Volunteering with some “Flying Doctors” does not sound like something you do every day. If your lack of an MD or other medical qualification has been stopping you – your wait is over! Well, okay, if you live in the south-west United States and there is space, that is.

World Hum recently posted about Los Médicos Voladores and included the comments of one “general” volunteer, who was trained the week before she went on how to take blood sugar levels.

The doctors go to four to five day long trips to Mexico once a month – and other medical volunteers who fly one commercial airlines travel less frequently but for a slightly longer period to other locations in Central America. There is also a “biannual one-day Oasis clinic in the Coachella Valley” for migrant workers in the US.

In fact in addition to the free medical care provided to anyone who can come during their opening hours, they also provide health education and leave medical equipment which local health facilities can use permanently. This is all done in cooperation with local authorities.

The mention the importance of administrative volunteers, who don’t get the dramatic task of crossing borders and delivering medical care “on the front lines”, but who keep the organization afloat from behind the scenes. Also needed are volunteer interpreters: “good conversational level Spanish is the minimum we require” though familiarity with medical vocabulary is certainly desirable.