Not too long after the change of the millennia, a very successful young media mogul in New York City asked himself a very hard question:  “I made money for myself and a lot of other people, but ultimately … what I had done for the world?  What had I done for other people”

Figuring the best answers to those questions would not to be found at the offices of National Video, Andrew Lustig sold the company and headed west, to Santa Fe, NM, and a new job that was all about helping other people in need — emergency medical technician at Christus St Vincent Hospital.

Not too many years after that, Andrew Lustig, by now also a master of naturopathic medicine, an alternative therapy that emphasizes natural remedies and self-healing, found a way to take his helping mission to the world, from Africa to the Amazon, Haiti to the Philippines.

Then he founded Global Outreach Doctors and sent, not only himself, but whole teams of medical personnel to people dealing with natural disasters like the earthquake last year in Nepal, to the distinctly unnatural human disasters caused by the brutal civil war in Syria.

It’s that most recent mission, completed just a couple of weeks ago, to the huge Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan, that we invited Andrew Lusting to talk with us about.

Reading Room

Recent Press Clips – Global Outreach Doctors

“Hospitals Devastated in Syria, War-Wounded Seek Treatment in Jordan” – The New York Times

Wikipedia Page for the Zaatari Refugee Camp

“‘Getting paid in karma'” – Albuquerque Journal

“As Others Flee to West, Most Syrian Refugees Remain in Region” – The New York Times

“Inside a Jordanian Refugee Camp: Reporter’s Notebook” – The New York Times

“Child Labor Rises Sharply in Syria, Upended by War and Mayhem” – The New York Times