My Medical Mission to Thailand Part 1

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Our church has an Outreach Program which includes sending Mission Groups out for medical care and construction projects in far off lands. I had previously been to Puebla, Mexico just outside of Mexico City to help a Medical Mission visit several villages to provide basic medical care and education. Every two years, we send teams to Thailand to help the  Christian Mission to the Orient at the Lana Theological Center (LTC) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. LTC runs a school and assists outlying, small churches in villages outside of Chiang Mai. As you can imagine, spreading The Word in a predominantly Buddhist country has its challenges but there are a significant number of believers out there to Shepard.

Thailand has been through many changes over the years. The Thai people emigrated down from China around the Sixth Century and became a Monarchy early on. Back then it was Siam until 1932 when it changed names to Thailand and befriended Japan during WWII. As the war progressed, that changed; Thailand saw an increase in American and British presence helping supply forces in China through its strategic position on the border of then Burma (now Myanmar) with aircraft flying “The Hump” over the Himalayan mountains and the Burma Road into China. Of course, we had a big military presence there during the Vietnam era because of its proximity to Laos and Cambodia. Though there have been many coups and political unrest, they have currently settled on a Parliamentary-Monarchy form of government with the military still overseeing developments.

As of this writing, Hamas has attacked Israel and in the initial fighting, several Thai citizens were killed or taken hostage by Hamas. Little known fact, Thailand provides almost all the foreign farm labor in Israel. And there may be consequences for the country's agricultural economy if large numbers of Thais choose to stay away after the Hamas attack. Many of the Thai workers have to borrow money to go to Israel and now they are returning, jobless and in debt.

LTC Compund

LTC was originated by David and Deloris Filbeck. Their daughter, Carmen, and son, Ken, now operate the Center. The Filbecks were called to bring the Gospel to the Lua people of Northern Thailand in 1960. David spent 10 years learning the culture and language. But the Communist insurgency in 1974 had David return to the States where he taught at several Christian Colleges until 1982, when they were called back and settled in Chiang Mai, the largest city in the North. Their children returned with them and they named their ministry the Christian Mission to the Orient. As part of their leadership training program, they turned the LTC into a four-year Bible College sending out graduates to leadership roles in their communities and to plant new churches in North Thailand.

Registration/Triage

Our reason for being there was because of an idea Ken had in 2007 of doing mobile clinics in outlying villages. Ken is actually Doctor Ken, an accomplished Emergency Room physician who practices in Thailand, Australia and California. Under his and Carmen’s supervision, teams like ours come to Thailand to do medical, dental and vision care. There is no real organized medical care outside of the major cities in Thailand. This would require travel into the city and can be quite costly. So clinics like ours are the only real chance for people to meet or be treated by medical people. We did not have a dentist this time so we focused on vision and medical care.

After an initial registration process, vitals were taken and they were triaged to either vision, medical or both. The Thai students did all the registration and interpreting (which led to interesting conversations as they tried to interpret medical stuff to our English). The vision folks, Danny, Amy, Chad and Sherri, had low tech manual gauges to determine eyesight measurements and gave out one pair of donated single vision readers and one pair of sunglasses. It was pretty rewarding watching the reaction of the patients who put on their glasses and for maybe the first time, were able to see and read in focus.

Our care givers were two RNs, Sara, Pamela, and Doctor Ken. They interviewed patients and diagnosed what they could, given our limited supplies and equipment. The people we met were mostly farmers and field workers doing hard labor. Most chief complaints were pain in joints, cold and coughs, general fatigue and the occasional trigger finger (fingers that lock when extending or contracting into a fist) or Carpal Tunnel. There was a pharmacy to dispense pharmaceuticals and vitamins prescribed by the Care Team.

I was partnered with Ken’s son, Samuel, a current phlebotomist and new medical student. Samuel was also somewhat fluent in Thai and was our interpreter. For the cases of general fatigue, we were tasked with doing B12 injections in the arm and for the joint pain we were doing direct knee injections or shoulder joint injections of pain medication. Samuel was a natural having stuck many folks in his work but I was the holdout. Let me explain.

Someone came up with the idea that I had vast medical knowledge from my days as an EMT when I was a Sheriff’s Deputy in San Diego (yeah…it’s ok, I laughed too). I was trained as an EMT as part of my duties flying as an Observer and Pilot for ASTREA, the Sheriff’s Aviation Unit. This period was almost in the black and white television days; the expectation was monitoring patients as we flew them to an ER in our County. We didn’t inject people with drugs but we could monitor a drip from an IV bag. We didn’t diagnose their conditions or offer treatment. We “scooped and hauled” as they say in the industry and got them to competent medical care waiting at the helipad like the opening scene in M.A.S.H..

So, imagine my surprise when Dr. Ken announced I would be injecting people with really sharp needles in places I normally would have avoided. Dr. Ken, on his behalf, was an excellent teacher and his demonstration was to grab my arm and inject me with a B12 shot in the bicep. He said, “Any questions?” I was a little stunned and said,” No.” I then began my career as a jungle Medical Tech. 

Joint-Army 1st Clinic

This went on for the first clinic as I happily drew B12 from ampules, turned to these lovely people and had Samuel ask which arm, as I poked and dispensed the B12 into their arms. We would trade off the injections but there were times when Samuel would wander off to help someone or interpret; then I was on my own with no one to supervise. Scary stuff. Dr. Ken came by and said he was going to do a knee injection. He prepared his syringe and had Samuel and I watch as he did so. He showed us how he found his mark and just slipped it in a sweet spot just to the side of the knee cap. He soon came back and had Samuel do one. Then came a steady stream of knee shots interspersed with B12s that Samuel was doing by himself while I held his alcohol swabs and band-aids if needed. 

Then came the double-team sales pitch by Dr. Ken and his co-conspirator, Samuel. Dr. Ken asked if I wanted to try the knee injection. To say I was hesitant was an understatement. Dr. Ken and Samuel, both said it was “easy” and nothing I couldn’t do. I held off and took the matter under submission as we ended the first clinic. 

The second day, we set up in another church and began our injections. Soon Dr. Ken came by with another knee injection and called me over to watch. As cool as a cucumber, Dr. Ken did his magic, found his mark, injected and withdrew. He then said the next one was mine. In 90-degree heat and 75% humidity, I felt a chill go down my back. Sure enough, within minutes, another injection came up and I had to prepare a syringe for this really nice lady I had never met before this moment. I followed Dr. Ken’s instructions, found what I thought was the right spot, slipped that needle in with a satisfying “pop”, and pushed the plunger and got out.  Amazingly, contrary to what you might think, there was no blood and she walked away without even a band-aid. I was relieved to say the least. From then on, Samuel and I traded off B12 and knees the rest of that day. 

I.T. Support

After each clinic, as a reward, we would make a 7-11 run. Yes, 7-11 stores were everywhere in the Chiang Mai area we were in. As well as Burger Kings, McDonalds, Dairy Queens and Taco Bells. If you didn’t notice the bundles of cables and wires hanging precipitously from the telephone and power poles, you’d have thought you were home in the States. Yes, this is one of the places you call when you need IT support. Go figure. Well….there is all that driving on the wrong side of the road stuff too.

On the third and last clinic we saw some shoulder joint injections come in. Dr. Ken did a couple and did show Samuel and I how to do them. Luckily, there were only a few. Samuel did some and one of our intrepid RNs, Pamela, wanted to try. Clearly, she wanted to expand her repertoire and, like a kid in a candy shop, with a big smile on her face, got a shoulder and a couple of knees too. I wasn’t able to get a shoulder in but that was ok with me.

We were based in Chiang Mai but for the clinics, like Mexico, we secured lodging in a hotel close to the villages we went to. The Royal Ping Garden and Resort was a short drive to the two villages we worked at. I should point out that most of the hotels in this part of the world were called “resorts." At one time, The Royal Ping may have been a luxury hotel property but it lost some of its luster. It’s a bit run-down but clean. We were treated to a buffet breakfast and dinner after a homemade lunch was served at each village we worked at. It had usable Wi-Fi and a nice pool. It was mostly constructed of wood and you can imagine what the effects of rain, heat and humidity has on a building in that part of the world. There was a vast distinction between the room accommodations. The guys started out in a one room cabin with one giant bed made from several mattresses. The women had similar accommodations but once viewed, chose to rent better rooms for themselves. There’s a reason it has a 3.8-star rating in TripAdvisor. 

In its defense, we were in rural Thailand amidst the jungle and the rice fields by its namesake, the Ping River. It is the rainy season and when we got there it had been raining on and off since our arrival in Chiang Mai. Then, the river was a meandering stream along the property. But on our first night there, it began to rain torrents. We’re talking water park like water cascading from the pitched roof onto the pool and patio. By morning, we could see the river had climbed its banks and was now a raging river with fast moving water and now waterfalls where there were none.

Everywhere was lush and green. The rain and, no doubt, high water table, formed big trees and flowers and an occasional Marijuana bush. You can’t miss that distinct bright green and leaf. I hadn’t seen green like that since my flying days spotting Marijuana fields in rural San Diego. I spotted several right alongside the road. It is legal in Thailand since 2022, and we saw several dispensaries in Chiang Mai. 

Ok, that covers the medical portion of the trip. I will soon have Chapter Two, our travels to Thailand and our assimilation into Thai culture.

The Passing of David Kelly

The Passing of David Kelly

Diane and I did not know David a long time and came into his circle through Chad and Sara. We spent most Sundays together at Church and went to long spirited lunches afterwards. He would, against our wishes, provide our Grandson, Robert, with lethal doses of candy from the café at Church. We were occasional co-workers and we visited his home a few times to celebrate birthdays and holidays.

What I learned in that short time was that David Kelly was a great man. Not like Kings, Presidents or Soldiers but as a human being. He was kind and generous and always there to lend a helping hand. But besides his family and friends, he loved his City and our church, Compass Church.

He was a big part of Colleyville, Texas and Colleyville was a big part of him. He served this community both politically and spiritually and helped make it a better place for its citizens and our congregation. David had been a Mayor of Colleyville and folks still referred to him as Mr. Mayor when they saw him on the street.

The other thing I learned was David had a good heart. He was a good provider, father and grandfather and most of all, a good friend. He was always there with a kind word, a bit of encouragement and ready with a joke to lighten your load. He was generous with his time and resources and a prayer if you needed it.

My favorite memory I will take with me was a birthday we spent with him. Little known fact, David loved Bingo. He had won big the week before his birthday and, instead of buying something for himself, reinvested those winnings in his friends and family by sponsoring us at a Bingo Hall. Of course nobody but David won that night. It was so entertaining watching David; he was engrossed in his Bingo devices, giving advice, shielding his eyes with a green banker's visor I had gotten him for that event, surrounded by other Bingo enthusiasts and, of course, people watching, kind of like visiting Wal Mart after 10 p.m.

Things were tough for him in his final days but I’m sure he was reminded of another David who struggled with fear and doubt. In Psalm 59:16, David was aware King Saul had sent men to capture and possibly kill him, but David leaned on his faith in God to get him through praying:

“But I will sing of Your power;

Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;

For You have been my defense

And refuge in the day of my trouble."

It was tough watching him in his final hours. My wife, Diane, remarked how life, sometimes, can be cruel as we watched him struggle. I agreed because I didn’t want our friend to suffer so. I felt a rich life shouldn’t end this way.

But then it came to me that our friend David was no longer there. God had already picked him up and was probably on his way home. What we were seeing was what God intended us to see. God had gathered his friends and family at his bedside because He saw something in us that needed work.

God knew we all had thoughts and feelings of anger, sadness, regret, remorse and forgiveness that hadn’t been dealt with yet. Some had been consistently caring for our friend for quite some time and knew their efforts, though at times heroic, were coming to an end. Others had been brought up with him and knew those days were coming to a close. Some of us had only known him for a short time and wished we could have had more time to share with him.

God is a realist after all and knew that in the days to come, these feelings wouldn’t subside easily but the time we spent there would comfort us in knowing we had been there for him and had his back when he needed us most. After having watched over him and reflecting, most of us left to go back to the world we knew and soon after, David finished his journey with his family close by.

And I know for sure David has found and passed through that narrow gate of Matthew 7:13-14.What comforts me the most is knowing he is now with Jesus, probably peppering him with some probing questions that needed answering (if there are cellphones and Google in Heaven, David is working his phone really hard) and meeting up with those who proceeded him.

My hope is we’ll meet up again someday but for now, David, thanks for being my friend.