COURTESY OF DR. JORGE CAMARA / DECEMBER 2004 Dr. Carl Lum, second from left, removed a thyroid tumor during an Aloha Medical Mission trip to the Philippines last year.

Hawaii doctors
on mission to aid
in wake of tragedy

CORRECTION Wednesday, January 26, 2005 » Tax-exempt donations to the Aloha Medical Mission's Tsunami Relief Fund may be made by sending checks to the nonprofit organization at 1314 S. King St., Suite 503, Honolulu, HI 96814. The address was incorrect in a story that appeared on Page A12 Friday. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at corrections@starbulletin.com.

Ten doctors and nurses will leave Hawaii on Thursday in the first of a series of Aloha Medical Missions to tsunami-ravaged Banda Aceh, Indonesia, said Dr. Ramon Sy, the group's president.

Donate to mission Tax-exempt donations to the Aloha Medical Mission's Tsunami Relief Fund may be made by sending checks to the nonprofit organization at 314 S. King St., Suite 503, Honolulu, HI 96814. Donations may be charged on a VISA or MasterCard by calling 593-9696 during business hours.

Dr. Carl Lum, who has participated in and led many missions to give free medical care to patients in remote areas of Southeast Asia and the Philippines, returned yesterday from Indonesia after laying the groundwork for the new missions.

"This is something new," Sy said. "We have never worked in that area or dealt with a disaster. Usually, we have planned missions."

Lum, who averages four medical missions a year, said his latest one "was a very hard mission, probably the hardest I've been on."

He said he is too tired to join the group leaving next week but will return to Indonesia in the future. Meanwhile, he's working on a mission to Cambodia.

"He is my hero," Sy said. "He's really something." As soon as the tsunami occurred, he said Lum was asking if the Aloha Medical Mission was going. "I said, 'Yes, but I don't know how to get there.'" For missions in other countries, people are available to help with logistics, he said.

He said Lum left suddenly two weeks ago after connecting with a group from Baltimore representing the Korean-American Food for the Hungry International. "He was so lucky he was able to talk to a doctor in Hilo who knows these people."

Lum said when the group of about 18 got to Sumatra, it was difficult to get to Banda Aceh because all commercial flights were booked.

They flew on Indonesian and Australian cargo planes "like refugees," he said, explaining they were rushed onto the planes and sat on the floor with luggage between their legs. "Over 100 people were on the plane. We couldn't move an inch."

When they finally got to Banda Aceh, he said, "The destruction there was a lot worse than I had expected. It goes on for miles and miles from the ocean to about three miles inland. There's nothing. It's as though Honolulu was destroyed from Aina Haina to Pearl City and from the waterfront to upper Nuuanu Valley."

He said survivors are afraid of the water now. "My interpreter was caught up in it. One day, I wanted to have lunch near the beach, and she refused."

Although he arrived two weeks after the earthquake, he said new bodies were along the road every day to be picked up. "The whole city is like one big heap of rubble, and every time you move rubble, you find bodies.

"There's so much destruction I think it will take 25 years to clear all the debris and rebuild, and children right now have no schools."

He said the group would take medicines and go to the refugee camps every day to see patients and immunize children.

Skin infections and diarrhea are common, and there is some malaria. A malaria epidemic is expected soon because of stagnant pools of water and lots of mosquitoes throughout the region, he said.

They did not see any cholera or typhoid, he said, "but we expect that, too, because of crowded conditions in camps and no sanitation."

Sy said more than 100 doctors volunteered for the Aloha Medical Missions to the tsunami-stricken areas. The first group of doctors and nurses, from Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island, are all volunteers of previous missions.

Leading the team will be Dr. Vernon Ansdell, a tropical-medicine specialist, and Lolita Ching, a nurse. Both are members of the Aloha Medical Mission's board of directors.

Sy said they will try to establish a base for continuing missions. "As long as they need us, we will do that."

Sy said the mission will collaborate with the Korean-American Food for the Hungry International, Indonesian Medical Association and Yayasan Susila Dharma-Indonesia, a nonprofit Indonesian organization that provides free social-welfare and medical services nationally.