ELWA Hospital Profile
URGENT NEED:
- Medical doctor
- $1000 per month to fund a US Doctor, Dr. Alfredmy Chessor
- Transportation expenses for Dr. Chessor
ELWA Hospital is a non-profit 55-bed hospital about one-half hour outside Monrovia in Paynesville. ELWA was founded as a Christian mission hospital in through SIM on the campus of Radio Station ELWA in 1965 by Dr. Bob Schindler, and it was turned over to nationals in 1996. It continues to be devoted to showing the love of Christ through affordable health-care.
Dr. Rick Sacra, a family practitioner from Massachusetts, who has been at the facility since 1995, is on leave, and currently there is no doctor on staff. A Liberian born, US trained doctor, Dr. Alfredmy Chessor, has agreed to join ELWA Hospital for a year, providing she can get funding. A generous donor has offered to finance 4/5 of the money needed, but we need to raise $1000 a month plus transportation costs. She can be ready to arrive by August or September, providing God provides the money needed. If you can help, please contact EMA+USA.
ELWA Hospital and the medical services offered at the ELWA Clinic and ELWA Pharmacy are active and thriving. Our case load includes:
- 165 outpatients daily
- 100 operations monthly
- HIV care and treatment program
The hardworking staff includes 80 nationals, and 3 missionaries
Personnel needed :
- Family practice doctor
- Surgeon
- Nurse Practitioner/Physician's assistant
- Nurse Lab technologist
- Nurse anesthetist
- Pharmacist
- Dentist
- Lab technologist
- Medical Student for two-month positions
Upcoming Projects
- Generator
- lower-cost source for medications
- roof repair - male & female wards
One of the newest ministries is the Trinity Dental Clinic, attached to the hospital. It was founded by Dr. Keith Chapman, dentist and surgeon, and Frieda Schmidt, a dental therapist, on Nov. 23, 2008. Both Dr. Keith and Frieda previously work with the organization Mercy Ships, a humanitarian organization that provides medical care to poor people in developing nations. Surgical procedures are performed by Dr. Chapman in the ELWA Hospital operating room.
They currently see from 15-35 people/day at the clinic, and average over 250 new patients a month in a new building attached to ELWA Hospital. For more information, check out the story on the Palava Hut Blog.
There is much to be done. Not only did the repetitive conflicts result in loss of equipment, medications, and supplies, they also made it impossible to perform adequate maintenance on the infrastructure of the hospital, a serious problem in a tropical climate. If you feel God would have you become involved in the restoration of ELWA Hospital, donations of time, supplies and money are welcomed. Monetary gifts should be identified as "for ELWA Hospital."
History of ELWA Hospital
Medical work was part of the ELWA ministries from the beginning, as some of the wives in missionary families were nurses. The medical needs they encountered in both the mission community and the Liberian community, near and far, quickly demonstrated the need for an expanded medical support facility.
God called Dr. Bob and Marian Schindler along with their sons, Bob Jr. & John, to Liberia in 1962 to begin work on what would become ELWA Hospital. God provided $30,000 through gifts from listeners to Back to the Bible broadcasts which funded construction of three wings of the hospital. Perhaps the most touching gift was from Mrs. Josephine Carmichael, an African-American Christian and retired schoolteacher living in Texas whose grandfather had come from Liberia as a slave and whose sister had been a missionary to Liberia. In His grace, God continued to provide for ELWA Hospital: operating room equipment, X-Ray machines, laboratory instruments, and dedicated staff - missionary and Liberian - enabled not only good quality medical care, but also the opportunity to share the Gospel of Christ to the thousands of patients who came annually to have their physical needs met.
God's timing on equipment was never more clearly shown than the day a Liberian construction worker was rushed into the Emergency Room. The piece of equipment he was driving had come in contact with a high voltage wire; he was unconscious, with no heartbeat. God's provision? The previous day, the hospital had received a gift - a defibrillator (medical device used to restart hearts). The device was used, the heartbeat was restored, and the patient was discharged after a short convalescence.
The evangelistic spirit of ELWA Hospital was reflected in the active chaplaincy program, Christian broadcasting through bedside speakers, and an unforgettable truth from Dr. Bob and the need to share Christ, "No matter how often we cure them, they will eventually die."
Alton Buck, ELWA Hospital's x-ray technician, has written many stories of his experiences in "Long Ago and Far Away". Here is one of his stories. Hospital story by Alton.doc
ELWA Hospital weathered a military coup in 1980, but not the outbreak and ongoing tragedy of civil war in December 1989. Over the next 14 years, the hospital was overrun, looted, and damaged in three successive outbreaks of intense fighting among the various factions seeking control of Liberia. After each outbreak of fighting, efforts were made to restore the medical ministry of ELWA and these efforts continue today, following the end of the civil war.
