Current Mission

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL FALL 2010 PHOTOS

Also click here to view a letter from Erica

October 3, 2010

 A new era has dawned at CMMC, Jeremiah’s Hope! 

Our good and loving God has lead us to the threshold of opening two operating suites within our own medical clinic in the city of Phnom Penh.

Planning storage selves and central supply

Garage area where the 'migrant construction workers' who built the space have taken up temporary residence; some with their entire family's

Supply boxes coming into the space to be unloaded, sorted and stored

The conception of a CMMC, Jeremiah’s Hope medical clinic began 2yrs years ago with the closing of  Preah Ket Mealea, were our previous operating rooms had been located.  With God’s guidance and love, the Jeremiah’s Hope team persisted through the trials and tribulations, of finding a new operating room venue, and through the planning stages for the new clinic.  Through these stages an opportunity to work in conjunction with The Center of Hope Hospital, also known as the Sihanouk Hospital, presented itself.  The Center of Hope is a charity hospital in Phnom Penh that has served over a million of the poorest Cambodian patients over the past thirteen years.  The strength of the two organizations working together, yet independently, has lead to the construction of a CMMC Jeremiah’s Hope medical clinic/surgery center that can serve the Cambodian people in the spirit of Jesus Christ, our Lord.  

The construction for the clinic began only 6 months ago.  The team on the ground in Cambodia is to be commended for their hard work and commitment.  Our new facility has a medical clinic and two operating suites spread over two floors of what was once a hotel and casino.  The new clinic provides a stable environment for our medical missions to better serve the Cambodian people.  It will also function as a private clinic to be staffed by Cambodian physicians and nurses.  For His glory, the clinic will be a sustainable resource for our Khmer staff, our selves and our teams, and the Cambodian people to serve God by caring for each other.

A CMMC, Jeremiah’s Hope team arrived in Cambodia October 3, 2010.  Our mission is to have the clinic up and ready to fully function for the first surgical team, which arrives October 10!  Our first visit to the new facility was filled with emotions of great gratitude, excitement and yes, a lot of overwhelming work for us!  However, with the leadership of Dan Smith, the eagerness to work hard of the Khmer staff, and God’s ever present love, the work is getting done and the goal accomplished. Each day gets more exciting than the one before as we continue to move into the beautiful new clinic.  We are, however, constantly reminded of the great needs of our Cambodian brothers and sisters.  We need only to pause in our quest and look out the windows of the clinic.  In these moments, we must not be overwhelmed by the work to be done here but be grateful for all that God has provided us as we go to serve others in His name.   We are forever grateful for this privilege and opportunity to serve.  

As the next two weeks go by we will frequently update this letter with our progress and a few photos of the surgical floor as we ready the space for the team coming next week. 

Our Operating Room

PACU with Steve and Sokchan standing next to our first patient

Gabi giving instructions to our Cambodian nurses

UPDATE - Tuesday October 12,

We have much to be thankful for tonight as we have completed 2 hernia repairs under regional anesthesia without problem and were done before noon = our first procedures in our new operating room. Tomorrow we do our first general anesthetic cases.

We had a great celebration tonight along the river.

Dan

UPDATE - Wednesday October 20

Good Stuff - JH surgical center - Phnom Penh

LOOONG day today; tonsillectomy (short) and 10 hour thyroidectomy....nasty as it wrapped itself around carotid, nerves etc.

God was with us throughout. Nurses are ROCKSTARS - maintaining thoracic epidurals, injecting q 1hr with Bupivicaine....No need for narcotics. Big open cholecystectomies.

Have had many traveling mercies and continue on....Patients and families donating blood for reserve with blood bank (we've learned!).

Cheers - Gabi

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL FALL 2010 PHOTOS

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Letter from Erica

When I was introduced to Jeremiahs Hope last Oct, I was 100% ready to be a part of an amazing mission trip. God however had other plans. I wanted to go in order to run from my life. I was in a custody battle with one child's father and attempting to divorce my other child's dad. I had given up on basically everything you could possibly conceive. Better yet I felt God gave up on me. Oddly enough, I didn't go last year. Custody court took a front seat to everything. And the marriage that I watched fall apart, we begin to pick up the pieces. My perspective was changing. When Oct 2010 came I began to panic because the life I was running from the year before was the life I was desperately trying to hold together now. I backed out, for reasons I truly couldn't control. Dan Smith, however, intervened and to him I will be eternally grateful. A girl on our trip wrote in her journal every night about her experience and I thought that was kind of cool, so here are some of my thoughts from our Oct 2010 Cambodian Mission trip!

1. People everywhere are basically "SAME SAME, BUT DIFFERENT" best said by a $2 t-shirt from the Russian market.
   
   
2. Laughter needs no translation. Whether it is between a serious cardiac surgeon and an adorable 4yr old Cambodian child or an American nurse trying to learn to speak the language from the local nurses. It's real and priceless.
   
   
3. Eyes don't lie. When patients left our clinic with their families after surgery there are no amount of thank you’s that could replace the gratitude in their eyes. Some will never experience this type of kindness again and their appreciation was so overwhelming.
   
   
4. Technology has been lost in translation. Face book and Wifi have been thrown into a country that has not yet developed traffic laws or even basic hygiene. The majority of kids under 3 were not wearing clothes, people ride 4 or more on the back of a moto, and the hosp and clinics have people waiting for any kind of help for hours and hours, even days. Yet free wifi was offered at almost every restaurant we passed. Seriously???
   
   
5. Tragedy, in one way or another tends to find us all. No matter our nationality, profession, or even financial status. Our hearts break all the same. The strength and determination people find during these times is what amazes me. I had the honor of watching an American Dr, who lost his son just last year; teach a Cambodian resident, who lost 11 of her brothers and sisters during the Khmer Rouge. I saw no trace of sadness just common human respect for each other as people and professionals.
   
   
6. Americans come from such a Stressful schedule. There are probable 30 things that I have to do before I go to work for 9am every morning. Usually I forget 1 or 2, and if any kind of traffic is involved, I am stressed and irritated before I even clock in. Why? For two weeks I was able to let it all go. It was nice to sit in Cambodian traffic, for a long time sometimes. There were no traffic laws and it was very overcrowded but no one driving was stressed or angry. I watch patients families wait for hours in the waiting room and every time I walked by they only smiled. I also got watch the stress melt away from our American team. We were able to enjoy the little things, like noodle soup for breakfast, Thai massages, a drinking buddy, $1.50 DVD’s, getting soaked in the rain, and learning we are worth 9 cows. A deep breath sometimes is totally worth the moment.
   
   
7. Innocence has not been lost for everyone. I feel as Americans our children are growing up much faster than even my generation. They are exposed to more and expect more. It's sad, but also very difficult to keep them grounded in this society. I had the pleasure of working with some amazing brand new Cambodian nurses. Grounded is not even the word for this bunch. The oldest was all of 24 and the life stories they had, amazing. The pride they had for their people, their food, their friends, theirs jobs in our new clinic. The respect they had for us was so meaningful. They put their heart and soul into getting to know us, knowing we would leave in 2 weeks. They took every opportunity to learn what they could from us and they did an amazing job with all of the patients. Christian music was played in the OR and most of them new all the words. It was a humbling experience to help teach such motivated young adults. They will forever be in my prayers.
   
   
8. Doctors, nurses, students, Christians, American, or Cambodian, married, single, poor, or wealthy: We are only human! There’s no way to change that!! We make mistakes, bad choices, and from time to time we fall short of the expectations we create for ourselves or the one’s we allow others to make for us. It’s not about helping to make you feel better about yourself, God knows it’s going to take more than 1 mission trip to make up for the bad choices I’ve made in life, but that aside, for me, the people and the culture I experienced on this trip have made me want to change. This is so much more than a hand out; it’s a hand up. At the end of the day, we are all fallible, but God sees our hearts and after this trip, I know he smiles down on all of us. We turned an empty building into a successful working OR, Pacu and Post op unit. Where we were able to care for some amazing and very grateful patients. We laugh, we cry, we love, and we live. No one judging, pointing fingers, everyone working together, motivating and encouraging each other to do just a little bit more! That’s what it’s all about!!
   
   

We joked among our group “what happens in Cambodia, stays in Cambodia!” Everyone said this trip would change my life forever. It has, but not the way I thought. It was so much more than that. It has taught me so much about myself, as a wife, a mother, a nurse and a friend. Some things I am very proud of and other things I need to work on. I thought I would bring a piece of Cambodia home with me, but instead I think I left a piece of myself there. I have no clue where God plans to take me, but for the first time I am ready for it, whatever happens!

To everyone on the Oct 2010 trip, thank you!! I enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you. We started this trip as strangers and ended it as a real team. I hope to work with you all again someday and wish you the best with wherever God chooses to take you in life!!

To everyone else, please keep Cambodia and our fabulous nurses, doctors and friends in your prayers. Jeremiah’s Hope is in existence because of generous people. Generous with their time, their love and their money, and they can always use more generous people. I opened this letter with the quote “SAME SAME, BUT DIFFERENT so if your still not getting it, I encourage you to visit Cambodia and The Jeremiahs Hope Clinic. It’s only 3 plane rides and a tuk- tuk away!

Thanks For letting me share my thoughts,
Erica