Training the next generation of healthcare workers is an aspect of the long-term perspective of EMAS Canada’s service. EMAS began to send medical personnel to teach after the solo mission of Dr. Nelles Silverthorne to Ecuador in 1958. Teachers have since been to India, Angola, Congo, Honduras, Tanzania, Mexico, Cuba, China, Nigeria, and other [...]
Guest Post by Chi Mandivenga A chapter in the Bible that both inspires and challenges me is Isaiah 58. In verse 12, God promises that, “your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to [...]
Guest Post By Janet Greidanus It will seem strange to some that although it is now summer, this blog is founded on a phrase from an Easter story. It actually has its inspiration from another blog written by my friend, Brian, a former Christian schoolteacher, who has been living with multiple myeloma since 2018 [...]
Guest Post By Dr. Robert Clark. In 1977, I travelled on an EMAS sponsorship as a student dentist to Honduras. I have had a long association with the country over the years with several mission trips. When I retired from full-time practise 10 years ago, my wife and I decided on returning to Honduras [...]
HAITI. The word immediately conjures up negative images: dysfunction, chaos, brutal violence, grinding poverty, systemic corruption, and perhaps most problematic, Hopelessness. We have witnessed desperate need and how at various times the world has promised and even sent money to assist and the money seemingly having no effect in improving the situation. We ask [...]
Who would have known, in 1948, that a few men scrounging for hospital furniture and equipment in Toronto on behalf of their friends in Africa and South America were laying foundations for Christian Canadian benevolence that would last 75 years? Mr. Watkin Roberts, Dr. Isaac Erb, Dr. Nelles Silverthorne, and Dr. William Flatt were [...]
In May 2018 we were walking a financial tightrope. Our viability was at stake. As we celebrated 70 years of God’s faithfulness, the future was not looking bright. The year following saw a decline in the number of volunteers travelling due to new and restrictive regulations for volunteers in areas where most of our [...]
At our April 29th AGM, the following changes were made to the EMAS Canada Board of Directors: THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE: Dr. Marcelo Garcia has stepped down this month after many years as board member and team leader for our Cuba project. Dr Garcia was among the board members who oversaw our name [...]
Vibrio cholerae is a nasty bacterium that can cause severe diarrhoea, vomiting, dehydration, and death. Its lethal potential is marked in children and mothers-to-be. The disease is eponymously called Cholera. Cholera and poor hygiene go hand in hand, mostly caused by lack of a good supply of clean water. Within the first month of operations [...]
Announcing Rev. Dr. Harding Ng as our 75th Anniversary celebration keynote speaker on April 29th, 2023. Harding was a young University of Toronto graduate and freshly-minted medical doctor practicing Family Medicine when Dr. Robert Stephens, then EMAS Executive Director in the late 80s, showed up in 1989 at his doorsteps to “summon” him to go [...]
On March 20, 2023, the Gambade Medical Clinic opened. With construction phase well behind us, then challenges faced during the pandemic overcome, our search for staff for the clinic is complete. The staff are excited to welcome patients and make a difference in the community. This calls for celebration, and with grateful hearts we [...]
We gather next month to celebrate our 75th anniversary with a tremendous sense of gratitude and a heavy weight of responsibility. Gratitude We have much to be thankful for, notably the people and resources that have been entrusted to us over the years. Among these provisions in trust is a large Canadian body of [...]
Twenty-five years ago, an EMAS team began to serve in Ecuador, providing orthopedic surgery, physiotherapy and treating general Musculo-skeletal diseases. It included a pediatric dental sub-team. This team has more recently specialized in knee and hip replacement surgery. Our Ecuador surgical team is led by Dr. Thomas Greidanus, Janet Greidanus, and Dr. Nelson Greidanus, [...]
by Janet Greidanus Operation Esperanza is a group of healthcare professionals who have been volunteering together for the past 25 years to serve the poor and underprivileged in Ecuador. This time, in 2023, this was done primarily through the provision of free hip replacement surgeries. As well, team members provided dozens of joint injections, [...]
In the lush tropical valley of the Grande Rivière du Nord, in northern Haiti sits a small green tin-roofed building housing a medical clinic in the village of Gambade. From Gambade, the next hospital is ten kilometres of rough and rutted road across a river that is impassible when flooded. For the average resident [...]
In 1948, Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children was restructured and there would be the construction of a new building and the acquisition of new equipment. A group of local doctors, dentists and pharmacists founded the Evangelical Medical Aid Society for the purpose of sending medical equipment from the old hospital to needy mission hospitals [...]
EMAS Canada was established in 1948, when Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children restructured and added a new building and acquired new equipment. A group of local doctors, dentists and pharmacists founded the Evangelical Medical Aid Society for the purpose of sending medical equipment from the old hospital to needy mission hospitals overseas. Hospitals in [...]
On the day after arriving in Harare, I met over brunch with the Moderator of RCZ and the local infrastructure team that has been working on the initial design for a new maternity unit at Gutu Mission Hospital (GMH). After a year of video conference calls, meeting in person was an important step from acquaintance [...]
Maternity is a department within a hospital, or a hospital dedicated to childbirth and the care of newborns. However, there is more to maternity than just a room or the wing of a hospital because it refers to motherhood. Motherhood is life-long, and for most women, it is a joyful occupation, but it can [...]
The long wait is over. Most travel restrictions have been lifted. Teams, once again, prepare to travel in November and December of 2022; and January, February, March, and June of 2023. Once again, we will see and work alongside our overseas partners. The pandemic induced separation was frustrating. We kept connected with our overseas [...]