Apr 22, 2013 1 min read

For a week last month, Dr. Vasu Malepati, his wife, Dr. Durga Malepati, and their daughter, Swathi Malepati, a medical student, traveled to El Salvador, Central America, on a medical mission with the Foundation for International Medicine Relief for Children.

Vasu Malepati has been an ear, nose and throat specialist for 25 years, providing care at his office in the Anthony M. Lombardi Education Conference Center at Monongahela Valley Hospital.

During their time in El Salvador, the family treated local residents at clinics and made almost 10 home medical visits. They taught personal hygiene and the English language to children in community schools.

Of the seven nations that comprise Central America, El Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated.

While the life expectancy is growing and infection rates are slowly decreasing, neither could be accomplished without the help of people like the Malepatis.

For 15 years, the Malepati family has been lending a healing hand through their medical expertise to people in more than 12 countries on four continents. They have provided care education and medical supplies to individuals from such countries as Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Peru, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.