Medical Ministry – The Next Step

From the very beginning, medical ministry has been an integral of our vision at Mission of Hope International. Since neither Lex nor I are trained medical professionals, we have had to be very patient in the development of this ministry. For years the only thing we had going on would be occasional mobile clinics whenever we found American medical professionals who would come spend a week with us. Many people were helped through them, but we had no way of offering continuous care to those who really needed it. That was the extent of our medical ministry until Gama and Angela moved to Haiti in 2011.

What a blessing Angela was to our students and neighbors as little by little she put time into attending to the sick. In response to her hard work, we transformed a spot into a permanent medical room. Sally Heier, an amazing RN from southwest Florida came on the scene, mentoring us. She is passionate about providing care for the poor that they can actually follow through with and enjoy the full benefits of. In 2013 Angela returned to the States and Leah Fuller joined us, building on the foundation Angela started. Bless Back Worldwide began working with us in 2012 and today are true partners, providing medicines for the MOHI clinic, investing in the expansion of the clinic, bringing medical professionals to come along side of the work Leah is doing and so much more. Leah also conducts regular medical clinics at our St. Etienne campus, using the mobile medical clinic donated by The Chapel and Mission USA. Today’s medical ministry is focused not so much on quick fixes for desperate people, but ongoing patient care and education for the communities we serve.

Dr Roy Blank (Bless Back Worldwide) and Nurse Leah Fuller – Dr Blank came down this week specifically to help interview doctors for a position at the MOHI Clinic.

We are very excited about the next step in serving our students and communities. We are currently interviewing Haitian doctors and nurses with the hope of hiring one of each to work with us. This will allow us to continue to provide healthcare for our regular patients while deepening our impact within these communities. A Haitian doctor and nurse will be able to teach patients much better, as they are a part of the culture and their language skills far surpass American health professionals. Leah will be able to organize teaching materials for classes on critical subjects such as hypertension, diabetes, nutrition, sanitation and family planning. Education is the foundation that will enable people to enjoy good health.

Obviously some good teaching going on here!

Our patient base does not have the means to support a doctor and nurse’s salaries. It would make sense to just charge the patients enough to cover them, however we would lose most of our patients who are struggling to feed their families. Seeing as that these are actually the people who we are here to serve, this would not line up with MOHI’s vision for medical ministry. Consequently, we are looking for other ways to fund these Haitian medical professionals. Leah is working on some thoughts and I hope to share some information from her with you soon. In the meantime, would you please pray for wisdom for us as we continue to navigate on this path? Thank you.

We were so excited to receive a container of food this week from our friends at Kids Against Hunger Global (Tulsa, OK). We are so grateful to Marshall & Sherry Horn, the entire Board at KAHG and to each individual who helped to purchase and package this food. The food will be cooked and served in our schools, shared with orphanages, distributed to those presenting signs of poor nutrition in the medical clinic, and shared with others as their needs are made known to us. If you have a group (church, youth group, school group, civic group) that might be interested in working with KAHG to package food to be sent to Haiti, please let us know and we will gladly put you in touch with them.

A container of food arrived this week from Kids Against Hunger Global (Tulsa, OK)!

We have some pretty amazing kids and school staff here at MOHI. I’ve been noticing a different feel at the school this year. I seem to get more smiles and hugs from the elementary students and the high school students are being a bit more respectful. I’m noticing in little things like greetings and choosing to make eye contact. I know it’s still early in the school year, but I do believe that our staff is making progress with the students in this regard and I’m just down right happy about it.

MOHI students

Pastor Kevin Groder is spending some time here at MOHI this week. He encouraged the church this morning about discerning the will of the Lord. He also likened himself to a dump truck full of sand. Uh, I suppose you would have had to have been there for that one.