🇫🇷 Lire cette page en français Our team in Gambade is heartbroken. The team is mourning the death of Mr. Valéry Célestin the clinic administrator after a short illness. We received this sad news on June 24th. Mr. Valéry Célestin This loss is devastating. Barely three months ago, the Gambade Medical Clinic celebrated [...]
In January of 1968, the Evangelical Medical Missionary Aid Society sponsored a short-term mission trip to Kola Ndoto Hospital in Tanzania which involved a stopover at the Maseno Hospital in Kenya. Dr. Ross Willows and his wife, Adele, were Canadians from Manitoba. Dr. Willows was an Obstetrician/Gynecologist and I suspect his wife was either [...]
Imagine a play or a movie in which the actors did their own makeup, set up the props, managed the lights, and shot the scenes all by themselves. The chaos would be astounding, in fact, there would be no play or movie produced. There are hundreds of skilled workers with tons of special equipment [...]
Deep in the lush northeast tropical forest of the Democratic Republic of Congo is Centre Médical Evangélique Nyankunde Hospital. It has a long association with EMAS Canada, dating back to 1948/49, when the Evangelical Medical Missionary Aid Society (EMMAS) sent hospital supplies to a young missionary doctor who had freshly graduated from the University [...]
Among my favourite bible stories is one about Abraham, a wealthy old man who was resting in the heat of the day when three visitors arrived at his tents. “He ran…. to meet them.” The old man was effusive in his reception, yet polite, humble, and eager to serve. Even if his culture dictated [...]
The three pillars that define EMAS Canada continue to find expression as teams step out in action in 2024: Education, Medical Aid and Service. Already, a surgical team is in Tanzania; while a dental team is heading off to Honduras, an orthopaedic team is cautiously watching the security situation in Ecuador, prepared to serve [...]
Guest Post by Sandy Rumford As I sat down to think about what to write for the last blog of the year and the one that will be read as Christmas is quickly approaching, I had a playlist of Christmas music on in the background. I was trying and finding it hard to experience [...]
We are coming to the end of the financial and service year full of gratitude for having been the recipients of so many gifts in funds, volunteer hours, and gifts-in-kind. Beyond the quantifiable, so much was given to our teams and staff in hospitality, prayers, words of encouragement and consolation at times of grief; [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]