On Call - All the Time!

Dr. Ted Aldous in our Mission Doctor. He and his wife Syd are serving as full time missionaries with a very special 18 month calling, or assignment. Dr. Aldous is an ENT (Ear, Nose & Throat) specialist. He left his practice in Utah and moved to Washington DC where he and his wife provide on-call medical support to 15 missions on the east coast. Each mission has an average of about 120 missions. This means the Aldous' are helping out 1,800 potential "patients".

Here's how it works: A missionary who is sick typically calls the mission president's wife and says, "I'm sick". She asks all the normal questions and tries to take care of the situation herself. But if the situation requires professional help, she'll refer the missionary to Dr. Aldous. The missionary then calls Dr. Aldous and he decides if the missionary should go to an emergency room, get an appointment to see a local doctor, or take two ibuprofen and get back to work!

Occasionally the Aldous' hit the road to meet the mission presidents and the missionaries. We hosted them at our mission home last week. They are a terrific couple!

Dr. Aldous receives about 450 phone calls each month. The most common ailments are infectious diseases, back aches and head aches. The two most unusual cases to date: (1) A missionary who got tired of shaving and put some kind of hair removal cream on his face. It was the wrong thing to do and it burned his skin! (2) Another missionary called with a big problem. Apparently he was quite sleepy when he took his daily vitamin pills. He then realized that his ear plugs were missing. Yes, he swallowed his ear plugs, thinking they were his vitamin pills!