HIV testing for expectant mothers.