African Mission Healthcare Gerson L’Chaim Prize Laureate – 2018
ELWA Hospital, Kenya
When civil war wracked Liberia, Dr. Rick Sacra and his family followed refugees to Cote D’Ivoire and ministered to them. When Ebola tore through Monrovia, the capital, Dr. Sacra returned from furlough to help keep ELWA Hospital running. He contracted the disease, was evacuated to the United States, recovered, and then returned to Liberia.
His dogged persistence led him to start the first family physician residency program in the country. And the same courage and persistence won him the African Mission Healthcare Gerson L’Chaim Prize for Outstanding Christian Medical Missionary Service.
Treating Patients Today
African Mission Healthcare has provided support for the ELWA Hospital’s HIV clinic.
Training Doctors for Tomorrow
The L’Chaim Prize and the L’Chaim Mission Hospital Teaching Network have provided support for the family medicine residency program, including trainee stipends, faculty support, and housing construction. This support helped keep the program and even the hospital open during the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath.
Transforming Hospitals for Tomorrow
Power costs in Liberia are a serious threat to the hospital’s sustainability. African Mission Healthcare, in collaboration with I-TEC, installed a solar system to provide clean power and reduce hospital expenses on diesel fuel.
African Mission Healthcare’s partnership with ELWA Hospital is an example of our commitment to partner with hospitals through very challenging periods.