Tempe, AZ -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/10/2012 -- Nick Morrison, MD, and his wife Terri Morrison, RN, founders of the Morrison Vein Institute, left for their annual medical volunteer trip to Central America. Accompanied by a team of two RNs and two support staff members, this year the group will travel to Nicaragua to meet up with the larger group of volunteers from Amigos De Salud to treat patients suffering from vein disease. Medical treatments will include treatment of varicose vein repair, vein stripping, leg ulcers, leg swelling, vein deformities and more. The team will bring hundreds of compression stockings and a wide range of other medical supplies, all courtesy of Morrison Vein Institute, several laser companies, Sigvaris, Juzo, Venosan, Medi, and Merz pharmaceuticals.
The medical volunteer trip is part of the non-profit, volunteer medical organization Amigos De Salud. Co-founded more than 20 years ago by Dr. Morrison and Terri, Amigos De Salud aims to deliver free medical care to the indigent people of Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Each year, 40 to 60 volunteer physicians, nurses, clinicians and support staff members from all different medical specialties travel with the Morrisons to either Central or South America to perform surgeries and provide medical care to more than 1,000 patients in the week they are there.
This summer’s volunteer trip to Nicaragua is aimed at providing the local population with the free medical attention they so desperately need, from spider veins removal, vein treatments and general medicine to gastroenterology and ob-gyn services.
Nicaragua’s health programs are dramatically underfunded, and the available services are extremely limited. In fact, the country has one doctor per roughly 1,160 people, with infant mortality at 33 deaths per 1,000 live births.
According to Dr. Morrison, “Poverty and political unrest is a devastating problem throughout South and Central America. Access to medical care is very restricted for the indigent population, especially women and children, with birth defects that can be easily corrected given the expertise of the volunteer physicians from the United States.” He adds, “Each volunteer has his or her own motivation for sacrificing their time, money and effort to help these deserving patients. The common thread is a desire to help others less fortunate than ourselves.”
Amigos De Salud has no paid staff and no overhead, assuring that 100 percent of all donations go toward the volunteer effort.
For more information about the extensive range of treatment of spider veins and varicose veins offered by Morrison Vein Institute or to learn more about Amigos De Salud, visit http://www.MorrisonVein.com, 1-866- GRT-LEGS.
About Morrison Vein Institute
Specializing in minimally invasive, outpatient procedures for varicose vein treatments and spider vein removal, the Morrison Vein Institute offers a wide range of treatments for vein disease of the legs, face, hands and chest. Co-founded by Nick Morrison, MD, and his wife Terri Morrison, RN, Morrison Vein Institute has offices in Tempe and Scottsdale, Arizona.