Liberia?s Ganta Hospital rebuilds in 2006
United Methodist-supported Ganta Hospital is rebuilding and
expanding, thanks in part to the support of First United Methodist
Church in Peoria, Ill. A UMNS photo by the Rev. Timothy Bias.
|
A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom*
Feb. 12, 2007
United Methodists in Illinois are among those helping Liberia’s Ganta
Hospital recover from massive looting and destruction in 2003 that
temporarily shut down mission work there.
“We’re committed to seeing the (new) hospital built,” said the Rev.
Timothy Bias, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Peoria, Ill.
Still rebounding from Liberia’s long civil war, the United
Methodist-related hospital completed renovations of the building that
was burned and nearly destroyed during civil unrest in 2003 and has
begun to construct a new hospital building. The hospital reopened in
2004 and currently has 164 employees, including three physicians, 18
registered nurses and seven certified midwives.
Ganta Hospital still shows the scars from Liberia's civil war in 2003. A UMNS photo by the Rev. Timothy Bias.
|
The rebuilding of Ganta also is helping to transform Liberians
themselves, Bias said in a Feb. 6 telephone interview. “The same people
who had destroyed the hospital are now building the hospital,” he said,
noting that ex-combatants were working at the construction site when he
visited during 2006.
Other highlights of 2006 were the dedication of a new eye clinic,
continued outreach for childhood vaccinations and visits by Liberian
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, according to the annual report
submitted by Victor Doolakeh Taryor, the hospital’s administrator.
“Through the faithful support of partners and friends of Ganta
Hospital, we continue to provide affordable and quality health-care
services to the rapidly growing population of northeastern Liberia and
the border towns of the republics of Guinea and Ivory Coast,” Taryor
wrote in his report.
Cherian Thomas, an executive with the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries, called Ganta Hospital a “success story” and said the
Liberian Annual Conference, under the leadership of Bishop John Innis,
“made a real goal of rehabilitating the hospital.”
Thomas praised Taryor – who in July completed a year of study in
hospital administration at the University of North Carolina – and said
the Rev. Herbert and Mary Zigbuo, a missionary couple, “did a great job
in laying the foundation” for Ganta’s recovery.
Renovation on the burned building was completed in August, thanks to
$42,500 from First United Methodist Church in Peoria, Ill., the United
Nations Development Program, the Liberian government, locally generated
donations and the denomination’s Advance program.
The building now contains the drug depot, pharmacy, dental clinic,
record room, cashier booth, six consultation rooms and two exam rooms.
The annual report said construction of the new hospital building’s
outpatient clinic was nearly complete, with construction of the
emergency room planned next.
Covenant relationship
First United Methodist Church has worked with the church in Liberia
for several years, growing from a covenant relationship between the
denomination’s Illinois Great Rivers Conference and the Liberia
Conference.
When the Liberian church voted to build a new hospital at Ganta, the
Peoria congregation agreed to raise $100,000 for that effort and
accomplished that task in 90 days, according to Bias. The congregation
designated $20,000 for the renovated facility and the remainder for the
new building.
The congregation also collected donations of equipment from area
hospitals and sent Ganta $380,000 worth of beds with wheels, gurneys and
an industrial washer and dryer. “We knew that they needed equipment
because much of what they had there had been taken or destroyed,” the
pastor said.
For example, hospital staff were using a lone refrigerator to store
both food and blood, so the Peoria church provided a refrigerator
strictly for surgical use. “We’ve had them tell us what they need,” said
Bias, who last visited Ganta in November. “We go out and find it here
and get it to them.”
Still needed is an industrial autoclave to sterilize surgical
equipment – an expensive item that is hard to find used. Currently,
Ganta Hospital uses two large pressure cookers for sterilization.
Because of the church’s relationship with Peoria-based equipment
manufacturer Caterpillar Inc., church leaders secured a new generator
“that can run on the same amount of diesel fuel than the one they had”
with twice the electrical output. The church is working to obtain and
ship additional equipment to get the new generator operational.
Such efforts are the norm for the Peoria congregation, which also
raised $35,000 for a church building in Estonia and is the founding
church for the “Walk to Emmaus” spiritual renewal program. “It’s kind of
the DNA of this congregation – to be in mission in a hands-on way,”
Bias said.
Aiding Ganta Hospital blesses the Illinois church as well, says Bias,
noting that church members worked together on various projects to raise
$100,000 for the Liberian initiative. “We’ve had more of a community
spirit and an understanding of what it is to be church through the
project,” he said.
The Peoria congregation is excited about other ministries related to
Liberia, such as providing scholarships for children. “We’re convinced,
as they are in Liberia … that education is the way to get the country
back on its feet,” Bias said.
Success stories
Ganta’s new eye clinic was funded by Christian Blind Mission
International. In addition to regular on-site and outreach treatment
provided under the leadership of Dr. Joseph Kerkula, the clinic was part
of a national eye camp initiative in Lofa County in December. Ganta’s
team was responsible for 33 of the 90 cataract surgeries performed
during the camp.
Besides providing routine vaccinations in 2006, Ganta staff conducted
diabetes awareness programs and voluntary blood testing, identifying 70
cases of diabetes during the year. “Plans are under way to initiate a
national program that will create access to medication and education for
all diabetics,” Taryor wrote.
Other primary health-care activities included distributing mosquito
nets to pregnant women and children to protect against malaria,
supervising traditional midwives, conducting community-based HIV/AIDS
prevention efforts, and surveying women about vesico-vaginal fistula.
Outside of church funding, the hospital received a $50,000 subsidy
from the Liberian government for fiscal year 2006-2007. President
Sirleaf, a United Methodist, donated food and a used ambulance in
November.
Taryor said volunteer work teams still are needed to help renovate
and build at Ganta and to provide guidance with medical and
administrative needs.
Contributions may be made to the following Advance funds: Ganta
Hospital Emergency Fuel, No. 09214A; Ganta Hospital Emergency Support,
No. 10010T; and Hospital Revitalization, UMCOR Advance No. 982168.
Donations can be placed in church collection plates or mailed to
Advance GCFA, P.O. Box 9068, GPO New York, NY 10087-9068. Make
credit card donations online through the Advance at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/give/advance/ or by calling (888) 252-6174.
For more information, contact Taryor at vdoolakehtaryor@yahoo.com.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
related video
Footage of damage at Ganta Hospital and groundbreaking ceremony
Related Articles
Ganta mission station seeks operating funds
New outpatient clinic to open at Ganta in Liberia
New leader’s pledge: unite Liberia
Resources
Operation Classroom
UMCOR: Ganta |