MAP Summer 2021 Newsletter

medicine for the world THANKS TO YOU Our mission: To provide medicines and health supplies to those in need around the world so they might experience life to the fullest. Summer 2021 | Volume 53

millions of people have health and hope!

As you read this, somewhere in the developing world right now someone is saying a prayer of thanksgiving for your act of generosity.

Perhaps it is a parent whose child received lifesaving antibiotics just in the nick of time. Or a young burn victim’s mother who cries tears of gratitude that her daughter now has range of motion — because of an operation with MAP sutures and medicines. Or maybe it’s an elderly woman in a remote village who can care for her grandchildren because she receives medicines to keep her hypertension under control.

For the more than two billion people in the world who lack access to any medicines, your generosity is truly a godsend.

It is in their names that MAP dedicates this newsletter to you — our supporters — for being instrumental in helping us bring health and hope in Jesus’ name to all corners of the globe.

“God bless all our partners who love the children of Haiti!”

Being a child in Haiti can be incredibly difficult. Families often struggle to scrape by on less than $2 a day — barely enough to cover a few necessities, much less nutritious food. Many Haitian children suffer from malnutrition, with nearly a third of all children under the age of five suffering from stunted growth. Children in Haiti are quite literally dying of hunger.

This profound need is what prompted one of MAP’s partner organizations, Love A Child, to open their new Malnutrition Center, where Haitian parents receive health education, their children receive medical care, and families are provided with nourishing food for their babies.

Because MAP International believes that every child deserves access to medical care and basic health necessities, we have joyously partnered with Love A Child to support their mission of serving Haiti’s children.

When the children come to the Malnutrition Center, they are examined and sent home with food that is specially made for malnourished children. These ready-to-use-food (RUSF) packages, donated by MAP, provide the protein and other

nutrients that these children need in order to thrive.

“We are so thankful that MAP International donated this to us to get us started,” says Love A Child missionary Sherry Burnette.

“This special food is excellent for the children, and we could never afford this great gift of love!”

Many of these out-patients, however, live high up in the mountains, and the journey down to the Malnutrition Center can be long and treacherous. Most mothers cannot afford to make the trip down the mountain for these

In addition to caring for a handful of full-time, in-patient children, the Malnutrition Center also serves another 33 children who are outpatient – and these numbers are growing daily. Mothers bring their babies for weekly exams, and then receive special formulas or MAPdonated supplementary foods to take home. appointments. This spring, Love A Child began a new program, sending a “Malnutrition Center Nurse” up the mountain each week to meet these families and care for the children closer to their homes. These nurses truly “go the extra mile” to serve these Haitian children!

Missionary Sherry Burnette expressed her gratitude to MAP International for the RUSF peanut butter food packages that they donated. “God bless all our partners who love the children of Haiti!”

Thanks to you, baby Bianca is smiling again!

Sweet baby Bianca is blind, has a cleft lip and palate, and has microencephaly, which means her head was much smaller at birth than it should have been. In Haiti, children like Bianca who have special needs are often abandoned, families unable or unwilling to care for and feed a child who will never be independent. They are viewed as worthless, unwanted.

Because of this, Bianca, a mere 18 months old, lives at the Jehovah Rapha orphanage in Port-auPrince. On this particular day, she was suffering from a middle ear infection. Fortunately, the children at the orphanage are often able to receive medical care from visiting international mission teams.

Bianca was treated for her ear infection by Rachelle, a nurse practitioner from Missouri. During her exam, Bianca was frightened at first. But a young girl named

Lucy, who wants to be a missionary doctor herself one day, offered to hold the baby, and her presence calmed Bianca right down.

Rachelle was the only medical provider on her team this year, but she came willing to serve and armed with a supply of medicines from MAP International. Rachelle gave baby Bianca some pediatric antibiotics from MAP and treated a total of 30 children at the orphanage that day.

Rachelle says her church has been visiting Haiti for five years, but this was her first visit to the country. “This was also the first time we could offer medical clinics thanks to the low-cost medications, wound care, medical supplies, and sutures obtained through MAP,” Rachelle said.

After treating 30 children at the orphanage, and an additional 38 patients through a mobile clinic, Rachelle said they still had MAP medicines leftover. The remaining supplies were left with a local maternity clinic, malnutrition clinic, and the special needs orphanage clinic. Rachelle reports that their missionary friends “have continued to use the leftover medications to help patients in Haiti,” and they are so thankful.

“Thank you so much for the service you provide,” says Rachelle.

“We look forward to continued collaboration!”

Because of you, a burn survivor now has full range of motion!

At the age of 2, Mary had an accident and suffered severe burns to both of her hands and arms. The burns eventually healed, but she was left with “burn scar contractures” – the tightening of the skin that occurs after a second- or third-degree burn. Now, over a decade later, the contractures on her hands, in her elbow, and in her armpit still prevent her from fully extending any of these joints.

Mary’s family are refugees living in Uganda, from the Dinka tribe of South Sudan. Mary has a relative who works in the Anglican diocese in Egypt, and through his connections, she was finally able to find help at Harpur Memorial Hospital in Menouf, Egypt.

Seeking such specialized care as reconstructive surgery at a private hospital would have been far too expensive for Mary’s family to afford, and the quality of care given at the government hospitals is less than ideal. Harpur Memorial Hospital, however, is a charity hospital with much lower fees and is known for its excellent medical services, its compassionate service to rich and poor alike, and its love for Jesus Christ.

Dr. Paul Lim, an American plastic and reconstructive surgeon who leads the surgical residency program at the hospital, was able to form a treatment plan for Mary. Repairing all of her scar contractures will

require multiple operations, but in the end, will restore full use of her hands and give her the ability to move her arm normally.

Dr. Lim and his team just recently completed the first operation on her left hand and armpit, a procedure that was done successfully using high quality Ethicon sutures donated by MAP International.

Because of the charity hospital’s low fees, the compassionate care and skill of Dr. Lim and his team, and the high quality sutures donated free-of-charge

by MAP International, Mary finally has hope for living life unrestricted by old wounds.

Supporters Like You Are Making a World of Difference Dr. Neil Skogerboe – A 50-year legacy of giving It was 1975 when Dr. Neil Skogerboe began his medical career in rural Roseau, Minnesota. He describes the small town as being a fairly isolated area, particularly when it came to medical services – Roseau was 70 miles from the nearest surgeon or obstetrician, and 140 miles from the nearest orthopedist or neurologist.

Practicing medicine in such a resource-poor area of the U.S. gave him a small taste of the challenges that doctors on the mission field experience daily.

As a donor who has given steadily to MAP over Dr. Neil Skogerboe and his wife Celeste a 50-year period, Dr. Skogerboe says he has always been impressed with the relationships that MAP has with pharmaceutical companies who donate large amounts of medicines

to the organization. “That has been a marvelous concept,” he says, “and also a very effective concept.”

He thinks MAP is a fantastic example of how the corporate world can really pitch in to help the people that are on the front lines taking care of the sick, wounded and hungry.

After serving for four years in rural Roseau, Dr. Skogerboe moved to Bemidji, Minnesota, where he worked as a family practice physician until his retirement in 2015. Unfortunately, life circumstances have prevented Dr. Skogerboe and his wife, Celeste, from doing international medical mission work as they had planned, but they are still making an impact worldwide as steadfast supporters of MAP. “It’s part of our Christian assignment to help the poor and needy in various ways to make life better for people,” Dr. Skogerboe explains. “And sometimes love needs to be demonstrated…if you can’t do it yourself, if you can help somebody else do it, that’s important.”

Dr. Paul Mertens – A Testimony of Faith and Faithful Service Dr. Paul Mertens and his wife Donna, of St. Paul, Minnesota, have been faithful donors to MAP International since the 1970s.

After graduating from medical school, Dr. Mertens and Donna were approved by the Lutheran Mission Board to serve at Curran Lutheran Hospital in Liberia.

Curran Lutheran Hospital served the local population within two districts in Lofa county, Liberia. “They were the only functioning hospital in their county,” explains Dr. Mertens, who recalls many instances when the hospital ran out of beds and patients were sleeping on the floor.

After two years at Curran, Dr. Mertens and his wife moved back to the U.S. so he could begin a pediatric residency. One year into that residency, the Lord called them back to Liberia to serve another 9 years at Curran.

“It was there that we primarily had a large percentage of our pharmaceutical needs met by MAP,” he says.

During his time at Curran, one of the biggest challenges he faced was improving the health education of local Liberians. Protein calorie malnutrition was a big problem, so the hospital created an outreach program to go into the villages and teach nutrition, work with prenatal health, and administer vaccines.

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Even after his retirement in 2003, Liberia remained an integral piece of the Mertens’ lives. Between 2011 and 2018, Dr. Mertens traveled to Liberia twice a year to assist with training Liberian nurses Dr. Paul Mertens and his wife Donna and physician assistants in the treatment of mental health conditions. Then, Dr. Mertens says, “MAP got involved with supplying some of the medications for mental health for those that we had trained.”

When asked what has motivated him to give to MAP International for so long, Dr. Mertens speaks from his personal experience on the mission field. “I’ve known what MAP’s been doing, I’ve experienced what medications from MAP can do for mission organizations.

I’m more than happy to supply a yearly donation to MAP, because I’ve seen the effects of their program.”

Because of the faithful work of donors like Dr. Mertens and his wife, MAP is able to send health and hope to people all over the world who need it most.

Because of you.

Today, smiles are chasing away tears for so many in forgotten places who now have health and hope because of your unwavering generosity.

We dedicate our Summer 2021 Newsletter to our faithful supporters who make it possible for MAP International to carry out our calling to provide vital medicine and health supplies for a world in desperate need.

We hope you’ve been encouraged by what you’ve read. Please know, a gift in any amount will help ensure we have even more inspiring stories of redemption to share.

Give today!