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	11. Dr. Yale Solomon, MD President and Founder Volunteer Eye Surgeons International New York, NY As president of Volunteer Eye Surgeons International, I have become aware of the great effort being made by Fundamed to alleviate the burden of illness and disease among the very poor in underdeveloped areas in Brazil. We have worked with Paulo Seidl, Fundamed's very energetic director, to provide eye surgeons who perform sight saving operations under his guidance. The need is great and Fundamed is working to help. 12. Dr. William Belmond, MD Team Leader Florida Eye Surgeons Sarasota, FL Fundamed performs a great service by sponsoring highly qualified and experienced surgeons from the United States to perform cataract and other types of eye surgery in the poverty stricken areas of North Eastern Brazil. 13. Mrs. Iris Brandl-Grau Overseas Trip Coordinator ADRA/Germany Weiterstadt, Germany Since 05 years we successfully have sent German dentists and doctors to FUNDAMED to treat the needy in Brazil for free. We have had a good feedback from the dentists and doctors and also from Mr. Paolo Seidl who has organized these projects. 14. Dr. Keith Reber Team Leader Northern Arizona Medical Mission Utah, US Dear Paulo Seidl: It has been a few weeks since we returned from our trip to Fortaleza. I wanted to write and thank you for the great trip. In my opinion, it could not have been a better trip. The accommodations were excellent. The hotel was very nice and the food was excellent. We very much enjoyed being part of the Fortal. It added much to the enjoyment of the trip. You Brazilians sure do know how to party. The hospital personnel were great. We appreciated their preparation in have children already selected for us to operate on. It allowed us to spend more time doing surgery. The operation room nurses were the greatest. We so much appreciated their help and their willingness to work the extra hours with us. Please let them know how much we enjoyed working with them. We were very, very pleased with the anesthesiologists that were provided for us. They were excellent and very accommodating. It added to our experience to work with them. Please let those responsible for them know how much we appreciated working with them. Finally, it was a great trip and we feel good about what we were able to accomplish. Thank you again for all your help in putting this trip together. There is so much involved in making this all happen in the right way. This was a wonderful trip for us. 15. Dr. Ginger Holt, MD and Janie Patterson, RN Team Leaders Healing the Children/Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN One doesn't have to understand Portuguese to translate the pleading eyes of a child or the face of a parent who so desperately seeks care for his child. "Can you help me? Please can you help my child?" The desire to obtain the best care for our children and families transcends all language and cultural barriers. This is the recurrent message of our Healing the Children Missions and FUNDAMED. Teamwork abounds with our mission trips. Not only among our diverse American team, consisting of old colleagues from various cities, but between new colleagues with vastly different training and perspectives. Each mission becomes an attempt at cultural and medical exchange which meld into many successful missions. In the past 8 years, we have provided free surgical care to over 500 children. We are proud to add another 50 children or so from Brazil to this total. I have heard it is an old sea captain's tale that saltwater heals wounds quickly and soothes a weathered soul. This makes the beautiful seaside city of Natal a wonderful place to heal small children and breathe new life into them. Speaking for each team member, we were rejuvenated by the glorious atmosphere, open reception, and warm hospitality we received from FUNDAMED and from the local people in Natal. 16. Dr. Mario Ochoa Vice President ADRA Washington, DC Dear Paulo Seidl: I do encourage you to work with them. FUNDAMED is a young agency with an excellent work on behalf of the needy in Brazil, and I believe that, with your association, it will only strengthen their capacity even further. Please let me now if you need some assistance in your endeavor, as we stand ready to help you and FUNDAMED as it has been done in the past. 17. Dr. Mark H. Weinstein, MD Team Leader and Assistant Clinical Professor of Plastic Surgery Healing the Children/Yale University - School of Medicine New Haven, CT I wish to express some of my thoughts on a recent Medical Mission to Northeastern Brazil. I am on the clinical faculty of the Yale University School of Medicine in the Department of Plastic Surgery. In November of 2000 I led a team of physicians and nurses from Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, USA to Mossoro, RN for the purpose of operating on people with congenital cleft lips and palates, burn scars, and other plastic surgical deformities. We brought all of our instruments, supplies, sutures, operating room nurses, anesthesiologists, recovery room nurses, pediatrician, and plastic surgeons. Using two operating rooms for six days, we accomplished our mission with great success, operating on almost 60 individuals. I want to express my thanks and deepest gratitude to the people of Mossoro, to the Mayor and Minister of Health of Mossoro, and to the physicians, nurses, end employees of Santa Lucia Hospital, all of whom were gracious, and extremely helpful to us. Most of all, I would like to express my thanks to Fundamed, without whom the entire mission would not be possible. Fundamed, led by Paulo Seidl, helped us tremendously. We were able to easily obtain our visas, we were met at the airport in Fortaleza, where customs was already prepared for our arrival. Our accommodations and transportation in Brazil, arranged by Fundamed were superb. With the help of Fundamed and the hospital personnel, all the patients were waiting for us, and the screening process to determine the operative procedures went smoothly. Each day in the operating room was a pleasure. We were provided with excellent interpreters, and we even had the opportunity to teach some student nurses. I also wish to thank Fundamed for arranging activities outside the hospital, so that we might better understand and enjoy the culture of Northeastern Brazil. I was also impressed with the fine relationship Fundamed has with the local government and with the local press. Of course the greatest testimonial to Fundamed is the wonderful work they do to provide healthcare, clothing and medicine to the poor people of Brazil, who would otherwise never receive such care. This type of activity is forever to be respected, commended and praised. 18. Dr. Frederick E. Pratt, MD Team Leader and Visiting Professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Healing the Children/University of California - School of Medicine Davis, CA Dear Paulo, It was a pleasure to meet you in Campo Maior with your father and it was especially kind of you to greet us at midnight on our return in Fortaleza. Fundamed did a great job in caring for our needs and ultimately in searching out patients. There is no doubt that Fundamed and more particularly, Mr. Haroldo Seidl, enabled the entire Campo Maior project and experience to occur. That being recognized and acknowledged it is also abundantly evident that the entire community actively participated in facilitating the mission. For example, providing a hotel to live in, a hospital to work at and of course the vehicles and drivers to transport us when necessary. But there was much more, because we celebrated and visited points of interest and friends on weekends; courtesy of people in Campo Maior and friends of Fundamed. It has been my experience, that world wide, large numbers of people continue to go unattended, so it comes as no surprise to find these same kind of people, young and old, in Campo Maior. Needless to say, we were very glad to be able to surgically treat a few of these people (50) during our visit. I hope your work continues to go well. 19. Ms.Connie Davis International Team Coordinator Northwest Medical Teams International Portland, OR Dear Paulo and Haroldo! Greetings from Portland! I know it's been a while since I have contacted you, but I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your partnership with Northwest Medical Teams for the General Surgery team in June 2001. I have read the team's trip report, seen the pictures, and have heard stories passed to me by Brenda and everything sounds so positive! Thank you for all the hard work you and FUNDAMED did for this team. Thank you for the first successful partnership between Northwest Medical Teams and FUNDAMED. I know this team is almost 8 years in the making, but I am so thankful that God assembled the right group of people to inaugurate this partnership. We couldn't have hand picked a better team from New York to represent us. They all have hearts of gold (as you have seen from working alongside them!). I am particularly impressed by the story how the team was able to save the life of the 17 year old and her baby. This is definitely a story of God's planning. I just want to personally thank FUNDAMED for their hard work with this team. This team to Brazil would not have been possible had it not been for Paulo, Haroldo, and the dedicated staff of FUNDAMED. Our expectations have been exceeded and we thank you for that. We look forward to more successful partnerships between NWMTI and FUNDAMED. Thank you again for your commitment to service to those in Brazil. And remember, if you are in America, our invitation for a couple of days in the beautiful Pacific Northwest is still open. Many thanks! 20. Dr. Allam Medhat, MD Team Leader and General Surgeon Columbia University Hospital New York, NY Fundamed proved to be a very organized operation that brings medical help to deprived areas in Brazil. I remember the importance of organization, prior to the trip, and needed to contact them for days at a time. After working with them I can understand why. Cellular telephones in Brazil do not work outside of their home areas and those guys are on the road most of the time to arrange for different missions. Mr. Paulo Seidl awaited us in Fortaleza patiently at 1:00 AM after 8 hours delay. He helped us clear customs and obtain all needed signatures for our equipment release. I would like through Northwest Medical Teams to express the team's gratitude and thanks to Fundamed and both Mr. Paulo and Mr. Harold Seidl. We strongly recommend them for future work with your organization. We certainly look forward to work with Fundamed again in the future.