Medical personnel are needed to conduct medical clinics and offer health instruction on OCMC Teams in 2011. Especially needed are doctors in Uganda and nurses in Tanzania. Most communities around the world do not have access to basic medical care or instruction, nor do they have the opportunity to visit with a physician or receive regular medical attention.
OCMC health care teams travel to regions where most clinics are set up in church buildings, existing health care facilities, schools or outside in remote locations that often do not have access to electricity. Stacy Loejos, a nurse on the health care team to Uganda in 2010, which treated over 3800 patients, reported how the team learned and applied “field medicine”: “Though overwhelmed at times, our team became a well oiled machine, learning from each day and applying it to the next, as the unending lines of people explained their many ailments to us.” She explains, “I was using my God given talents to help those in need, and that however small, we would somehow change their lives for the better.”
Participating on a health care outreach team, you will help treat various common illnesses found in other parts of the world - malaria, parasites and other tropical diseases. Medical personnel participate in an outreach of the local Church to heal the sick, care for the poor and needy and offer a living witness of Christ as our Lord and Savior.
The Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) offers two Health Care Mission Team opportunities in 2011. A Team to Uganda will minister to various communities in the Kampala area and a remote region in western Uganda, June 11-26. The Team to Tanzania will serve in an area around the Metropolis center of Mwanza and work with the long-term OCMC Health Care missionaries who serve there, October 4-16.
OCMC invites you to join this holistic ministry that offers both tangible and spiritual benefits to people as you offer primary health care where access is limited. For more information on how to apply, please visit our website, www.ocmc.org or email us at teams@ocmc.org.
Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
OCMC Uganda Healthcare Team Sees Record Number of Patients
Northern Uganda had been decimated by war and insurrection for many of the years since its independence from Britain in 1961. Now relatively secure, former residents are beginning to return, and their medical needs are tremendous. This June, an Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) Health Care Team was sent to Uganda to address the persistent needs that exist there.
Malaria is a scourge in East Africa, and intestinal worms are pandemic. Arriving in Kampala and first working out of Gulu and then moving to Lira, the team treated over 3,800 patients in nine rural clinics. The first day saw a new record for a one-day patient count when over 700 people were examined and treated. The Team pharmacy worked until 8:30 pm filling prescriptions by the light of a kerosene lantern.
The team, led by Fr. Joseph Ciarciaglino, utilized two doctors, one nurse practitioner, three RNs, one physical therapist, and one health care student to bring medical services to many who had not had any care since last year's OCMC Team treated them. These dedicated Orthodox medical professionals are a credit to themselves and to the Orthodox Church. The love and care with which they served God's children was a visible sign of the Gospel message of love of neighbor.
In addition to over $9,200 worth of medical supplies, the Team brought liturgical books and two sets of vestments for the priests. A set of icons, an icon cross for St. Basil Orthodox Church in Gulu, over 3,000 paper icons, and a set of church banners were also gifted by the Team. Financial contributions were made toward a day school and other needs as they arose.
On one occasion, a father brought his infant daughter to the Team. The child's mother had died the day before and, as one of the priests observed, the child's life was in danger. Milk is very expensive for the people of northern Uganda, the equivalent of about 50 cents US per liter; so the Team gave the priest enough money to support the child until she could be fed solid food. (To God belongs the glory!)
Team members were humbled to be in the presence of holy men such as the Ugandan priests that they worked with. “These men are truly ‘fathers’,” one Team member noted, “not only to their parishioners but to all in need in their areas. They try to provide for the people's temporal as well as spiritual needs.” In Uganda, many of the priests take from their own pockets to help those most in need, and no one is ever asked if they are Orthodox. “Each person is treated as the child of God that they are. All of this work is done with a smile and a joyful heart.”
Numerous Team members shared that the people of northern Uganda were a great joy to be with. Despite their poverty, they always insisted on feeding the Team lunch as a token of their appreciation. The spiritual highlight of the trip for the Team was Sunday Divine Liturgy celebrated in a mud walled, thatched roof church. The people sang with great joy and enthusiasm. Fr. Joseph delivered the sermon through a translator and delighted the congregation by blessing them in their own language.
Fr. Joseph was accepted as an altar brother and treated with love and kindness by the priests and by the people. He recalls, “Their celebration of the Divine Liturgy was done with awe and with care for the Holy Mystery. It was a great joy to concelebrate with them in a church that had mud walls and a thatched roof. The greatest cathedral never had a more joyful, reverential, and well-sung Liturgy.”
Malaria is a scourge in East Africa, and intestinal worms are pandemic. Arriving in Kampala and first working out of Gulu and then moving to Lira, the team treated over 3,800 patients in nine rural clinics. The first day saw a new record for a one-day patient count when over 700 people were examined and treated. The Team pharmacy worked until 8:30 pm filling prescriptions by the light of a kerosene lantern.
The team, led by Fr. Joseph Ciarciaglino, utilized two doctors, one nurse practitioner, three RNs, one physical therapist, and one health care student to bring medical services to many who had not had any care since last year's OCMC Team treated them. These dedicated Orthodox medical professionals are a credit to themselves and to the Orthodox Church. The love and care with which they served God's children was a visible sign of the Gospel message of love of neighbor.
In addition to over $9,200 worth of medical supplies, the Team brought liturgical books and two sets of vestments for the priests. A set of icons, an icon cross for St. Basil Orthodox Church in Gulu, over 3,000 paper icons, and a set of church banners were also gifted by the Team. Financial contributions were made toward a day school and other needs as they arose.
On one occasion, a father brought his infant daughter to the Team. The child's mother had died the day before and, as one of the priests observed, the child's life was in danger. Milk is very expensive for the people of northern Uganda, the equivalent of about 50 cents US per liter; so the Team gave the priest enough money to support the child until she could be fed solid food. (To God belongs the glory!)
Team members were humbled to be in the presence of holy men such as the Ugandan priests that they worked with. “These men are truly ‘fathers’,” one Team member noted, “not only to their parishioners but to all in need in their areas. They try to provide for the people's temporal as well as spiritual needs.” In Uganda, many of the priests take from their own pockets to help those most in need, and no one is ever asked if they are Orthodox. “Each person is treated as the child of God that they are. All of this work is done with a smile and a joyful heart.”
Numerous Team members shared that the people of northern Uganda were a great joy to be with. Despite their poverty, they always insisted on feeding the Team lunch as a token of their appreciation. The spiritual highlight of the trip for the Team was Sunday Divine Liturgy celebrated in a mud walled, thatched roof church. The people sang with great joy and enthusiasm. Fr. Joseph delivered the sermon through a translator and delighted the congregation by blessing them in their own language.
Fr. Joseph was accepted as an altar brother and treated with love and kindness by the priests and by the people. He recalls, “Their celebration of the Divine Liturgy was done with awe and with care for the Holy Mystery. It was a great joy to concelebrate with them in a church that had mud walls and a thatched roof. The greatest cathedral never had a more joyful, reverential, and well-sung Liturgy.”
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Health Care Providers Needed to ‘Share in a Journey of Faith’
“I’m thankful to have participated in an OCMC Mission Team. It was a great experience. The Orthodox Church is the same worldwide. We all pray the same and worship the same. I feel a kinship to the Orthodox Christians of Uganda,” reported a participant on the 2009 Health Care Team that treated over 4,000 individuals in two weeks in the Gulu region of northern Uganda.
Biblical narratives portray the loving and compassionate Lord, Jesus Christ, healing blind men, lepers, and the woman suffering from an unceasing flow of blood. He traveled throughout Galilee, teaching, preaching, and healing disease and sickness. He healed a servant, a daughter, and the demon possessed. Christ’s love and compassion for His creation was made tangible as He combined caring for the physical needs of His Creation with preaching the Good News of salvation.
In this spirit of offering a tangible witness of love, OCMC will be responding to an invitation to send another Health Care Team to the Gulu region of Uganda. This is an opportunity for Health Care providers (doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and med students – just to name a few) to make a difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Africa.
OCMC invites you to help make this ministry possible. If you are a health care provider, please prayerfully consider applying to serve on this Team. If you are not, but know Orthodox health care providers, please tell them about this life-giving ministry and encourage them to get involved.
Team members not only make a difference in the lives of those they meet and serve, but their own lives are transformed as well. Giving of our time and talents to minister to God's people is an expression of our love for Christ. Our works speak without words, demonstrating Christ’s love for all the world and His desire that all come to know Him.
Make a difference this year: share in a journey of faith!
Biblical narratives portray the loving and compassionate Lord, Jesus Christ, healing blind men, lepers, and the woman suffering from an unceasing flow of blood. He traveled throughout Galilee, teaching, preaching, and healing disease and sickness. He healed a servant, a daughter, and the demon possessed. Christ’s love and compassion for His creation was made tangible as He combined caring for the physical needs of His Creation with preaching the Good News of salvation.
In this spirit of offering a tangible witness of love, OCMC will be responding to an invitation to send another Health Care Team to the Gulu region of Uganda. This is an opportunity for Health Care providers (doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and med students – just to name a few) to make a difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Africa.
OCMC invites you to help make this ministry possible. If you are a health care provider, please prayerfully consider applying to serve on this Team. If you are not, but know Orthodox health care providers, please tell them about this life-giving ministry and encourage them to get involved.
Team members not only make a difference in the lives of those they meet and serve, but their own lives are transformed as well. Giving of our time and talents to minister to God's people is an expression of our love for Christ. Our works speak without words, demonstrating Christ’s love for all the world and His desire that all come to know Him.
Make a difference this year: share in a journey of faith!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Apoyo: Thank You! Medical Mission Team Returns from Uganda
Apoyo, Apoyo, Apoyo!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
The medical mission to Uganda was a great success. We operated clinics for nine days, and we were able to help about 4000 people! Without the support of many people this valuable work would not have happened. Our team of ten consisted of three doctors, two nurse practitioners, three nurses, and two medical students. We worked well together, enjoyed being with each other, and developed some great friendships.
Our time in Uganda started with a program given by the children of the Orthodox primary and secondary school in the capital city of Kampala. The children prayed, sang, and danced for us. Most days started with a trip to the local pharmacy to get the medicines that would be prescribed and given out that day. Then we would drive thirty minutes to two hours to the village where we would setup our clinic for the day. Some of the villages that we visited were very impoverished; simply surviving seemed to take great effort.
Typically, we would be greeted by a welcoming committee of some of the women who would sing and dance for us. Then we would go about setting up the exam rooms and pharmacy. We listened to the patients, examined them, prescribed medicines, filled the prescriptions in our pharmacy, and explained to the patients how to take their medicines; all with the help of local interpreters, who were usually students. We saw and treated between 300 and 500 patients at each clinic. Common ailments included: malaria, parasitic infestations, dysentery, pneumonia, TB, dehydration, and infections of all sorts. The medicines that we provided were prescribed to reduce pain and suffering and reduce cases of infant and child death from preventable diseases.
We stayed at hotels in the two cities that we worked out of. The ride back to the hotel after a day of work was always a mesmerizing combination of being tired and looking out the window at a very different world. In the evenings we would pray, eat dinner, enjoy our time together, and get ready for the next day.
On Sundays, we celebrated Divine Liturgy in a local Orthodox church, which was always a joy. The Ugandans love to sing and worship. After church there was more visiting, singing, and dancing outside. It was truly a day of rest and worship. Many of us became quite close with the priests, nuns, students, and others that we met or spent time with daily. I now have an African brother, Fr. George. We developed a close bond and I miss him.
For fun we visited Murchison falls on the Nile River: they were spectacular, and the mist was very refreshing (Uganda is hot and humid, and we were just a degree north of the equator). The next day we took a ferry across the Nile as the sun rose and went on a safari. We saw baboons, birds, wart hogs, a lion, a crocodile, many giraffes, lots of water buffalo, many hippos, all kinds of antelopes and some elephants too.
I am left with the faces of the Ugandan children in my mind. They are God’s children and our brothers and sisters in Christ. This sense of connection now serves as a powerful reminder of the Bible verse: "For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me....assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:35-40).
Author: Darrell Fox, 2009 Uganda Medical Mission Team Member
The medical mission to Uganda was a great success. We operated clinics for nine days, and we were able to help about 4000 people! Without the support of many people this valuable work would not have happened. Our team of ten consisted of three doctors, two nurse practitioners, three nurses, and two medical students. We worked well together, enjoyed being with each other, and developed some great friendships.
Our time in Uganda started with a program given by the children of the Orthodox primary and secondary school in the capital city of Kampala. The children prayed, sang, and danced for us. Most days started with a trip to the local pharmacy to get the medicines that would be prescribed and given out that day. Then we would drive thirty minutes to two hours to the village where we would setup our clinic for the day. Some of the villages that we visited were very impoverished; simply surviving seemed to take great effort.
Typically, we would be greeted by a welcoming committee of some of the women who would sing and dance for us. Then we would go about setting up the exam rooms and pharmacy. We listened to the patients, examined them, prescribed medicines, filled the prescriptions in our pharmacy, and explained to the patients how to take their medicines; all with the help of local interpreters, who were usually students. We saw and treated between 300 and 500 patients at each clinic. Common ailments included: malaria, parasitic infestations, dysentery, pneumonia, TB, dehydration, and infections of all sorts. The medicines that we provided were prescribed to reduce pain and suffering and reduce cases of infant and child death from preventable diseases.
We stayed at hotels in the two cities that we worked out of. The ride back to the hotel after a day of work was always a mesmerizing combination of being tired and looking out the window at a very different world. In the evenings we would pray, eat dinner, enjoy our time together, and get ready for the next day.
On Sundays, we celebrated Divine Liturgy in a local Orthodox church, which was always a joy. The Ugandans love to sing and worship. After church there was more visiting, singing, and dancing outside. It was truly a day of rest and worship. Many of us became quite close with the priests, nuns, students, and others that we met or spent time with daily. I now have an African brother, Fr. George. We developed a close bond and I miss him.
For fun we visited Murchison falls on the Nile River: they were spectacular, and the mist was very refreshing (Uganda is hot and humid, and we were just a degree north of the equator). The next day we took a ferry across the Nile as the sun rose and went on a safari. We saw baboons, birds, wart hogs, a lion, a crocodile, many giraffes, lots of water buffalo, many hippos, all kinds of antelopes and some elephants too.
I am left with the faces of the Ugandan children in my mind. They are God’s children and our brothers and sisters in Christ. This sense of connection now serves as a powerful reminder of the Bible verse: "For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me....assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:35-40).
Author: Darrell Fox, 2009 Uganda Medical Mission Team Member
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