AIRINTERMED
Improving Health Conditions for the People of Nepal
“Fabulous”…”Incredible”…”Life-changing”…”I can’t wait to go back!”
These are just some of the comments AirIntermed volunteers used when describing their mission to the Eco-Farm Home for Orphans in Nepal.
In September 2015, the AirIntermed program was re-initiated by Dooley Intermed in partnership with Airline Ambassadors International (AAI) headquartered in Washington, D.C. creating a unique opportunity for airline personnel to participate in a program devoted to improving conditions for the children of Nepal.
Our first team of current and former Airline volunteers arrived in Kathmandu in 2015 to volunteer at our nearby Eco-Farm Home for Orphaned Children in the Sankkhu–Sharada Village, in cooperation with Mission Himalaya www.facebook.com/MissionHimalaya. Volunteers interact with the children, help them improve their language, math, science, art and music skills, for a stay lasting two weeks. Volunteers are housed in our custom built 3 bedroom “Happy Shepherd” cottage located on the Orphanage grounds just outside the Orphanage gate. Each bedroom room is equipped with an attached modern bathroom. The cottage also has a small lounge area and a kitchenette.
“We decided to re-start the program based upon interest generated after Nepal earthquake fund-raiser that Dooley Intermed held at The Explorers Club in New York City,” said Scott Hamilton, Dooley Intermed president. “Airline personnel are well-trained and highly motivated for volunteer assistance that meets a clearly defined need in a country severely impacted by poverty and natural disasters.” Nancy Rivard, president of Airline Ambassadors said, “We welcome the opportunity to work with Dooley Intermed. Our network of airline personnel, students, medical professionals, families and retirees who volunteer as ‘Ambassadors of Goodwill’ have addressed many of the same issues of poverty and hunger, education, health, child welfare, community development, and disaster relief. ”Rivard continues, “This is a logical extension of our core mission of providing for orphans and vulnerable children worldwide.”
Pictured at right -AirIntermed volunteers with the children at the orphanage having fun.
Application for AIRINTERMED NEPAL PROGRAM
Cost to you:
$1060 for your two-week program which covers:
Lodging and Breakfast in Kathmandu, Welcome dinner, City tour, Lodging Farewell Dinner in Kathmandu
The AirIntermed-Nepal program is currently on hold due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
If interested, please contact:
or snail mail to:
Kate Jewell, ND PO Box 1111 Eastsound, WA 98245
909-455-8694 (cell)
Early History...Dooley’s Dollies
The airline volunteer program was conceived in 1961 by Dooley Intermed’s then president and founder, Dr. Verne Chaney, to provide volunteer assistance to its medical and educational programs. Dr. Chaney obtained the interest and support of the management of Pan American World Airways to allow its stewardesses to be granted a three-month leave of absence without pay, to voluntarily work in the various projects. Pan Am provided transportation to and from the project sites.
The stewardesses worked alongside Dooley Intermed’s doctors and nurses in its clinics, hospitals, orphanages and schools or wherever there was a need for extra help. Called “Dooley’s Dollies” in media coverage at the time, the women were assigned to Dooley Intermed project sites in India, Nepal, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
“Besides being of immense value to patients, the program provided enormous positive awareness for the airlines involved,” said Hamilton. “Pan Am ran ads headlined, ‘When your Pan Am stewardess isn’t serving you, she may be serving mankind.’”
Barbara Price, retired director of corporate travel for UBS Investment Bank in New York, fondly remembers her time in the field with Dooley Intermed. As a Pan Am employee, she spent three months in remote areas of Nepal assisting a Registered Nurse. In the late 1970s many villages could only be reached on foot. Often sleeping in tents with a group of Sherpa, she performed vaccinations, measured blood pressure, gathered blood samples for further study and conducted heath education classes with a battery-powered filmstrip projector.
“Oh my goodness. It was the experience of a lifetime,” she said recently. “The airline’s volunteer program in Nepal, combined with Dooley Intermed’s know-how, allowed me to positively influence hundreds of lives.”
Pictured here is Nancy Rivard, President of Airline Ambassadors Internatonal with Khenpo Pema Wangdak, Buddhist Monk and Founder of the Pema Ts'al Monastic Institute, Pokhara, Nepal and Barbara Price, at Dooley Intermed's Explorers Club fundraiser for Nepal earthquake victims in 2015.
Kate Jewell
When word about the opportunity was released on social media, former Dooley volunteer Kate Jewell, (who will be coordinating the missions), was deluged with interest and responses from enough volunteers to fill all eight trips this fall, according to AAI’s Nancy Rivard.