Loma Linda University Graduates Continue Legacy of Medical Service in Chad
by Richar Hart
By Richard Hart, February 28, 2014
Dr. Richard Hart, president of Loma Linda University, originally shared this story in the February 2014 edition of his monthly newsletter, Notes from the President. It is reprinted here with permission. –The Editors
Living our mission
We had spent the night in a Lutheran mission guesthouse in the capital city of Ndjamena. Now we were loading into two rigs for an eight-hour ride south to Bere Adventist Hospital, a name that has become known to many. After the dry and sparse camel country of central Tchad (Chad), we slowed through the potholes and detours of the southern goat and sheep country. Our crowded seats became more and more uncomfortable as my mind went back to my first visit to Bere, some 12 years before. It was called Bere Health Center back then, and despite my many years of visiting facilities like this at the ends of the world’s roads, I still remember my discouragement at the first sight of the worn-out buildings, broken beds, dirty surroundings, and desperate patients.
Why do we do this, I wondered? Does God really expect His children to serve in such difficult settings? Could we even find a doctor who would work here? How would we support him or her? Is it safe? Do the people and government even want us? Those are all valid questions, ones we cannot and should not ignore.
Through the first half of the 1900s, the Adventist church started an average of two new mission hospitals a year in developing countries, mostly by Loma Linda graduates. Our graduates were called—driven, really—to do this. It was one of those primal urges—there was no river too deep nor hurdle too high to keep them from taking up this challenge. SO THEY WENT—TO EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD.
But that was then and this is now! Do we still have that type of graduate? Is the need still justified? The issues are surely different in today’s world. Really? We still have more than half the world’s population surviving on no or minimal access to health care. Life expectancy at birth is under 50 years in many countries, with people dying from preventable diseases—millions alone from the big three infections of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
It was only because of the confidence I had in Loma Linda and its graduates that I was even in Tchad. Experience had taught me that they would still go. Not only were they willing, you could not hold them back. One of those intrepid young physicians was just across the border in Cameroon during my first visit, held up by some immigration irregularity. James Appel finally made it to Bere, and many of you know the story of how he started with a solitary commitment and amazing courage. James gradually grew Bere Adventist Hospital into one of the busiest hospitals in the country. It was here he fell in love with a Danish nurse volunteer, Sarah, and their combined commitment to serve in Tchad has been an inspiration to many.
After some six years at Bere, James and Sarah indicated they wanted to pioneer another institution, take on another challenge. That raised two fundamental questions—could we support another hospital in Tchad? And who in the world would carry on at Bere? Though the hospital was now full, with a reputation that reached across national borders, it was still isolated, desperately hot much of the year, with intermittent power and non-potable water. My confidence in our grads was confirmed once again when another young couple stepped forward and said “Here we are, send us.” Olen and Danae Netteburg had met at Loma Linda, fell in love during their latter years here, married, and went into their residencies—he in emergency medicine, and she in obstetrics/gynecology. Now they were looking for their own challenge, their own destiny. I encouraged them to visit Bere to make sure. The visit didn’t shake them and plans were made to move to Bere about three years ago. Meanwhile James and Sarah prepared to start a new ambulatory surgery center in Moundou, the economic capital of Tchad, but a city with limited health care and little church presence.
As the workload expanded at Bere, Danae invited her dad, Rollin Bland—another LLU School of Medicine alumnus—to join them. Rollin and his wife, Dolores, had worked years before in Nigeria, so they knew some of what they were getting into. These three physicians, Olen, Danae, and Rollin, along with their growing support staff, have continued to grow Bere’s reputation. And this past year, a generous donor added more than 20 new preformed buildings to serve as staff homes, guest rooms, classrooms, operating rooms, and delivery suites, etc. The capacity of Bere Adventist Hospital is now taking a giant leap forward to meet the growing needs of southern Tchad.
Our recent visit in late January was to hold board meetings for Adventist Health International–Tchad, dedicate the growing facility at Moundou, lay plans for the future of both institutions, and encourage our team on the ground. As usually happens, a successful hospital has added collateral programs. Rural health education programs are underway, led by LLU School of Public Health alumni. Gary and Wendy Roberts moved to Bere after James and Sarah were established and started a church planting and Bible training program. Gary brought his Cessna 172, built a hanger and airstrip, and now covers a wide swath of central Africa with his ministry. Both a primary and a secondary school are now also thriving at Bere—still basic by most standards, but providing daily Christian education for more than 600 students. It was my privilege to preach in the Bere church, where the benches are crowded, the youth are active, and God is glorified.
Unspeakable tragedies
But great successes are often accompanied by great sacrifice and pain. And Bere is no exception. Caleb Roberts died from malaria at age 4, and then two years ago, Adam Appel, one of James and Sarah’s twins, also died of malaria. Since then we have also lost Minnie Pardillo, a volunteer social worker from the Philippines. These great tragedies tear at the heart, making one question everything about serving abroad. It makes one angry at malaria, that great killer of so many even today. One also gets lost in the “what if?” questions.
It is with profound respect that we recognize what those simple graves in Bere mean, not only to their own families, but also to all of us. While death lingers so close in places like Bere for the local people, somehow it shouldn’t touch us. But it did. All of us. So while Wendy and Gary, and James and Sarah, carry on in Tchad, occasionally blinking back tears, we all must carry the burden of the world’s suffering. The needs have not gone away. The gospel call is as alive and urgent today as it was back then. And God doesn’t say to only go where it is safe. I imagine the Apostle Paul had trouble getting travel insurance for his voyages so long ago.
Our Adventist Health Interational–Tchad board meetings went well. Plans are being made to strengthen each institution and lay bold plans for the future. Another LLU School of Medicine grad, Scott Gardner, has come to take over the Moundou Adventist Surgery Center. Along with his wife, Bekki, they are stepping into James and Sarah’s shoes, while the Appels have set their hearts on yet another new site, far to the northeast of Tchad, where Islam is prevailing and the Darfur refugees from Sudan seek safety. James has been invited by a prominent Muslim family to start a new health care facility there at a place called Abougoudam, a name not found on any map!
So is rural Tchad worth the energy and time of five Loma Linda physicians? Have they found meaning in what they do? I can assure you that they don’t question their own involvement. They have chosen to be there, chosen to serve in this way. And the steady stream of other Loma Linda students and graduates who pass through Bere, and now Moundou, leave with a profound respect for their example of selfless service. Join me in holding up these families in our prayers.
Cordially yours,
Richard Hart
I am inspired by this story, and humbled by those who respond to God's call to advance the Gospel through hazardous medical service in other countries. But I am also saddened by the reality that diseases like malaria still take lives in Africa, not because of inadequate medical care, but because of junk science having been imposed on the Third World by politcally motivated Western NGOs. Rachel Carson (Silent Spring) and her acolytes have been responsible for millions more deaths, thanks to a mindless campaign against DDT, than the absence of good medical care. Important and urgent as Third World medical needs are, it is the absence of sanitation, safe drinking water, plumbing, and healthy diets that overwhelmingly create those pressing medical needs. We do well to remember that the absence of infrastructure, which might enable those we would serve to become self-reliant and productive, is very often a political problem.
That reality should not change our attitudes toward service. After all, how much of Jesus good works were necessitated by preventable political conditions? But we should, wherever possible, take advantage of opportunities to utilize church human and material resources, in addition to medical personnel and materiel, to create the conditions that promote healthy self-reliance. Is there a danger of becoming so politically preconditioned against trying to make positive changes in values and culture that we forget that values and culture are most often what make the difference between prosperity and poverty?
So much of the world suffers from political tyrants who have no regard for life other than their own and their possessions and power. It is heartbreaking to know that the world population could be supported if it wasn't for the wicked in high places and misguided political systems.
I would be careful in naming what you think is "junk science." What seems to work now may turn out later to be poison. DDT has been shown by legitimate research to cause disease, especially cancers. However, you may be saying that cancer years down the road is better than starving.
I am sincerely thankful for all the people going to poor countries to help. God bless them!
Many environmental substances can contribute to disease, Ella. Few realize that CO2 is actually not a pollutant, but a necessity for life. If you are interested in this topic, I would highly recommend The Skeptical Environmentalist, by Bjorn Lomborg. That the DDT scare, and its ban in the Third World has been based on junk science, advanced by radical environmentalism is, I believe, pretty well extablished. Banning it today is the rough equivalent of banning x-rays, because they can increase the likelihood of getting cancer.
Ella,
You realize that “the love of money is the root of all evil.” This is the most inconvenient truth in a world in which "money answers everything."
It is easy to dismiss as "junk science" any conclusions that you don't like. In reality this argument seems to be more about "junk history" than "junk science". How easily were Republican adminstrations "duped" into supporting EPA, bans on DDT etc? Despite tons of money from lobbyists? Nixon may have had a bad case of political paranoia but he was smart enough to recognize a real problem when he saw it.
Where were you in the late 1960s and early 1970s? Do you or did you ever bother to understand the distinction between persistent and non-persistent toxins? About escalating effeects of persistent toxins accumulating in higher levels of the food chain? About the precipitous decline in raptors who sit atop a food chain that nearer the bottom has DDT "carriers" as a major food source?
Having lived on a small lake in Minnesota for many years, I know a few things about mosquitos and mosquito control. There are non-hazardous ways to manage mosquito populations that are not expensive, do not persist in the environment and have very minimal side effects on other biota. These do not get publicized nor widely applied because they require a bit more intelligence in their application and ar not a hugely profitable for the chemcials industry as blanket "fire-and-forget" pesticides.
Similar comments could be made about persistent toxins in herbicides whose effects I have personally witnessed but I digress.
There are also drugs that can be taken to prevent contracting malaria – I also know this from personal experience because I was perpetually "on the (malaria) pill" for 2+1/2 years while regularly commuting to India and SE Asia on business. But this is a rather expesive prophylactic. I figure it probaly cost my employer 10s of $ per mosquito bite to protect me from malaria.
Having known Olen Netteburg since he was "in the oven", and considering the multiple "hard" majors (including science) he accumlated before he finally decided to go to medical school, I highly doubt that he would claim the DDT ban was "junk science". He and his family have personally experienced malaria but I doubt they would blame it on the DDT ban. Next time I talk to the family I will ask. But the drift I get is they would probably take the "political incompetence" side of the argument regarding failure to provide even rudimentary public health measures in the region where they serve.
Malaria is a symptom but it is not the problem. Polluted water (for example) probably strikes on an even broader front. These are problems we know how to solve but there is a lack of political will to apply the solutions in certain parts of the world. The best science and technology is to no avail if there is no political will to apply it.
Good points, Jim. Being caught up in political hysteria, and conscription of science by politicians and environmentalists, as you point out, is not confined to any particular political party, but is endemic to the political process and humans' desire to impose their moral will on others. I did not mean to oversimplify the issue, but to simply point out that oversimplification through fearmongering has produced junk science and cost millions of lives.
Malaria may not be THE problem. But it certainly is A problem, particularly if you or your child are the ones who contract it or die from it. And its persistence has been exacerbated by policies pushed by politically powerful environmental extremist lobbies..
Damn the raptors (and other collateral damage). Full steam ahead!
We all have our favorite powerful extremist lobbies we love to hate 8-).
Thank you to AT for reprinting Dr. Richard Hart's article. "We still have more than half the world’s population surviving on no or minimal access to health care." It raises many questions. But one thing is clear: Some are still going! Thank you to them, and to LLUH for their leadership, and for the support that they raise and provide!
Olen and Danae Netteburg
Roland Bland
Gary and Wendy Roberts + Caleb
Scott and Bekki Gardner
James and Sarah Appel, Miriam, Noah + Adam
Minnie Pardillo
My kind of heroines, my kind of heroes.
"Of whom the world is not worthy"
Lucky world to have Adventists like these–lucky church to be able to support them.
Tired of being on the sidelines? You can do more for them than you think (you could even join them). Check out the Adventist Health International website.
http://www.adventisthealthinternational.org/article/6/how-can-i-help
Jack
Follow the blog of Olen and Danae here:
http://missionarydoctors.blogspot.com/