Mother's Day

Being a mom of four and now a ‘nene’ to a beautiful granddaughter – the role of a mother is something I certainly understand.

Seeing the moms in the places where our doctors work, the tender care they give their children, as we do ours, is just one more bridge to the reality that we are one family.

Today there are women, who have received care during a difficult delivery, who are able to bring a well child home in Africa and Latin America because of Mission Doctors.

Today there are children who haven’t joined the ranks of the HIV orphans because Mission Doctors are serving.

And…Today there are Mission Doctors and their families making sacrifices to make all this possible.

When I visit the hospitals where our doctors and their families are serving this connection – mom to
mom – is always so easy to make.  As a newborn is held up for an admiring visitor, or a story is shared of how they have come to be here, making a long and arduous journey  – they tell me how much they appreciate the care their children have received.. and I see the gratitude in their eyes, and as a mother, I understand, we are one family.

Joy, Connections, Excitement, and Anticipation

The 2011 Retreat / Seminar at Loyola Marymount has come and gone… but the feelings of joy, connections, excitement, and anticipation lingers!

This was the 14th year we have hosted this event for doctors and their spouses considering short-term service and we brought together surgeons from Pennsylvania and Alaska; a Cardiologist from Michigan; Family Practice from Arizona; and our California representation included dentists, family practice docs, an ophthalmologist, physical therapist, psychiatrist, physical medicine and rehabilitation physician, pediatricians, as well as spouses with as varied background as attorney, potter, pilot and writer.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the presentation of Dr. Joseph Llewellyn of Palmer, AK, who had attended the retreat for the first in 2010, and who served at Njinikom, Cameroon at St. Martin de Porres Hospital in the fall. He made a presentation this year on “Thoughts From a First‐Timer”. Dr. Ed Malphus who will be leaving to serve in Cameroon for a month in May told me that Dr. Llewellyn’s presentation had been exactly what he needed for his upcoming one month mission to the same hospital.

So – now the planning begins, those attending are already making their plans to serve, interest in sites from Guatemala to Cameroon over the next year.

Next year will be our 15th Annual Retreat / Seminar – and we are already making plans and taking reservations for 2012! If you are, or know, a Catholic Doctor interested in learning about the possibilities, we would love to hear from you.

A special bridge of healing...

I leave this week for Cameroon - of course this starts with spending quite a few hours sitting in airports & airplanes to get to Douala (I think it is 30!) - an overnight at Padre Pio Clinic and the next day a rather long drive to Njinikom in the Northwest - to St. Martin de Porres Hospital.

So, I began taking malaria prophylaxis, packing my bags which will include some medical reference books requested by Jim and some Tupperware requested by Terry Hake, and a bag of Peanut M&M's - the required take along for mission visitation!

I am really looking forward to this trip. I will meet with the Archbishop of Bamenda and the Bishop of Kumbo. I will have the opportunity to visit our overachieving bloggers Jim and Terry who recently began their three-year assignment and Dr. Bill Walsh who will be completing a one month surgical mission. I will also see my old friend, Sr. Xaveria Ntenmusi, hospital matron. Sr. Xaveria and I have been communicating since the 1980's when she was at Shisong Hospital and other mission doctors were serving there.

Without the hard work and dedication of Sr. Xaveria, St. Martin De Porres would not be able to invite our doctors and other doctors from around the world to provide life saving medical care and the necessary training for local staff.

Sr. Xaveria is just one of our partners in Africa and Latin America. It is this partnership, working with the local community to build sustainable health care that makes our organization and the selfless work of our doctors possible.

Partners here that support, and partners there who receive - a special bridge of healing!

Living for Others

When preparing to speak at all the Masses at St. Pancratius in Lakewood, I scoured resources and reflections on Sunday’s readings.
I came across a link from St. Louis University, that while I didn’t share it directly, it did impact the way I looked at what I was there to speak about – Mission Doctors and their families are truly ‘people for others’

“…our relation to God is a new life in ‘existence for others,’ through participation in the being of Jesus... the ‘man for others,’ and therefore the crucified, the man who lives out of the transcendent” (D. Bonhoeffer).

The sacrifices made by doctors who leave the comforts of friends, family and a practice in familiar surroundings; availability to necessary medications and knowing that they have additional treatment options… they leave behind these reassuring personal and professional connections, to practice medicine in resource poor settings, because they are called – because they are sent.

Their relationship to God is a new life truly lived in ‘existence for others’.

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit...

I´ve just returned from Guatemala and a visit with Drs. Jennifer Thoene and Brent Burket along with their four children, Christopher, Elizabeth, Julianne, and Nicholas. (pictured here with Bishop Gonzalo de Villa y Vásquez and Lay Mission-Helper Mitch Tolbert) Just prior to that visit we had Commissioning Mass for Dr. James and Mrs. Terry Hake, leaving this summer to begin a three year assignment in Cameroon.

I had some time to think about this blog, waiting in airports (and in Guatemala City for an airport to re-open) and how I can share with you the joy, dedication, and generosity of spirit all these special individuals share. One a young family, taking their children, away from aunts and uncles and grandparents - the other couple leaving behind adult children and grandchildren.

It isn´t that they are unaware of the sacrifice, or that they don´t miss the opportunity for big family get togethers that this separation means, but that despite this separation they step out, they take the risks necessary to share their skills with individuals in need in Africa and Latin America.

This is a profound example for all of us who comfortably put our heads on our pillow tonight, who can see our families when we chose. Their example of service, so far from home, is one that we may not be able to follow today, but through our own sacrifices we can make their service possible.

Those who support the work of MDA are the essential partners in a healthy delivery in Guatemala, a child treated for malaria in Cameroon, a trauma cared for in Uganda, a village visit in Tanzania. We put our faith and trust in God that we too may be blessed.

A Seed Sown to Grow in Africa...

"I have come to realize that we all sow seeds everyday. By our actions we sow both good and bad seeds, we then live in the landscape we have created" Dr. Jim Hake shared this reflection on Sunday, at St. John the Evangelist Church in Los Angeles.

Dr. Jim and Mrs. Terry Hake were commissioned, blessed and sent forth this weekend for a three year assignment to Cameroon in West Africa. I wanted to take this blog post and share with you their words of wisdom.

Terry spoke of a faith journey that brought them to this day. She noted that God had sent her three messages that helped her realize that she too was being called to serve as a lay missionary, to teach in the Diocese of Bemenda. Jim shared that he had wanted to be a medical missionary since he first heard a priest from Africa on Mission Sunday 35 years ago while still in medical school.

The seed planted, had been kept buried until 2003 when he and Terry attended the annual Retreat / Seminar offered for doctors who are considering serving short-term. Subsequently, Jim and Terry did serve short-term assignments in both Cameroon and Zimbabwe. Retiring from his Family Practice in Moses Lake, WA, last year, Jim was ready to take the next step, and he and Terry came to Los Angeles in January 2010 and joined the formation program.

Jim completed his reflection by saying, “As we head out we ask for your prayers.”

I would like to ask that you remember Jim, Terry and all of our Mission Doctors serving in Africa and Latin America in your prayers tonight, sowing a seed of mission in your own heart.

A word of prayer for World Malaria Day...

Sunday, April 25: World Malaria Day. One day set to help raise awareness about the widespread devastating impact of Malaria.

Malaria is a deadly mosquito-born disease, that effected Europe and North America as recently as the 1950s. However, simple public health measures helped end the spread and eliminate the disease in these parts of the world.

Sadly, Malaria still afflicts approximately 500,000,000 (500 Million) people in Africa, Asia and Latin America and kills one child every 30 seconds, the time it has taken to read this post.

These staggering numbers can cause paralysis. What can I do?

The image that often comes to mind for me when I consider these numbers is that of one little girl and her father, in Uganda, at the bedside Kate Walsh, R.N., helping the father apply cool compresses to reduce the girl’s fever. Or the mother at the rural clinics in Cameroon with her small son lethargically laying across her lap as the exam was preformed, and medications given.

There are huge global efforts to reduce the impact of malaria, seeking ways to create an immunization, distributing treated bed nets, and the ultimate impact of these efforts hopefully will one day change the face of this disease.

In the mean time, Mission Doctors and their families who can, try to offer care that is both immediate and compassionate to one patient at a time. It may not even be a drop in the bucket, but as a parent myself, I do understand that the entire world can seem to exist in arms of a parent holding one sick child.

For all those suffering today, for their families, for researchers and for everyone who is working to turn the tide on malaria today we pray.