Auburn Pharmacist Ministers to the "Four Corners"
of the Western Hemisphere
arold Harmon, '69, is an AU pharmacist with a big heart. He and his wife Delores have undertaken several mission trips to foreign countries over the last five years with an organization called Four Corners Ministries, a non-profit relief organization based in Wadley, Alabama. In its 6 year existence, Four Corners has grown from two missionaries to more than 300 with short-term relief trips to Venezuela, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The Harmon's recent trip was in partnership with Maya-Mesoamerica Mission (3M) ministries where they brought much needed medical attention to the children of Xela, Guatemala. Out of the group of 9, Harold and Delores represented Ava United Methodist Church (UMC) in Wedowee, AL and formed the Pharmaceutical Team. From Nashville, TN, Dr. Nelson Wilson with his children Matthew and Rebekka formed the Dental Team. The Optical Team, Stephanie, Kirby and Kristy Smith, represented the First United Methodist Church in Wedowee. Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner, Jim Gunnells from Anniston, AL set up his clinic in anything from the bedroom of the nicest house in the village to a shade tree behind the school in the jungle. Rounding out the group and representing the Roanoke United Church was Jerry Cotney who was the group's interpreter. Jerry also serves as coordinator of logistics and distribution for Soles4Souls, a part of Four Corner Ministries. Americans David and Kathy Doss hosted the group and live in the mission at 3M.
David and Jerry are kindred souls in more ways than one. Each left the corporate world for a life of service in missionary work. Five years ago, David, a successful Pfizer drug rep, quit his job, sold his house and farm in Missouri and came to Xela where he has been ever since. Jerry, a successful trust manager for AmSouth, left his job to study Spanish in Guatemala where he lived with the Dosses for about a year and a half before returning home.
What Was a Typical Day Like on Their Mission Trip?
Harold said, "We stayed in an unheated hotel at 8,500 ft and left each day to various villages located from 30 minutes to 3 hours from the mother church at Xela. Two days we went into the jungle and experienced a temperature change from 25 to 90 degrees Farenheit on the roughest road I have ever traveled."
The services were all very basic — no blood pressure meds, no heart or diabetes meds. What was dispensed were mostly vitamins, antibiotics, topical steroids, antifungals and OTC compounds, like Visine®. The Dental team passed out toothbrushes and instructions on dental hygiene and pulled bad teeth. The Optical team was perhaps the most hi-tech. They, using something called a "focometer," that is designed to fit glasses in the mission field setting. Lots of reading glasses were dispensed and in some cases cataracts were detected, but these patients had to be referred. Harold said, "We attempted to give everyone something."
However, the group was not able to leave excess medicines behind because the needs were so great that everything they brought was used up before they left. Harold said, "The very last day in the jungle, Dee and I dispensed the last 500mg of Mebendazole to the very last patient. We dispensed 500 Mebendazole tablets on this trip. And we used the very last bottle of amoxicillin suspension on the last child.
What Inspired Harold's Missionary Zeal?
Harold tells the story that several years ago, he was asked to make mission trips to Bolivia. "I always had an excuse. I would give them $200 to help. Then the next year they would ask again. I told them I was not prepared to eat monkey meat and sleep in the jungle, but I would pay for a pharmacist to go." Then Four Corners came into the picture. "They asked me to go to Venezuela, said Harold, "and they told me I could sleep in a hotel." Some might say that was divine intervention even if it didn't include room service. Harold looked at it this way: "I had attempted to run from the Lord long enough. Initially I thought paying for a few vitamins would help the needy, and of course, it does. But it is always such a blessings that we receive as we attempt to help these people face-to-face. By personally delivering services to these people, we become the hands and feet of Jesus. We might dispense amoxicillin, but we display the love of Jesus as well."
What's Next for Harold and Delores?
Harold always has another mission trip in mind. He said, "Delores and I are going to Honduras in June with Four Corners, and we are assisting a team from Luverne UMC on their trip in July. Danny Williamson, a Samford Pharmacist from Wedowee, will be going on his first trip. We're always excited to get new volunteers." Harold shares his story with us in hope that it might inspire other pharmacists "to know that there is something more than their jobs in the comfort zone in the USA." And he adds to that, "War Eagle!!!!!!!!!! "
