The Aloha Medical Mission (AMM) in cooperation with the Congress of Visayan Organizations (COVO) returned from its medical mission to assist in the rehabilitation efforts of the recent landslide in Guinsaugon, Leyte in the Philippines .  The group of medical and lay volunteers arrived on Wednesday, March 22 on Japan Airlines Flight 074 at 9:20 a.m.     

Veteran AMM volunteer, Dr. Vernon Ansdell, led a group of 14 people, consisting of doctors, nurses, lay people, and COVO members to St. Bernard, the town most devastated by the landslides.   Two evacuation centers were set up for 600 survivors and evacuees from nearby towns threatened by possible landslides. 

Patients from the evacuations centers were provided medical treatment by AMM volunteers at the government sponsored Rural Health Clinic in St. Bernard, which was arranged by COVO members  The volunteers administered 91 minor surgeries and treated 1,083 pediatric and adult patients.  About 198 individual and group mental health sessions were also provided to victims who lost family members or suffering from the trauma of the landslide's destruction.  A total of 1,372 patients were treated during the 5 day visit.

Margarita Hopkins, COVO President, spearheaded various fundraisers and raised over $28,000 for the survivors of the Southern Leyte landslide.  The money was donated to AMM to purchase medical supplies and equipment for the group that left for the Philippines on March 13.  To date, AMM has sent more than $30,000 worth of medical supplies and medications for the Southern Leyte landslide rehabilitation efforts.

The Aloha Medical Mission is a federally tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provide free health care and education in Hawaii and overseas.  Since its founding in 1983, it has sent 3,000 volunteers on 77 missions to ten countries.  Some 190,000 patients have been treated and 8,900 surgeries performed-all without charge.  The Aloha Medical Mission also runs a Honolulu Clinic providing free medical and dental services to the medically uninsured.