Awakening in Many Ways:
The Corona virus has come back here again very strong. We now see more Covid patients, even in our own team. Thanks to the obligation for vaccination in Ecuador, we have not seen severe infections. Patients with several shots can still get sick but much less than others. They are sick for about 5 days.
We are preparing for the future of our team with a new book of regulations. One main focus will be the rights and obligations between regular employees on payroll and those who work without being on payroll. We want our staff to be at peace when the Wolffs leave.
As leaders we have learned that sometimes you need to step away and see your work from a different standpoint. So we took a photographer, rented a MAF plane and flew over Shell several times for new pictures. We saw that we are the largest company in Shell after the military community. The military and the State of Ecuador are less and less present here. MAF and Hospital Shell are still an important part in Shell. And while many patients from the jungle cannot afford to pay for a flight, more and more of them come by bus or by car. Our hospital has enough space to expand in the future.
We ask you to please pray for new missionaries. A family from the States (Family Practice) is preparing to come, and we are in contact with a German family. We need missionaries to take over responsibility in the future together with Ecuadorians. Both of these families and many more missionaries in the future will need a clear spiritual call.
Our new missionary physician, Anna Clair Cusick, started her rural year as a physician beginning in January this year. She will be part of our team again starting in January 2023, while her husband Steward is an important part of our renovation team as an engineer.
Just before Christmas, we operated on the first patient for a hip prosthesis. Others will follow with an orthopedic surgeon from the Quito hospital. We still have several thankful patients with hip prostheses from the time before Hospital Vozandes del Oriente closed. Also knee prostheses will follow.
The next major project is our wastewater system. We have been planning this for years but many state offices and the mayor of Mera have blocked the progress. Without a new system we cannot upgrade from a day hospital to a basic hospital.
A few days ago our colonoscope broke. We were able to repair it, but just for very limited use. We need a new/used one: Olympus Gastro – Colonoscope Model: L CF- 140L and GIF – 1T149 Videoscope.
We are also asking for a donation or buy a used video – gastro – colonoscope from a different brand. If someone has connections, please contact us. Our foundation could give a tax deductible receipt.
In March, we will again be contacted by the ministry of health for the yearly permission. That means a lot of preparation. It is very important that our personnel manage these steps now, which includes outpatients, emergency patients and day surgeries changing to a 24 hour 7 day schedule. This is a big step.
Lightway Medical Foundation has been handling our US donations since 2014 when it was started by Steve and Diane Wilson along with Dr. Stan Pletcher. As of this year, Steve, Diane and Stan will be stepping aside, and the administration of Lightway will change.
Lightway will now be managed by Dr. Stephen Morse along with a team of his colleagues from the Fort Wayne Indiana area.
The new mailing address is:
Lightway Medical Foundation
PO Box 8066
Fort Wayne, IN 46898
Checks can be mailed there, or you can donate through their website, LightwayMedical.org/donations.
We want to thank Steve, Diane and Stan for their time of service here in Shell, and their continued time of service to Hospital Shell since they left here in 2012.
In the future we need more and younger friends in North America. So it’s time for a new awakening.
With our new awakening, and more personnel to integrate your prayers and giving we can do this. God bless you in 2022.
Eckehart and Klaudia Wolff and TEAM