The ministry of CrossRoads Missions goes beyond building houses. In Piedras Negras, Mexico, our mission includes trips each season to provide needed medical care. Now overseeing these efforts is Michele Harrell, our new Medical Director for the Mexico field.
Harrell, who works as a medical sonographer in Morristown, TN, accepted the position this past August. Her duties include organizing the medical mission trips to Mexico, working with Kingsway Charities to obtain medicines for the trip, and working with the physician’s assistant program at the University of Kentucky to recruit PA students to volunteer.
Harrell has made four trips to Piedras Negras with her husband, Mark Harrell, a physician. “We went down there and before my husband and I were married, he said [to the Piedras Negras residents], ‘I want you all to meet somebody.’ Through translators, they told me, ‘We love Mark and now we’ll love you.’ I don’t know. It just bloomed from there.”
Since then, Harrell said she had been looking for a way to become more involved with CrossRoads, and the opportunity to serve as Medical Director emerged. The medical trips usually are staffed by physicians and physician’s assistants. Nurses also are welcome, and one recent trip also saw a dentist attend for the first time in over a decade.
“There are a few people with no medical experience who just enjoy taking pictures and being with us.
We’ve actually had people sign up who are hairdressers who come with us and cut hair during the medical clinics. We can find a use for everybody,” Harrell said. “We actually even have a pharmacy when we’re down there, so we’ve even had pharmacists go with us on the trips.”
Harrell noted that, at times, the medical missions coincide with a group that comes to Mexico to work on a build. The two groups participate in certain activities together, such as devotionals, but then separate during the day for their respective tasks.
If you work in the medical profession and are looking for a way to serve, consider signing up for one of CrossRoads’ medical missions for 2019. Positions of need include physicians, physician’s assistants, PA students, dentists, and physical therapists. Being able to speak Spanish is a huge plus.
The medical missions are scheduled for the following dates: March 9-15, June 9-14, and October 6-11. Sign up today using the convenient online registration system on the CrossRoads site.
