The fourth Aloha Medical Mission to Burma (Myanmar) in three years—the second this year—is planned for Oct. 18-30 with 16 volunteer doctors and nurses.

The mission had a long, nerve-wracking wait for visas to give free care to Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis victims in July, but they were “;warmly embraced”; by the government and invited to return in October, said Dr. Carl Lum, team leader.

The Aloha Medical Mission volunteers treated more than 2,500 patients in July and “;did the United States proud,”; said Nanette Bourne, an Australian lay member of the team.

“;The group of American doctors and nurses ... represented the U.S. in a remarkably compassionate and professional way,”; said Bourne.

The 25-member Aloha group was the only American medical team permitted by the Myanmar government to treat patients in the Irrawaddy Delta, hardest hit by the May 3 cyclone, Lum said. He believes approval was given for the two-week trip because of the organization's missions to Myanmar the past two years.

The retired Honolulu surgeon has led all the Myanmar missions, sponsored by Sitagu Sayadaw, one of Myanmar's most revered Buddhist monks. Volunteers in July included doctors and nurses from Hawaii, Washington, Oregon and California.

The next mission will be to the Sittagu Ayudana Hospital in Sagaing, where the volunteers treated patients in 2006 and 2007.

Lum said he had difficulty in the past recruiting Burmese-American anesthesiologists, but Dr. Charles Aung, who works at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, is joining the next mission. Aung, from Yangon (Rangoon), said he wanted to go in July but that the timing was wrong.

In Sagaing the team will treat people with limited access to health care, said Dr. Nicole Littenberg, an internist with the Honolulu Medical Group. “;I don't think they will be quite as desperate as when we went to the delta. It was just an incredible experience last time.”;

Part of the Aloha team went to the farthest tip of the delta. With little medical care available in the remote area, people were elated to see the Americans, Lum said.

They worked with local doctors at the Bogalay and Kadondani hospitals, which were jammed with patients, he said. The operating room was poorly equipped and without oxygen, but Lum was able to do nine major surgeries a day under local or spinal anesthesia, he said.

An article addressed to Lum in the Burmanet News/Democratic Voice of Burma, said, “;Bogalay people are very impressed about the service you and your whole team had given and the (kindness) you had shown to them. Even though they do not know your name, they knew there was a famous surgeon in the Aloha Medical Mission.”;

Bourne, who has relatives in Myanmar and was in the Kadondani group, said, “;I found the people incredibly resilient and absolutely inspiring for them to have been able to pick up their lives after such a huge disaster.”;

They treated many malnourished babies and saw people suffering from goiter, she said. “;There were a lot of post-traumatic stress disorders, people who hadn't slept, hadn't eaten, who lost family members and/or their homes and the ability to provide for themselves.”;

Former Myanmar residents Lucy Nwe, a respiratory nurse, and her husband, Myo, an emergency physician at Kuakini Medical Center, were surprised at the region's recovery, with rows of green rice paddies and people working. “;I thought nothing would be there,”; she said.

Aloha Medical Mission volunteers pay their own expenses and take equipment and supplies wherever they go. In July that included sleeping bags, mosquito nets and food. But the owner of a two-story house in Bogalay moved his family to relatives and offered it to the group, Nwe said.

The medical volunteers traveled on an old ferry converted into a floating clinic.

In one village, Bourne, who is seeking American citizenship, said her group sat on a dirt floor and had a cup of tea in a Myanmar woman's little shop.

She refused money, saying, “;Americans welcome,”; and gave them snacks to take with them, Bourne said. “;I believe that was a very brave political statement she was making.”;