A group of 46 volunteers from the Hinsdale and Burr Ridge recently made their way through Costa Rican communities, providing medical assistance, performing construction services and ministering.

The trip was part of a humanitarian mission sponsored by the Adventist Hinsdale Hospital Medical Staff Auxiliary Junior Board.

The contingent left for Costa Rica June 7 and spent nine days there, said Colleen Salvino, one of the trip organizers.

Six physicians also made the trip to provide basic medical services. The group treated hundreds of children and adults in Costa Rica with much needed medicine, renovated buildings and spread the word of the lord, organizers said.

“It is an amazing experience because we are able to do so much for those in need,” said Salvino, of Burr Ridge, whose husband, Kevin Salvino, a physician specializing in podiatry, made the trip. “The doctors are able to go back to their roots as physicians and provide basic care.”

This is the group’s second consecutive trip to Costa Rica. In 2007, volunteers traveled to Ecuador on a similar mission.

On June 8, the group worked in a community near San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, and provided medical services from roughly sun-up to sundown, Salvino said.

“We began (Monday morning) with a morning reflection and a breakfast prepared by the locals, then the doctors treated people from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” Salvino  said. “We also provide a kids camp; it’s really a mission of faith for the youth.”

Among the youth who made the trip is Hinsdale resident Jack McKenna, who served on the 2008 mission and wanted to return to help with the medical team.

“Last year, I helped in a lot of areas, helped take vital signs, worked in the pharmacy and provided triage services evaluating patients and their needs,” said Jack, a junior at Mt. Carmel High School in Chicago, where he is the student government president.

“It is mind boggling sometimes to go on a mission like this and see the needs of those in third world countries. It gives you more respect for what we have here,” Jack said. “Last year it really took me out of my comfort zone, really opened my eyes.”

Burr Ridge resident Susan Kett, who made the trip with husband Dwight Kett,  an obstetrician/gynecologist at Adventist Hinsdale Hospital, said the $1,500 expense per person to travel to Costa Rica is outweighed by the intrinsic rewards.

“There is so much joy that comes from this, helping children connect with Christ and letting them know that God loves them,” said Susan Kett.