Heal the Nations

The Vision

My vision for Heal the Nations began in 1972 when I saw a magazine picture of a malnourished child who was so weak, he could not swat the flies out of his eyes.  The solution to his malnutrition seemed so simple, because we live in a nation of abundance.  I did not have anything to offer him at the time, but that picture motivated me to keep searching for ways to help people in desperate need that have no material goods.

After medical school I spent 2 years at a medical mission clinic in Jamaica providing care to poor residents in urban shanti towns.  I traveled to Uganda in 1995 when I was invited by my former pastor, Jim Kirkpatrick.  In Uganda, I felt God calling me to stand in the gap to defend the people that were in desperate poverty, which exceeded anything I had ever seen.  As a physician, I knew that we could design a simple program that would bring healthcare that would save the lives of children.

I returned to Uganda year later to train health workers, but there was no system to support and guide  them, so there was no longterm benefit.  Two years later, we drew up plans for a team of health workers and nurses to provide basic healthcare and immunizations. After raising financial support, we were able to kick off our program with a system to provide continued resources for bringing healthcare to needly children and families in rural Uganda.