There is a chapel at St. Martin de Porres Hospital where mass is said each Saturday evening for the working staff and patients of the hospital. Dr. Hake and I were at that mass last evening. I was thinking about the experiences of the last two months as I waited for Fr. Dominic to arrive; of how absolutely wonderful it has been to be able to work both with Jim and Terry Hake during their long-term mission with Mission Doctors Association, and with Maria and Milan who are also here on a short-term mission with MDA. I noted though, as I sat lost in thought, that I was being moved further down the row of chairs as more and more patients filed in (I ended up behind a pile of traditional drums in the corner).
I recognized many of the patients coming to pray. A little girl with a badly infected leg which required surgery walked in by herself (perhaps she should not walk so much on that leg, but it is hard to lecture the child when she decided to walk to mass on her own). It made me realize that the chapel is just as full the week I leave as the week I arrived. The faces of the patients are different, but the suffering and need is the same.
I am looking forward to seeing my family again and seeing my patients at home once more. The week is not done, however, and the attention you give to the last patient you see must be the same as the attention you give to the first patient you see when you arrive. For all the joys and satisfaction of doing mission medicine, you finish your work knowing you must leave with the bench outside of the clinic office still lined with patients suffering from malaria, untreated HIV, tuberculosis, typhoid, and broken bones. You leave knowing that the hospital chapel is still full.
Thanks again to all those with Mission Doctors Association who are called to participate in this work, both here and at home. It remains a blessing to be associated with an organization so committed to relieving suffering and restoring health in resource-poor regions of the world.
God Bless.