When Wings of Hope President and CEO Bret Heinrich visited Tanzania this past June, he was able to join our longtime partner Flying Medical Service (FMS) on their fly-in medical clinics serving Maasai women and children. FMS flies doctors into 25 Maasai communities, visiting each settlement every two weeks to provide pre- and post-natal care for mothers and vaccinations for babies. They also weigh the babies, using a scale hanging from a plane wing, to make sure they are gaining sufficient weight through nursing. Mothers of underweight babies are given a mixture of powder and vitamins that they can make into a drink for their babies called “Plumpy.” Wings of Hope mechanic, Bill Patterson, joined Bret on the trip to perform an annual inspection on the FMS plane.
Next, Bret traveled to Zambia to visit with our partner FlySpec, the country’s only orthopedic, reconstructive and plastic surgery organization. In 2017, FlySpec offered medical care to nearly 5,000 individuals and performed 1,388 surgeries. During his trip, Bret observed a surgery at a local field hospital.
