We are a group of successful individuals who realize their good fortune in life and who want to give something back to the planet and its inhabitants. We realize how lucky we are to live in a country (Canada) that has one of the best medical systems in the world, with open access to all…even the poorest of the poor. And we want to share some of that good fortune with those in need in other countries.
GO-MED was started informally during the latter half of 2009 by several nurses, surgeons, and anesthesiologists who have been on previous overseas medical missions with other excellent organizations, such as Operation Rainbow and Health for Humanity. They decided that they wanted to expand their range, however, in several ways. They wanted to:
- include a variety of surgeries according to the expertise of the surgeons who volunteer for a given mission;
- include, as patients, adults as well as children;
- include health education focused on the prevention of illness;
- include a variety of global destinations, with perceived need being one of the critical criteria for selection.
The Provisional, founding directors of GO-MED were the following individuals (listed alphabetically by last name):
- Norman Peter Blair
- Lisa Bruhm
- Rizalina Guilatco Carr
- Robin Carr
- Miechiel Maas
- Shirley Maas
- Sam Sarophim
- Miriam Stewart
A decision was made to proceed on two fronts simultaneously:
- to form a not-for-profit incorporated Canadian society and;
- to plan a medical mission for early 2010 to a place they were somewhat familiar with – Baguio General Hospital in Baguio City, Philippines. (Several in the group had been involved with another organization in a mission to that hospital the previous year, and it was deemed wise to take this new organization to a place that was familiar, with contacts that were already made. It was thought that this would be a good way for the new society to “get its feet wet.”)
On September 9th, 2009 Letters Patent were filed with the Ministry of Industry under the Canada Corporations Act, and the company was fully incorporated federally on November 13th, 2009 under the name
Greater Outreach – Medical/Educational Destinations
It does business under the more “friendly” acronym GO-MED
On November 19th, 2009 GO-MED was also incorporated as an extraprovincial company in the province of British Columbia, with its head office in New Westminster.
Also in November, final arrangements were made with the Baguio General Hospital for a medical mission that would take place from January 24th to February 5th, 2010. Volunteer surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and support staff committed to the project by not only paying for their own airfare, accommodations and food in advance, but also by guaranteeing patient care costs (for pre- and post-operative testing, medicines, post-operative care, etc.) that would potentially be at least partly reimbursed from donations afterwards. Provision was made to offer 80 surgeries including, among others, thyroid, hernia and gynecological operations.
Simultaneously, a great effort had been made to solicit donations of medical equipment and supplies from various sources in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia as well as Tacoma, Washington. These were then shipped to the Philippines in November and donated to this same Baguio General Hospital.
GO-MED has a membership that is open to everyone, whether or not they wish to take part in one of these foreign missions. (See the membership page for details.) We welcome everyone’s input and support.
“Positive people are the ones who move forward in life and create greatness.”