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Letter April 2006

[dt_sc_blockquote align=”center” cite=”CMMCJH Board of Directors”]

Dear Friends and Supporters,

 

We as the board of the Christian Medical Ministry to Cambodia (CMMCJH) have been somewhat remiss in keeping our faithful supporters informed as to what has happened in the past year. We are sending this letter to give you an update on God’s blessings on this ministry. We do want to thank you for your prayer and financial support and continue to covet this support as we attempt to do God’s will in Cambodia.

 

We are attempting to up date our web site more frequently with pictures and reports and encourage you to refer to it for more information on our activities. We will soon post a detailed report of our most recent medical trip to Cambodia in January of 2006.

 

The January 2006 trip involved our largest medical team yet, including 11 physicians, 12 nurses and 4 support staff from the USA and 1 physician and 6 paramedical personnel from South Korea. Three physicians and 1 PhD nurse were from the Seattle area. As on every trip, we are encouraged by the enthusiasm of the young Cambodian physicians. They are anxious to be better physicians but are also learning about the morality of their profession and the importance of a relationship with our Lord for a true world-life view. Every team member also returns with a better appreciation of what God has given them and their need to be salt and light in this world.

 

Our largest presence was at and remains in the CSI Clinic, where we saw over 60 consults, performed 24 major operative procedures, taught 12 medical students on a one-on-one basis, and left approximately $25,000 of medical equipment and financial support to this clinic, which is presently going through some trying financial times. We developed a new relationship with the largest public referral hospital in Phnom Penh through Randa Lee’s brother. Approximately 20 consults were seen there, including an emergency case of a young man with a gunshot wound to the chest and right leg, and 4 operative procedures were assisted in. $30,000 of donated medical supplies were left in that hospital for later use.

 

We are developing a presence in Kampong Chhnang Province where we hope to build a tertiary care hospital in the near future. 9 physicians and 6 nurses visited and evaluated the regional hospital in that province, which is very primitive. 15 consults were seen, 5 operative procedures were performed, and $80,000 of donated medical equipment and medication were left over a 3 day period. In addition, a 2 day outreach clinic, led by Dr. Nam Cho and his Korean team, was held under a portable tent on the land we have purchased for our future hospital; over 300 people were seen and 600 bags of rice given to the poor of Kampong Chhnang.

 

Our Korean team held a total of 4 days of outreach clinics seeing over 600 people and distributing 13 tons of rice. A gospel message was given at each of these clinics.

 

Medical education remains a large focus of CMMC/JH. Through the new rector of the Phnom Penh Medical School and father of Dr. Phalyka Oum, one of our previous star medical students, we were able to lecture to the upper class medical students and resident physicians for an entire day. Simultaneous lectures were given by our staff in 3 lecture halls. The nurses were also able to lecture in the nursing school on several days. We are now attempting to put together a formal relationship between Loma Linda University and the Phnom Penh Medical School involving a regular exchange of students and faculty for short term educational experiences.

 

We continue to see large numbers of young patients with valvular heart disease secondary to rheumatic fever. On this trip we were able to develop a relationship with the only cardiac hospital in Phnom Penh and will be staffing this facility for 2 weeks next January so that we can surgically correct these problems at a very minimal cost. We also plan to ship a container of disposable equipment for this endeavor this summer with the help of Project CURE.

 

In addition to the medical team, 2 architects and a land surveyor under the direction of Len Rosenberg of Ministry Architecture, Inc. were in Cambodia in January. With the help of our partner and board member, Pastor Setan Lee of Kampuchea for Christ (KFC), 52 acres of prime land in Kampong Chhnang Province was purchased last summer on which we prayerfully plan to build a Christian community which will include a Bible college, an elementary school, a medical clinic/hospital, and some staff housing. This group of volunteers is presently completing the site planning and beginning the architectural drawings for this complex. We will soon be entering an important phase of raising several million dollars to proceed with the medical complex.

 

On every trip we see God at work daily. We develop specific needs and after praying earnestly, see these answered miraculously while we are there. Many of the activities describe above occurred after praying for them specifically. When someone asks why we go so far, the answer is because that is where we see God at work! We always come home on a spiritual high and anxious to return to see what else God is going to accomplish through our feeble efforts.

 

We hope this is as encouraging to you as it is to us. As you can appreciate, we are entering a very important time as we think about building this medical facility. We earnestly covet your prayer support, that this is what God wants us to do. And then we will also need your financial support to continue our present activities of teaching and giving care to the poor, and to move forward with the development and building of a teaching clinic/hospital.[/dt_sc_blockquote]

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