Yet, the Hough Ear Institute is making that dream come true for some ear doctors who call Vietnam their home.

In 1996 Dr. Jack Hough, founder of the Hough Ear Institute, led the first team of ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctors to re-enter Vietnam since the fall of Saigon more than 20 years ago.  They conducted seminars in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and Hanoi.  These were attended by hundreds of Vietnamese physicians.

Based on the enthusiastic response of the Vietnamese doctors and the Ministry of Health, the American doctors decided to try to help raise the standards of ENT care in Vietnam.  Under the auspices of the Christian Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgeons and REI Vietnam, a program has been developed. Twice a year teams of surgeons return to Vietnam to do surgery and teach modern operating techniques to the doctors there. 

Dr. David Hough and his son, Joel, were part of one of these teams in 2004.  Dr. Hough, an audiologist, worked with a hospital that is developing an infant screening program and delivered approximately 100 solar powered hearing aids and some donated audiometric equipment.  The Hough Ear institute then brought Dr. Nguyen Thuy, the Vietnamese doctor in charge of the program, to our institute a few months later for some advanced training.  In 2006 alone Dr. Thuy and her team screened over 3,000 newborn infants in her hospital.

As part of the ongoing program begun by Dr. Jack Hough and his colleagues, up-to-date medical journals and modern equipment are being donated to hospitals in Vietnam on a regular basis.  Much remains to be done.  Some hospitals still lack even simple devices such as electrocautery machines routinely used in the United States to stop the bleeding in children who’ve had tonsillectomies.

In addition, a fellowship training program brings Vietnamese physicians to the United States for one to three months of intensive observation and training.  In the past ten years, more than 15 doctors have come to live in the homes of their American colleagues, learning about our lifestyle as well as about medicine.  The Hough Ear Institute has hosted seven of these doctors and donated equipment to several hospitals in Vietnam. 

In 2006, Dr. Richard Kopke traveled to Laos as part of a delegation invited to visit that country with the aim of establishing a similar program for that country.

Dr. Jack Hough and his wife, Jodie, have made numerous medical missions trips all over the world for the past 50 years.  Other physicians, audiologists and other members of our team are following in their footsteps.  They frequently travel abroad using their particular area of expertise in service to mankind. 

Dr. Michael McGee, president of HEI, and his family travel every summer to some African nation, where he provides much needed medical services in out-of-the-way hospitals.  They also lead services in bush churches and share their faith with those they meet.  Dr. McGee usually takes other doctors or medical students along with him on these summer trips.  Many of the patients they see are infected with HIV or have AIDS.  In the last few years, he has gone to Rwanda, Zimbabwe, and Kenya.  Dr. Kent Dyer and his family made a similar trip to Kenya in 2006.

Audiometrist Albert Ramirez travels to India or Africa to test the hearing of underprivileged or handicapped children.  Dr. Mark Wood and his family have made several medical missions trips to Mexico.  In 2005, Dr. Wood also traveled to Bosnia to teach at a medical seminar.

These are just a few of the many ways our people are reaching out to help others in our world.