Leading a STM Medical Team

Overarching Principles

Trip Planning Timeline

Medical trips require great coordination of effort among many different processes or tasks. We have found it useful to divide the Pre-Trip planning time into early, mid, and late phase activities. The overall duration of the planning phase for a trip to Asia or Africa is very different, when compared to a trip to a Western hemisphere location. The table that follows provides an idea of the number of weeks prior to departure that a leader needs to be involved with or thinking about a particular activity.

This guide is organized with this timeline in mind. Some activities that the leader needs to be thinking about span the entire timeline from the beginning to the actual trip itself (logistics, for instance). Other activities are "on your plate" for a finite duration (booking air travel, for instance). Obviously, there is tremendous overlap and variation in the timing of these different activities and the table below presents a rough idea of when various issues become important.

Task	Africa/Asia	Latin America	Border Country	Quick Link
Prayer!	0 to 52 weeks	0 to 52 weeks	0 to 52 weeks
Partner selection	36 to 52 weeks	30 to 52 weeks	26 to 52 weeks	Partner Selection
Trip objectives	36 to 52 weeks	30 to 52 weeks	26 to 52 weeks	Trip Objectives
Trip dates	36 to 52 weeks	30 to 52 weeks	26 to 52 weeks	Trip Dates
Begin team interviews	26 to 48 weeks	26 to 48 weeks	18 to 48 weeks	Team Selection
Team STM applications	26 to 48 weeks	26 to 48 weeks	18 to 48 weeks
Visa required?	24 to 48 weeks	24 to 48 weeks	n/a
Medical work permit required?	24 to 48 weeks	24 to 48 weeks	n/a
Immunizations recommended?	26 to 48 weeks	26 to 48 weeks	18 to 48 weeks
Complete team selection	16 to 26 weeks	14 to 26 weeks	8 to 26 weeks	Team Selection
Verify valid passports	26 to 48 weeks	26 to 48 weeks	18 to 48 weeks
Purchase air travel	14 to 18 weeks	12 to 14 weeks	n/a
Send medical work permit applications	12 to 16 weeks	12 to 16 weeks	n/a
Send letters to supporters	12 to 16 weeks	8 to 16 weeks	8 to 16 weeks
First team meeting	12 to 16 weeks	8 to 14 weeks	6 to 12 weeks	Team Meetings
Send visa applications	8 to 14 weeks	8 to 14 weeks	n/a
Budget finalized	8 to 12 weeks	6 to 12 weeks	4 to 10 weeks	Budget Development
Complete day to day schedule	8 to 12 weeks	6 to 12 weeks	4 to 10 weeks	Daily Schedule
Order meds	4 to 8 weeks	4 to 8 weeks	4 to 8 weeks
Last team meeting	3 to 4 weeks	2 to 4 weeks	2 to 4 weeks	Team Meetings
Send off by church	1 to 3 weeks	1 to 3 weeks	1 to 3 weeks
Packing party	3 to 10 days	3 to 10 days	3 to 10 days
Depart On The Trip	Depart Date!	Depart Date!	Depart Date!
Reunion dinner	2 to 4 wks after return	2 to 4 wks after return	2 to 4 wks after return

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