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CEH ready for dedication
Compassion Evangelical Hospital


Building Health

Building Hope
 
Woman with Child
Giving the best medical and surgical care possible according to the means that God provides, with compassion, and  sharing the gospel of Christ clearly with everyone who comes.
 
In This Issue
Surgical Services
Patient Care
Construction
Outreach
Staff
August 2012 Update  

Dear Friends and Partners,

 

The entire staff praises God who orchestrates His work at Compassion Evangelical Hospital (CEH) for His glory. He gave the purpose to give the best quality care we can to all who come, according to the means He gives and to share the gospel of Christ clearly with each individual who is cared for. This mission statement guides CEH.

Surgical Services 

 

Dr. Jacques V served for the past three months as a short term surgeon from Cote d'Ivoire with the MIAPE* Mission at CEH. His contributions to patient surgical care and witness were an encouragement to the patients and staff. During this period two or three major surgeries, three days a week were performed. A number of lives were saved that otherwise would have been lost in any other hospital in the region. Many other patients were relieved of significant pain. The volume of patients with these needs is growing as they hear of the high quality work being done at CEH. Our Guinean physicians appreciated learning from Dr. V. We express our sincere gratitude to him for his service to God.

Dr. Jacques Ve
Dr. Jacques Ve' 

 

Now that the Operating Room is functioning, we are eager to send American physicians to CEH on a regularly scheduled basis. Especially needed are doctors and nurses in General Surgery, OB Gyn, Orthopedics, Urology, Anesthesia, Medicine, Family Practice, and Pediatrics. However, other areas are also needed. Some of these will come through the Autumn Ridge Church/Mayo Clinic program and some directly through CEH. This program will be coordinated with the hospital staff to keep an even flow of personnel traveling to Mamou. Working with a skeletal team on the field makes it imperative to schedule in a way that accommodates workers from a hospitality and co-laboring medical work view. In addition, planning these short term mission trips (two weeks to two months) several months in advance allows for scheduling patients who would benefit from specific specialty areas. Each short term missionary must pass through the CEH Missionary Interview and Orientation Program. The goal of the program is for all to work together in harmony with the staff on the field for the glory of God. We invite any of our constituents who are prayerfully considering this to fill out the preliminary information form on the web site or contact me by phone at (248) 227-9450.

 

*MIAPE: Mission Internationale Africain Pour l'Evangelisation  

English translation: International African Mission for Evangelizatriobn 

   

 

Patient Care    

Several months ago $10,000 of additional medicines were ordered through IDA in Holland to prime the pharmacy inventory. Those medicines arrived this week in Conakry's port and are being processed through customs. Praise God for these additional tools with which to serve Him.

 

The outpatient care currently averages 60 patients daily. The clinic, laboratory and pharmacy staffs serve with efficiency. At times the inpatient care is filled (24 bed capacity) and the nursing station dressing room is used for overflow patients. Giving 24/7 care which was prayed for is a blessing but the staff is stretched very thin in managing this. God blessed CEH with 35 Christian medical and administrative staff members and we thank Him for each one of them! Please continue to pray for more Guinean Christian laborers with a good heart and ability to learn and be led by our Lord in service at CEH. There are currently eight positions open.

Construction

Phase One completion is within reach. The remaining buildings needed in this first phase are the Emergency Room/ X-ray and Morgue. The estimates to build these two buildings are $85,000 and $25,000 respectively. Mamou's location at the crossroads of the country means there are more road accidents in this county than in any other in the nation. Emergency care is needed. The government even asked CEH to become the regional trauma center. This past year almost every x-ray machine in the center of the country was broken down, leaving nearly 4,000,000 people without this basic medical service. Since I currently serve in a small rural Emergency Room here in the United States, I sense the urgency of these needs. Please pray with me aboutthis. Debbie and I will be giving toward this final stage of Phase One and invite others to join us.

  

CEH Gates
Front gate and property fence under construction 

 

Other recent building projects include fencing the property around the CEH Campus. The front line of the property (1,000 meters) was recently finished which means this continuing project is approximately 40 percent complete. Culturally, in Africa, enclosing the property by a fence defines the property as having value and it prohibits squatters from occupying part of the land. Another mission hospital in Guinea failed to do this and functionally lost 20 percent of its land to squatters. They chose not to pursue legal action out of concern it might create ill will. Completing the fencing at CEH will help avoid this potential problem. It will also solve a serious problem of the local cattle continuing to graze and defecate on the property - the hygiene of the hospital property is very important. The peasants who previously owned the land but continue to use it as a pasture were informed and have agreed to honor the boundary once the fencing is up.

 

New Gazebo
New Gazebo (on left) with local cattle grazing nearby 

 

The CEH hospital staff completed the Gazebo using their own revenues. This most recent building, though small, is very significant. It is used for hospitality towards the families of patients who are hospitalized. It also serves as a central area to regularly share the gospel with these patients and families during the noon siesta hour. I was very pleased that the staff took this initiative using funds generated within the hospital which could have been used to give themselves higher salaries. It shows me their hearts are in the right place. All of the other buildings were built with U.S.A. funding from churches and individuals. We praise God for this building which is already in use for His Glory!

Medical Care and Outreach

In February 2012 we asked you to pray with us for discernment about a potential contract with Rio Tinto, a large mining company. Was this God's providence, His testing, or a temptation? Thank you for those who have prayerfully given us your advice. To date nothing further developed. The CEH Board determined not to accept any contract or gifts from them that would obligate the hospital, force bending to their demand or hinder our faithfulness in spiritual ministries.

 

A workday was held on July 15th and 16th at the CEH storage garage in Berkley, MI where we store materials churches and hospitals contribute to CEH. In six years, 13 twenty foot containers were shipped to Africa. Some of the material donated exceeded what could be used in Guinea, so we shared it with Detroit's World Medical Relief which distributes to other needy medical institutions throughout the world. This made room in the storage garage to more effectively handle the materials needed in Guinea before the end of the year.

 

Loading the truck at the storage garage.
Thank you to all volunteers! 

 

The five doctors at CEH this summer went on a working retreat. The 50 most common illnesses which are seen at the hospital were addressed. Job, our head nurse, and Lacina, our surgical director, are now working out protocols established during this time. It is our earnest prayer that the quality of our work will glorify God.    

Every other Friday during the regular half-hour devotional period medical staff divide up in small teams to visit every patient at their bedside and clearly share the gospel. Probably 95% never heard the gospel of Christ.

 

A Christian literature stand is now available to serve the patients wishing to purchase these materials. Guinea's literacy rate is 35%. One of our founding advisory board couples, Len and Fran Messenger, who served with us effectively for six years recently passed away and their family requested the memorial gifts be used to open this avenue of ministry at CEH. It is an honor to fulfill this request in memory of Len and Fran who faithfully served the Lord in Detroit for decades in a Christian literature ministry. "For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21, NIV). May God make this fruitful!

   

Christian Literature stand
Christian Literature stand in memory of Len and Fran Messenger 

 

 

Notes on the Staff

 

Job expresses his gratitude for those who gave to his family's needs after the house fire this past spring. They recovered and are looking forward to the new year of school.

 

Moise, the MIAPE carpenter, and Deborah, his wife who assists in guest house hospitality, were looking forward to having their second child this summer. The Lord took this child home by an abruption of the placenta that also put Deborah's life at risk for a time. Thankfully she is recovering. Please pray for God's comfort for them.

 

Etienne, CEH Director, suffered with neck problems for over a year. It is aggravated by driving or even riding on the very rough roads in parts of Guinea. After one rough trip back to Cote d'Ivoire for a vacation with his family his pain was so bad he consulted a neurologist in Abidjan and had a CAT scan done. The scan showed three degenerated disks that are herniating and arthritis of the cervical spine causing the pain. Pray as we seek to treat this in Mamou and must consider neurosurgery in Africa or here in the United States.

 

I praise God for the entire team on the ground in Guinea and for the team stateside. I also praise God for you who pray and give to advance the work of God at Compassion Evangelical Hospital. Thank you.

 

Your fellow servant in Christ,

 

Dr. Dwight E. Slater, MD

CEO of CEH

 

"Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,  

will praise you forever;  

from generation to generation  

we will recount your praise" (Psalm 79:13).

 

ECFA Member  

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Southfield, MI   48037 

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