We’ve all seen the meme, right?

We all have memories or thoughts that haunt us. For us here at Medical Teams, it’s the reality that there are millions of people worldwide without access to life-saving medical care. Our health care staff are some of the most well-trained, tenacious, and compassionate in the world–but what if they don’t have the resources they need to save lives?

The real horror story is one where our teams can’t reach or help the people who need us most. This spooky season, we wanted to hop on the “A Haunted House, but…” social media trend to share the many ways that YOU can prevent real-life scary stories of people having to live in crisis without access to care.

1. A haunted house, but… it’s a newborn baby who doesn’t have access to a malaria vaccine that only costs $1.10.

According to the World Health Organization, children under 5 years old are most at risk of severe complications from malaria. Last year, we reached more than 90% of children with vaccines in the refugee camps where we work in Tanzania & Uganda, but vaccines like these are hard to keep in stock.

Refugee camps are especially prone to spreading diseases due to overcrowding, poor sanitation, and a lack of basic medical care among those arriving daily. Your gift can help those who have been forced from home protect themselves and their children with life-saving vaccines.

2. A haunted house, but… it’s a refugee mother giving birth alone in a field, and the baby is stuck.

Last year, an estimated 28 million women gave birth outside of a hospital facility with no doctor or midwife present. This greatly increases the risk of death for both mother and baby — in fact, a woman dies from complications due to pregnancy and childbirth every 2 minutes.

You can help ensure that mothers can give birth in a safe place, with medicines, equipment, and health care workers present to support them. You can make their first moments of motherhood safe and joyful.

3. A haunted house, but… it’s a severely malnourished child who needs 3 packets of emergency nutrition per day to recover, and they only have access to 1.

Many of us cannot imagine the horror of watching a child waste away before our eyes from a lack of nutrition. Hearing their cries of hunger and then eventually silence when they become too weak to even cry.

Last year, with your help, our staff completed over 30,000 malnutrition screenings every week, and 93% of the children we treated for malnutrition recover under our care.

Your gift can provide life-saving nutrition therapy — whether through outpatient care for children who are stable, or hospitalization for those in critical condition.

4. A haunted house, but… you and your family arrive in a foreign country with no belongings or money. Your husband is barely able to breathe due to untreated asthma, and all 3 of your children are infected with malaria. You are pregnant and unsure if your unborn baby has survived the long, stressful journey.

For many of the 123 million people worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict, violence, or disasters, the first safe place they find is a Medical Teams clinic on the border of a new country. We embrace those who have been forced to flee with compassionate, life-saving medical care.

You can help make sure that families who end up in transit centers and clinics in Sudan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda are met with healing and the love of Jesus.  Your gift provides urgent medical care, essential medicines, and health support to help one refugee family survive and rebuild.

5. A haunted house, but… someone’s decaying tooth is weeks away from causing a life-threatening infection, and they can’t afford dental care.

For over 30 years, we have provided free dental care throughout the Pacific Northwest for people who otherwise wouldn’t have access to health care. According to the CDC, one-quarter of adults ages 20 to 64 have at least one untreated cavity.

Through our Care & Connect Mobile Health clinics (the big red vans!), we provide our neighbors with everything from dental services to mental health screenings to help identify health concerns before they become emergencies. We connect patients to follow-up care that will help them stay healthy.

Your gift provides a full dental visit — including exam, X-rays, treatment, and relief — giving someone without insurance freedom from pain and the chance to smile again.

With your help, we can prevent these scary stories from becoming reality. We can banish the nightmare of a family that is suffering alone, without medical care, and without hope.

What’s the most horrifying thing to us this Halloween? Preventable suffering and deaths.

With your support, we can go the last mile, to the hardest places, to care for those who have been forgotten, forced out, or left behind.

Donate today or shop our holiday Gift Catalog to send things like mental health care, safe delivery kits, and supplies to treat infections to those who need them most.

All gifts made through our catalog now through December 31 will be DOUBLED up to $50,000!