Dr. Miller’s legacy as a humanitarian and surgeon reflects his deep commitment to improving lives globally through reconstructive and life-changing medical care.
Since 1999, Dr. Miller has participated in over 50 medical missions, leading at least 40 of them, spanning across countries such as:
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Short-term medical missions are sometimes criticized for benefiting the team of volunteers more than the patients they come to serve. They are seen to come for one week of surgical care and fail to leave sustainable medical resources. This may risk displacing or marginalizing indigenous medical personnel and their resources.
However, we are very sensitive to this criticism. Our volunteers come with compassion that respects the dignity of the patients while engaging with local providers who are recognized as doing so much with so little.
We actively bring or purchase locally the equipment and supplies to support our surgeries and the patient care necessary after we leave. More importantly, we leave equipment and training to empower and sustain local providers, where possible.
What we have found is that by coming to the same location one or more times a year has a much more lasting impact on the medical community and their patients. It builds confidence in our intentions and knowledge and skills locally.
Yes, our volunteers return time-after-time building our relationships and improving the care we provide while preparing the locals for sustainable medical services. In all practicality, for many of us it has become a calling to transform lives of those who would otherwise not receive life-changing medical care. There is nothing wrong with feeling good about the enormous feeling of fulfillment and receiving the humble gratitude that our patients express to us. That is all they have.
We understand that we can never fulfill the unending needs in these countries without resources and infra-structure that we take for granted at home. However, by working together to transform those lives, one patient at a time, we work hard to transform our “short term” mission, into a series of missions over the long term, building relationships with indigenous doctors, nurses, and team members from whom we all learn and work together and hope with our medical efforts and educational outreach, that segments of what we learn are left behind each time we visit.
As we return to the same region and build on what is there, we see our short-term missions morphing into one long-term mission by linking together each visit, seeing familiar friends and colleagues each time we return. In these ways, we trust that we are leaving something meaningful for the lasting benefit of the community.