One of Henry County’s newest nonprofits is off and running in 2022 after a solid rebound from the COVID-19 shutdown.
Representatives from Medical Missions Outreach made 16 trips last year to 13 countries on four continents. The teams of volunteers typically hosted clinics lasting four or five days, during which time they provided medical, dental and vision services to hundreds of local residents living in Third World conditions.

The organization has been going strong for well over a decade, but 2020 saw its activities come to a screeching halt due to the pandemic and shutdown. Nearly a year’s worth of trips were cancelled, but it was still a busy time as MMO’s leadership, amid various economic concerns during an expansion phase, made the decision to relocate its headquarters from a Baltimore suburb to McDonough. That also meant several families of full-time employees, who work essentially as missionaries relying on financial support from churches and individuals, moved their households as well.

An attempt to return to normal in 2021 was made carefully, as travel plans were updated often and a few trip locations were changed on short notice due to COVID restrictions in various countries. But in a year-end recap posted recently on social media, the organization reported nearly 18,000 patients were seen during the year.

MMO leaders are quick to point out that health care is not its primary mission. It is an evangelistic organization that also provides health care.

Every clinic is hosted by a missionary who is based in that location. Every patient who receives treatment is also counseled by a volunteer from a local church in the area who, in his or her own language, shares the gospel. Reports in 2021 indicate that more than 2,500 personal salvation decisions were made as a result of those efforts, and each missionary spends weeks after a clinic following up on local prospects who came seeking medical care.

The first trip of 2022 took place last week in a Mexican town near Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula. Right now 18 other trips are planned for this year to locations in the Caribbean, Central and South America, Africa and Asia. Four of those trips will be to a surgical center MMO has built in a small town in Honduras, which is run by a full-time missionary doctor.
Warehouse space in McDonough has been identified and is being outfitted now to give the organization the room it needs to store thousands of medical supplies that are acquired from all over the country and prepared for transport overseas every month.

Every trip is staffed mostly by medical professionals as well as college students who are studying in a medical field, but there is always room for others with no medical training but a desire to serve for a week in a foreign field. Complete information for anyone who is interested in participating can be found at medical-outreach.com.

A book published in 2020 titled “There is a Healer” shares dozens of stories of how Medical Missions Outreach has made an impact around the world the past two decades. It can be found on Amazon in paperback and as an ebook.