This year, Medical Teams celebrates our 45th anniversary! Since 1979 — the year our founder, Ron Post, went to Thailand to care for Cambodian refugees — we’ve provided loving, life-saving care for people facing crisis around the world. Together, with compassionate people like you, we’ve held countless hands, comforted innumerable families, and saved millions of lives. See key moments from our legacy of healing in the timeline below! Over the last 45 years, we’ve stayed true to Our Calling: Daring to love like Jesus, we boldly break barriers to health and restore wholeness to a hurting world. It’s a reminder and an obligation that has helped guide how we save lives and leave communities healthier. Read on to see how we’ve healed in the last 45 years, and join us as we look forward to many more years of caring together! 45 years of Medical Teams 1979 – 1984 November 1979 — Seeing the cruelty of the Cambodian Killing Fields on the evening news, Salem businessman Ron Post looked at his own daughter and thought, “What if we lived in Cambodia? Would anyone care about us?” Within two weeks, he mobilized the first volunteer medical team to Thailand to care for displaced and dying Cambodian refugees. Northwest Medical Teams had begun. “We raised $250,000. 27 medical people in the air in two weeks. It was a miracle.” – Ron Post, Founder 1985 – 1989 April 1985 — Volunteers deployed to Ethiopia combated one of the worst famines in modern history, bringing with them over $1,000,000 in life-saving equipment and supplies. “After Ethiopia, there was no question about whether Northwest Medical Teams would be a permanent mission.” – Ron Post, Founder, Created for Purpose September 1985 — When a massive earthquake struck Mexico City, many of the same volunteers who went to Ethiopia brought health and healing to the sick and injured who were digging themselves out of the rubble. 1986 — The first community center is established in a dump outside Mexico City, beginning decades of work alleviating poverty and providing critical medical care in Central America. 1989 — Bringing services to those who needed them most in our region, the Mobile Dental Program was launched. Staffed by volunteers, these clinics on wheels could reach remote areas and serve families without access to dental care. 1990 – 1994 1991 – 1992 — While the Kurdish people in northern Iraq were under immense threat by Saddam Hussein’s army, we sent over $30 million dollars in medical supplies and saw 400 patients per day in a severe climate. 1993 — The Yugoslav Wars forced 2 million people to abandon their homes and life as they knew it. Our volunteers were the one constant as they provided care and comfort to Croatian and Bosnian refugees. 1994 — After the unimaginable slaughter of 800,000 of their country’s men, women, and children, we cared for Rwandans affected by the Rwandan Civil War. 1995 – 1999 1997 — In the mid-1990s, we developed programs in Moldova and Romania, caring for children in orphanages. We stocked medical supplies, provided corrective surgeries, trained nurses on infant stimulation, and refurbished dilapidated buildings. “The children often clung to volunteers in groups of five or six. They craved a loving, caring set of hands to hold them.” – Reporter Julie Sullivan, Return to Romania 1999 — Acting on faith, we continued to go where we were needed most. Our teams were on the front-line for Kosovar refugees in Albania as families relocated to makeshift refugee camps. 2000 – 2004 2000 — After it rained for five weeks straight in Mozambique, we quickly responded to displaced Africans who lost their homes in the worst flooding in 50 years. 2001 — As the nation mourned, our volunteers were on the ground in New York City, offering counseling and comfort to shocked survivors and responders of 9/11. 2003 — With hope, we sent teams to provide medical care to Afghans displaced by war. 2005 – 2009 2005 — Devastation left by Hurricane Katrina as it slammed into America’s gulf coast created a public health emergency. We responded quickly to deliver critical supplies and hope to survivors of an unforgettable disaster. February 2007 — Northwest Medical Teams becomes Medical Teams International. “There are many people who have lost everything, and we want to help them restore their lives.” – Buck Deines, volunteer relief worker 2007 — With grave concerns that cholera, hepatitis, and dengue could result from flooding in Tabasco, we sent a team to southeastern Mexico to serve a country 70 percent underwater. 2008 — In partnership with Providence St. Joseph Health, we began a legacy of work that empowered indigenous families in Guatemala to improve community health through clean water projects, sanitation, nutrition, and mother and child health programs. 2010 – 2014 2010 — Our staff and volunteers focused on minimizing the risk of disease threatening survivors of the deadly earthquake in Haiti. We sent supplies used by over 150,000 people, and teams of volunteer orthopedic surgeons lovingly cared for people who had lost limbs. 2013 — Civil unrest transformed Syria into a war zone in 2011. We began caring for Syrian refugees displaced by violence in 2013 by strengthening community health care systems in Lebanon and Turkey. “Medical Teams gave me a new opportunity…My work is important, and it shows others that they are important.” – Shaza, Syrian refugee in Lebanon, community health advisor 2014 — Having established a presence in Liberia in 2003 following the end of the country’s civil war, our staff confronted the devastating outbreak of Ebola in western Africa. Our community health outreach response was recognized globally as essential in preventing the spread of the virus. 2015 – 2019 2015 — 26 years after operations began, our Mobile Dental Program provided $6.5 million dollars worth of care annually, easing tooth and mouth pain for nearly 20,000 patients per year. 2017 — We mobilized a dozen of our disaster teams to bring health and healing to the influx of Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh – most of them frightened children, fleeing ethnic and military violence in Myanmar. 2019 — Taking a leading role in meeting the needs of South Sudanese people running from violence in 2016, we became a key partner to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and now maintain over 60 health facilities in Uganda. This work expanded to Tanzania as vulnerable populations grew. “I am always thinking, ‘What more can we do? How can we deliver better health care in better conditions?’” – Racheal Kyalikoba, Uganda Program Manager In 2019, we celebrated 40 years of Medical Teams International! See our history in this inspirational video: 2020 – 2024 2020 — The world as we know it was turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, our team jumped into action. In total, we held more than 600 testing clinics and 900 vaccine clinics in Oregon and Washington. Our teams vaccinated more than 51,000 people and tested more than 20,000 people globally. 2022 — While the world watched in horror at the Russian invasion of Ukraine, our teams rushed to the aid of Ukrainians. We began compassionately caring for the courageous people of Ukraine, many of whom were forced by the violence to leave everything they knew and loved behind to stay safe. Today, our team in Ukraine consists of more than 24 team members serving in more than 20 villages across 3 regions in Ukraine. Most of our full-time staff are from Ukraine. About 50% of our team are local volunteers, largely from the communities we serve. Photo by Jana Čavojská 2023 — After the outbreak of civil war in the spring of 2023, our work in Sudan expanded to care for the millions of people leaving conflict-affected areas. Our mobile medical teams and our clinics offer life-saving medical care and emergency nutrition to people who need it. 2024 — All of this history could not be possible without YOU! We’re proud of the work that this compassionate community has made possible already around the world. Thank you for your loyalty, steadfastness, and strength over the last 45 years. You’ve helped millions of people live healthier, happier lives. We are so grateful for your support! Thank you for celebrating the past 45 years with us. As we look forward to the next 45 years, there’s more to do! There are still people who are hurting every day who need our help. 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