The Greatest Need.
The Greatest Reward.

Welcome to Pacific Islands Medical Aid

We help save lives and reduce pain and suffering in some of the poorest island nations in the Pacific region

Medical Aid

With a modest donation, we’re able to purchase urgently needed medicines and supplies at a fraction of their retail price.

For a little more, we are able to send volunteer doctors to regions where there are none, and specialist physicians to perform critical life-saving surgeries.

LEARN ABOUT MEDICAL AID

Communications

PIMA has installed high frequency radio systems which now enable nurses on outer islands in Kiribati to speak with a doctor on the main island.

More help is needed to upgrade the system’s reliability, which is critical in cases of medical emergencies on the isolated outer islands, where there is no doctor.

LEARN ABOUT COMMUNICATIONS

Transportation

Planes and small boats must be used to reach some of the most remote of Kiribati’s islands, where government supply ships seldom call.

Help us pay for emergency evacuation for patients on outer islands.

LEARN ABOUT TRANSPORTATION

Transport to Outer Islands: Our PIMA eye team is preparing to fly to the next small, isolated island of Teraina the Central Pacific . There are no doctors on the outer islands. Patients found to be needing eye surgery will be sent by boat to Christmas Island for surgery at the small hospital there. Surgeries will be performed by our eye surgery team, led by Drs. Paul Jorizzo and Paul Imperia from Medford, Oregon.

PIMA Departs Kiribati as Nation Sides with Communist China

October 2, 2019

Dear friends of Pacific Islands Medical Aid; As you may be…

Thanks to Sherry: A big thank you to Sherry Shaw, (center) CryoLife cardiovascular specialist, and the firm she represents, On-X Life Technologies, for donating world class artificial heart valves. With Sherry are patients and Dr. John Tekanene, physician from Christmas Island in Kiribati.

A Big Thanks to Sherry and CryoLife

March 18, 2019

Absolutely critical to our success with heart patients from the…

Ready to Go Home: Heart patients from the island of Kiritimati prepare to return home after successful heart surgery at Baylor Scott White Heart Hospital in Plano, Texas. Second from left at top is team coordinator and nurse, Amy Moore. Third from right in back row is Dr. John Tekenane, chaperone and physician from the island.

PIMA Team to Establish Island Rheumatic Heart Disease Clinic

March 18, 2019

Following the return home of six more islanders from Kiribati…

Diabetes Program Underway To Prevent Threats to Life

February 12, 2019

With more than 30 percent of adults in the Line Islands of Kiribati…

A World of Help: Little 6 year-old Raebine Tibweana gets a world of help at Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu after being diagnosed on Christmas Island in Kiribati with both her left and right hips dislocated, plus dystonia. Attending Raebine are, from left, nurse Cherlyn Caneda, Raebine's mom, Shriners Chief of Staff Dr. Craig Ono, and PIMA volunteer translator Kaitibo Timon.

Another Shriners Miracle

January 9, 2019

Little six-year-old Raebine Tibweana has just returned home to…

Training Begins: Our Diabetes Program leader, Diabetologist Dr. Elizabeth Beale from the University of Southern California, ( at right ) begins nurse training on Christmas Island (Kiritimati) in the hopes of beginning to reduce the disease of epidemic proportions there, where more than 30 per cent of adults suffer with Type 2 diabetes.

New Diabetes Program To Hit Devastating Island Epidemic

January 9, 2019

By Dr. Elizabeth Beale, M.D., MRCP We are pleased to…

Volunteer on Tarawa: OB/GYN Dr. Maria Teaiwa-Rutherford, at far left, has now returned home after volunteering for two weeks at the small government hospital on Tarawa in Kiribati. With her are staff members at the hospital.

Volunteer OB/GYN Helps on Tarawa; Observations Aim to Help Outcomes

December 11, 2018

One of our most highly regarded ob/gyns has returned home to…

Blind Islanders Can See Again; Team Performs 48 Surgeries

December 11, 2018

Few things are as rewarding as watching the joy on a cataract…

Iakobwa in wheelchair at airport heading home after more than a year at Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu.

Iakobwa Now Learns to Walk; Shriners Brings About Miracle

October 1, 2018

Iakobwa Kabong could only walk on his knees and shuffle around…

Believe. Support. Give.

“With your donations, we are able to purchase much-needed medicines and medical supplies from American companies at a fraction of their cost and put them directly in the hands of the Kiribati doctors and nurses who will use them.”

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