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NEW VISIONS FOR MEDICAL MISSION IN CENTRAL AMERICA

One of the major contributions of the Moravian Church in Central America has been in the quality and pioneering role in the field of healing and training of medical professional personnel.

Before the end of the 19^th century, many of the missionaries were trained in the basics of remote medicine at the Livingston College in London. The Moravian Mission Board had used this school to aid in most of our mission fields around the world with great success. Some of the missionary wives who were trained nurses used their skills to help their families and the people in their villages. In 1925 the sending of Miss Anna Kreitlow, a trained nurse, to Nicaragua to provide medical care to the villages for the missionaries and natives in a professional way, marked a new plan.

In 1933 the arrival of Dr. David Thaeler, Jr. who had training in tropical medicine, was the beginning of a new level of service. With his wife Margaret, a trained nurse, marked not only the beginning of the hospital, but also a school of nursing. A shocking fact is that Catholic medical missions had been serving in Central America since the 16^th century. Although the nursing nuns had served selflessly for four centuries, they had no vision of training the people they served to help themselves. This new Moravian School of Nursing provided dozens of well trained graduates who staffed the two hospitals and three clinics and helped with the hospital in Honduras, founded by Dr. Sam Marx and his wife Grace. Nurses trained in Bilwaskarma were key persons in founding the two first national schools of nursing in Managua, Nicaragua, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. A helpful school of practical nursing was founded in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, by Dr. Ned Wallace and his wife Emily. This provided aid to the doctors and nurses in the many places. Many role models and wise help aided many youth to seek careers in medicine. The excellent education in Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas gave talented students the opportunity to attend medical schools in many places in Central America and in the USA.

But a terrible blow came to Nicaragua with the 1980s and the Sandinista Revolution. All of our hospitals and clinics were soon closed. Our doctors and over 60 nurses fled as well. We were surprised to learn that there are over 75 Nicaraguan nurses in Miami alone. We are pleased they were able to pass the difficult tests necessary to practice their skills in the USA. But the down side is that they are badly missed in Nicaragua. There is limited work being done in Bilwaskarma and some in Puerto Cabezas. The Managua congregation has an active clinic for the poor in their area of the capital with three doctors and several nurses and volunteers working with donated medicines and funds from many churches, other than Moravian churches. We heartily recommend that more of our churches and individuals make contributions there. We were impressed at the scope and competence of those who make that clinic a blessing.

The only hospital remaining under the sponsorship of our church is the Clinica Evangelica Morava in Ahuas, Honduras, which is indeed a hospital, in spite of its name. It began in 1945, when Sr. Cleve Fishel, a nurse was sent to open a clinic. The Rev. Dr. Sam Marx came in 1952 to expand the work. Step by step it grew to have quite a diverse campus, as more equipment, personnel, and new buildings were added. It soon had a airport with MAF help at first, but now under the leadership of Br. George Goff. The leadership of the hospital is now under Drs. Gerard Rudy and Norvelle Goff-Rudy, a couple who carry on the tremendous load of seeing nearly 6000 patients a year, nearly 1000 in-patients, almost 200 deliveries and perform 166 operations in a year. They also oversee two clinics in outlying villages. The campus includes 22 buildings, three wells, and three water towers. The continuous need to keep all these facilities in repair is a fulltime job. The personnel and funds to do this are not available. So a complete inventory report has been made. See Page 3, Prayer Focus for a summary. JHG