"Can you imagine children who have never seen a doctor or nurse in their community?" asks Luke Society Director, Dr. Jorge Gomez-Frey. "Some cry of fright, the older ones look at us strangely, but all are happy because many of their sicknesses will be healed with the medicines we bring to them."
"Imagine a rural woman, mother of eight children, who has never received a pap smear or an ecography. We come to her community offering these services for free. Many of these women do not know how to thank us, and in their expressions of happiness we only see tears, smiles and tight hugs, even on their next visit."
These situations describe what the local reaction was when the Lucas Clinic was built in their community. This community of 6,000 has never had a medical clinic in its area. "Instead, the women and children had to travel long distances in order to obtain medical services which are costly and many times could not be paid," Dr. Frey says. The new Lucas Clinic is geared toward women and children’s health needs.
Initially, the community was leery of this new clinic and did not trust its care. But word soon spread that the clinic was offering quality health care that, for the first time in history, was close to their homes.
When a local 46 year old woman had been hemorrhaging for six months, she sought care in a larger medical clinic far away. Someone talked to her about going to Lucas Clinic. She went to the clinic with high hopes of being cured. She underwent tests, and her diagnosis was benign dysfunctional uterine bleeding. Dr. Frey wrote, "After the diagnosis, she began thanking God for placing a specialized clinic with good service at an affordable price and close to her community."
In February of 2004, the Lucas Clinic staff delivered its first baby. A woman in the local church came to the clinic in need of a cesarean section delivery. "She fully trusted our health professional team, committing to the Lord this first step," Dr. Frey remembers. "Everything went well, and the baby was named Samuel. For us, it was a great achievement."
After establishing the Lucas Clinic in the community, Dr. Frey began to target smaller communities in the area for community health projects. The first village they visited was nearly 100 miles from the clinic. Frey and his staff took supplies and set up a temporary clinic as this was the fi rst time these people had ever received medical care! Over 170 women and children were seen on this visit. Because of poor patient hygiene and lack of family education, efforts were directed towards women’s health, contraceptive management, and pap smears. With children, the focus was on malnutrition, respiratory infections and personal hygiene.
Even now, three years after its introduction to the community, the Lucas Clinic staff is surprised by the responses of their patients to the quality medical care they provide. In early 2005, a patient came to the clinic needing many tests in order to have an operation at the government hospital. "When we handed over her test results without cost, she started to cry, and we thought perhaps she was afraid of the results. So we talked and found out she was crying because she could not believe it was free of charge," Dr. Frey said. The woman’s pastor had given her a voucher reserved only for the poor. "I think we are so much immersed in our daily work that we have not seen how meaningful it is when we provide medical technology to our brethren much in need," Dr. Jorge says.
Although the medical care provided at the clinic is very important to the community, Dr. Frey also realizes the importance of sharing Jesus Christ with his patients. "Our work is also centered in the evangelical churches and their pastors in an alliance of activities in which the Lucas Clinic offers medical services while the churches present the good news to all the families that enter in contact with us," Dr. Frey explains.
The Lucas Clinic and its outreach has come a long way in the past three years. "We and the components of our work team feel blessed by all of the patients we have served in this time," Dr. Frey says. "Every day we see that if we are not guided by our heavenly Father and by our Savior, the Lord Jesus, we would not be able to fulfill our objectives."
