Open doors
I went to the baby hospital a few months ago and the first thing I was asked was if I knew of a cardiologist in
America who could do surgery on one of the babies at the hospital. The doctors here didn’t feel that they could do the surgery needed. A missionary doctor here started asking his friends in the states about doing the surgery. There were several rejections but finally a doctor was willing to do it. As they were communicating to the cardiologists here about it, it turned out that the doctor in the States is a very well known and respected doctor among the doctor’s in Ukraine. They were so awestruck that he was taking the case. One of the Ukrainian doctors needed to call the doctor in the States to make the arrangement and after a long conversation it was decided that the operation would be done here.
The medical missionary has been trying to find ways to minister to the doctors in Ukraine and since his good friend in the states is their revered doctor/teacher, it has opened doors in his relationship with them. One of the outcomes is an English class for the doctors/personnel at the cardiac hospital. We had our first class last night. He had told them that we would teach 10 of them. 20 showed up. So we will adjust and hold 2 classes 2 times a week.
As we introduced ourselves to them, they got all excited when I said that I work with babies with Down’s syndrome. After class, they took me into the ICU to show me a baby with Down’s syndrome who had just under gone heart surgery. I was so moved that they wanted to show me all their babies with Down’s syndrome. When I said I didn’t want to touch the baby since my hands weren’t washed, they quickly grabbed the bottle of hand sanitizer and squirted it in my hands so I could touch the baby. This is so untypical in Ukraine. I think this may open some new doors for me. I will ask them if there is something I can do with the babies. What an opportunity we have.
