Kudjip Nazarene Hospital moves to new medical complex

Kudjip, Papua New Guinea

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Pushing rolling hospital beds loaded with pharmaceuticals, medical instruments, and even patients, doctors and staff at Papua New Guinea's Kudjip Nazarene Hospital on November 4 began a carefully choreographed three-day relocation from their 40-year-old, crumbling hospital into a recently completed new medical complex.

The new 25,000-square-foot, 136-bed hospital creates more space for patients and visiting families. "Old hospital," as the team now calls it, was 15,000 square feet and accommodated just 90 beds.

The relocation has been in the works for five years, including three years of construction. The Highlands of Papua New Guinea receive more than 200 inches of rain a year. As a result, the original hospital structures - built in 1967 with wood and plaster - were falling apart. Ceilings drooped, walls leaned inward, mold permeated the buildings, electrical wiring frayed, and small windows allowed little natural light.

The new facility, constructed with concrete, will resist the wet climate more effectively and provide extra space to treat more patients.

"In the past we have sometimes overflowed to the point of patients sleeping on mats on the floor," said Steph Doenges, a missionary doctor in the hospital. "Hopefully that will no longer be a problem."

According to hospital administrator Bill McCoy, the staff packed and moved approximately 60 percent of the hospital in planned sections during the six weeks leading to November 4. The rest must be completed in three days.

"We're only 100 feet from old hospital to new hospital, so we're mostly carrying (supplies and equipment) by hand and by trolley to get them across," McCoy said. "There have been a couple of very heavy pieces of equipment. We used a backhoe with one of the anesthesia machines to get it up on a palette and back down and out. And we used a lot of manpower - a bunch of real strong guys for heavy stuff."

On Wednesday, November 4, the team was to be joined by students from the Nazarene College of Nursing to move patients, ward by ward, and then move their beds.

The rest of the relocation will be completed by Friday. The hospital will be closed to new patients until Monday, November 9, although a plan is in place to treat emergency, life-threatening cases if any arrive.

Running a fully-functioning hospital at the same time as designing, constructing, and moving into a new one comes with great stress, McCoy admitted.

"A couple of months ago I was discouraged and stressed to the point where I asked Marsha, my wife, if she would be the move czar, and she has been the main player in coordinating the details of the move," he said. "That took a lot of stress off me."

The hospital staff and other mission personnel conducted a prayer walk through the new complex on November 1, sharing Scripture and asking God's anointing on the facility, the medical team, and the patients who will seek treatment there. (Read more about the prayer walk and see photos in Erin Meier's story by clicking here).

"Steph (Doenges) read Ephesians 6:10-13 and asked that we pray for the spiritual battles that go on around us," wrote missionary doctor Andy Bennett in his blog. "Many of the results of Satan's attacks end up in the operating (room), with domestic or tribal violence and violent crime. Many of the perpetrators of this evil are bound in the darkness of sin. ... Steph urged us to pray that God would use us to 'restore broken bodies, broken lives, broken spirits, broken families.'"

To learn more about Kudjip Nazarene Hospital, visit www.kudjipnazarenehospital.org.

To see a photo essay of the move and Bill McCoy's reflections on the journey to build the new hospital, or to hear a recorded interview with Susan Meyer about the move and her call to medical missions, visit Engage magazine.
--Engage Magazine (Slideshow available)

For additional information regarding the move, please see the following links:
"Journey to new, updated hospital lasted three years" (Engage magazine)
"Preparing Kudjip Nazarene Hospital's new facility with prayer" (Engage magazine)
Audiocast: "Susan Myers: 'There isn't anywhere else I would rather be'" (Engage magazine)
Photo essay: "Photo essay: Kudjip Nazarene Hospital moves to new medical complex" (Engage magazine)

 

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