As part of the AdventHealth system, AdventHealth Shawnee Mission in Kansas and Centura Health Adventist hospitals in Colorado participate in mission opportunities in countries around the world through the organization’s Global Missions program. AdventHealth Shawnee Mission hosts mission trips to Peru, and Centura Health executives sponsor locations in Peru, Nepal and Rwanda.
AdventHealth Global Missions fosters long-term relationships with select hospitals around the world with senior leaders who volunteer their time and expertise to facilitate strategic long-term planning. Global Missions is a reflection of AdventHealth’s mission of Extending the Healing Ministry of Christ. This mission has prompted healthcare teams across the system to volunteer on medical mission trips at 10 locations and participate through philanthropic assistance. This mission work has continued even amid a pandemic when hospitals have had to remain nimble when caring for their communities.
Extending Healing in Rwanda
According to the Global Clubfoot Initiative, about 500 babies are born with clubfoot in Rwanda each year. Faustin, a young man from Rwanda, struggled with clubfoot for much of his life. This painful condition is characterized by walking on the ankles and can be a source of embarrassment. If left untreated, it can reduce a person’s quality of life and inhibit their ability to provide for their family.
About 90 percent of Rwanda relies on subsistence farming, which provides some food for the family but little beyond that. Because farmers seldom use mechanized labor, a child with clubfoot is unable to participate in manual labor, diminishing the productivity of the entire family.
Faustin’s condition created a challenging situation for his family to make ends meet, until a team member from Centura Health sponsored Faustin to receive surgery, which costs about $4,000.
Mike Goebel, chief executive officer for Parker Adventist Hospital, and a team member from Centura Health visited Faustin and his family on their most recent mission trip to Rwanda, which took place prior to COVID-19.
The family invited the group to their house to thank the mission team for their work at the hospital and the donor’s contribution to Faustin’s health.
“Faustin received surgery for clubfoot and now has a future,” said Goebel. “He is pursuing a degree and can provide for his family, when prior to this surgery he was unable to help with farming. His father told our group, ‘I have nothing to offer you, except prayer. Can I pray for you?’ It was incredibly touching that one of our team members contributed to Faustin’s future.”
Faustin is now 21 years old and pursuing a degree at a local university. The team member who donated to his surgery is now sponsoring his education.
Mugonero Adventist Hospital is located in a rural area, about a three-and-a-half-hour drive outside the capital city of Kigali. This is a challenge to families who live in rural locations and rely on walking or motorcycles for transportation. If patients are seeking more specialized surgical procedures, such as orthopedic surgery, those are more accessible in Kigali.
Last year, a team of orthopedic and general surgeons traveled to Mugonero Adventist Hospital where they conducted surgery from 7 am to 10 pm.
Centura Health also assisted healthcare workers at the hospital to receive additional training in orthopedic and general surgery. In addition, one of the chief nursing officers at Centura conducted leadership training to improve hospital operations at Mugonero.
Centura has donated resources for several projects at Mugonero in the past, including a new laundry facility, family waiting area, surgical supplies and equipment, as well as a new water distribution system. Mike Goebel and Greg Hodgson, director for Global Health Initiatives at Centura Health, have continued to facilitate this relationship. The group is making plans to move forward in hiring a local contractor in Rwanda to remodel the main building of the hospital. This will expand the service line to provide obstetric services such as a new maternity ward.
Greg Hodgson and the team from Centura Health continued their involvement during the pandemic through virtual meetings over Zoom and email to facilitate the process of launching these special projects forward.
Extending Healing in Peru
In 2016, AdventHealth Shawnee Mission began sponsoring mission trips to Peru with the help of Dr. Douglas Cusick, a plastic surgeon in Leawood, Kansas. Dr. Cusick, who had been on mission trips around the world along with his wife, Barbara, gave a $1 million gift to AdventHealth Foundation Shawnee Mission to establish the Dr. J. Douglas Cusick Medical Mission Endowment. The proceeds help cover mission trip costs, including equipment, supplies and part of the travel expenses for team members.
In 2016 and 2017, about 20 team members from AdventHealth went to Iquitos, Peru, to provide care. During the second trip, Dr. Cusick performed surgery on a burn victim who was a mother of four children. She had lost mobility in her arm after it had been severely burned and bandaged in a way that the wounds didn’t heal correctly. Because she lost mobility in that arm, she was unable to find work since most available jobs involved manual labor.
After Dr. Cusick and his team performed the surgery, she regained 80 to 90 percent of the mobility in her arm. The team also arranged for her to get post-operative care, including wound care and physical therapy, close to where she lives.
“The surgery really changed her life,” said Jimmy Bolanos, regional director of strategy and business development for AdventHealth Shawnee Mission, who went on the mission trip. “It gave her the ability to not only have a job, but to help out around the home and even to get herself dressed. She was so thankful for everything.”
Dr. Cusick and a team from AdventHealth Shawnee Mission have been traveling on mission trips to Iquitos every year since 2016. In 2018, they started partnering with a hospital in Juliaca, Peru. In 2019, they performed more than 50 surgeries in Juliaca, including general surgery, reconstructive burn surgery and surgery to repair birth defects like cleft palate and cleft lip.
In 2020, AdventHealth Shawnee Mission sent personal protective equipment (PPE) including protective clothing, masks and other gear for healthcare workers in Peru. In partnership with AdventHealth Orlando, they also provided the hospital in Juliaca with ventilators to help care for COVID-19 patients.
This year, AdventHealth Shawnee Mission is sending $20,000 to help build oxygen plants in Peru to provide medical-grade oxygen.
“It will give Clínica Adventista Ana Stahl (a hospital in Iquitos) the ability to produce their own oxygen for respiratory issues, since oxygen has been in such short supply during the pandemic,” said Dave Kennedy, administrative director of mission and ministry at AdventHealth Shawnee Mission. “It will definitely save lives.”
The next mission trip to provide surgeries and clinics is being planned for 2022, said Bolanos. This November, members of the leadership team from AdventHealth Shawnee Mission will also travel to Peru. “We want to let our partners in Peru know we’re still supporting them,” said Bolanos. “We also want to give our leadership team a chance to see the great work that’s being done over there and how we can continue to help.”
For more information about AdventHealth Shawnee Mission’s global outreach, visit AdventHealthKC.com. To learn about the global work Centura Health is doing, visit Centura.org/Global-Health-Initiatives.
Photo credit: Beckie Fairchild, TGC Photography
Authors: Shannon Hill, corporate communications resident at AdventHealth, and Ann Muder, writer for AdventHealth Shawnee Mission
