The Moses Lake Medical Team (MLMT) conducted its 2013 annual medical mission in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeriafrom November 1st through November 15, 2013.

The mission was sponsored by the Oredo Local Council, under the chairmanship of Honorable Osaro Obazee.It should be pointed out that each team member paid for his or her own flight from the United States to Nigeria. Each member was also responsible for obtaining his or her own Nigerian visa. The Oredo Local Government paid for our round trip flight from Abuja to Benin City. The Local Government was also responsible for hotel accommodation, food, as well as cost of providing security for the team during the mission.In all, 19 team members from the United States of America, joined by three team members from Nigeria took part in the medical mission. The team this year consisted of general surgeons, plastic surgeons, internists, Pediatricians, optometrists, Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNPs), Registered Nurses (RNs), pharmacists, Medical Technicians (Lab Scientists), and support staff.For the majority of the team members, the journey for the mission started on Friday, November 1, 2013. It should be noted that the plastic surgery team flew from Houston, Texas to Lagos, Nigeria, on the 8th of November. After spending a night in Lagos, they flew into Benin City to join the rest of the team. The plastic surgery team participated in the second week of the mission. Most of the teammembers departed from SeaTac Airport, in Seattle, Washington, while some of the members flew from the east coast. We all met in Frankfort, Germany and took the same flight to Abuja, Nigeria. We arrived in Abuja on Saturday evening, November 2, 2013, and spent the night at Henry George Hotel in Abuja.On Sunday morning we attended a church service before flying to Benin City on Sunday afternoon. The flight from Abuja to Benin City was only about one hour. Because of the luggage weight restrictions on the local flight, we decided to send our medications and surgical supplies on a chartered bus to Benin City from Abuja. All the supplies were in Benin City even before we left Abuja.Upon arrival at the airport in Benin, members of the Oredo Local Council were there to meet us. Also present were members of the press.  In attendance was the chairman of the Local Government Area Honorable Osaro Obazee, the vice chairman Honorable (Mrs.) Sweet Ikponmwosa, Dr. Iseh (the medical mission liaison officer), the Oredo Local Council Press Secretary, and representatives from various news media, including Television, Radio, and Newspaper. After a brief press conference at the airport, we were taken to Prestige Hotel where we lodged during the mission. The hotel was only about five minutes drive from the airport. This hotel was very clean, comfortable, well maintained, well secured, and well managed.After checking into our various hotel rooms, three MLMT team members went with the Local Government chairman and his delegates to assess the clinic where we would work. We also examined the shipped medical supplies to make sure that everything was intact. The MLMT members then designated work areas for each of the department to ensure easy work flow during the mission. The front section of the clinic was designed as a triage area for the nurses to do initial assessment and to take patients’ vital signs. A room was set aside as the laboratory, another room marked as the vision center, and a large room was reserved to serve as the pharmacy. Each of the medical doctors had a consultation area for examining the patients.On Monday, the 4th of November, three executive members of MLMT went with the Honorable Osaro Obazee to the Edo Broadcasting Service (EBS) television station to do a live TV interview about the medical mission. We were able to talk about the scope of the mission, qualifications of our providers, sources of the supplies used during the mission, and the fact that our services are free of charge. Honorable Obazee was able to convey to the general public through this medium that they should take advantage of these free services being offered by experts from the United States of America.This process must have been effective because the turn out for the mission was huge. We saw patients from faraway places, including those from out of state.After the TV interview, we went back to taking care of patients. The first day of the mission, only a few hundred patients showed up, but starting from the second day, the crowd began to get larger. For the most part, the crowd was well controlled, mostly because they had chairs to sit on, and had canopies to provide shade at the waiting area. The last working day of the mission, on Thursday, the 14th of November, the crowd became rowdy and difficult to control. This was probably because patients were restless and anxious and wanted to receive free medical attention before the providers travelled back to the United States.