By Tiffany C. Priester ’04, AIMS Council Co-chair
The pandemic has spared no corner of the world. The impact of the virus on our overseas alumni has been as varied as our own experience here in the U.S. — with some setting up COVID-19 wards, some planning to care for only non-COVID-19 patients, and a few even finding themselves temporarily out of a job and evacuated from the mission field due to local unrest about foreigners bringing the virus to their country. As challenging as it was to secure PPE in the U.S., the inflation of prices and scarcity of certified supplies is amplified in most of the countries our international alumni serve in, becoming practically impossible for some.
While cash support is not the usual AIMS mode of assistance, in these extraordinarily challenging times, the AIMS council voted to send $2,500 to each of our overseas hospital alumni who needed it. These funds would be used as needed for their hospital. To date, nine of the alumni responded to emails alerting them of the vote and have subsequently received the wire of funds:
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- Bangkok Adventist Hospital (via Nick A. Walters ’89)
- Guam Clinic (via Michael J. Robinson ’95 for the team)
- St. Timothy Government Hospital (via James E. Appel ’00)
- Haiti Adventist Hospital (via Jeffrey Y. Cho ’14 for the team)
- Scheer Memorial Hospital (via Jonathan Thorp ’12)
- Adventist Health Center Lilongwe (via Gregory E. Saunders ’85)
- Christian Medical College Hospital (via Herbert N. Giebel ’88)
- Malamulo Hospital (via Wilson G. Thomas ’13 for the team)
- Bere Adventist Hospital (via Sarah E. Belensky ’13 for the team)
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We acted in faith, hoping you, as part of our alumni, would be moved to make donations to help your fellow alumni and replenish the money we sent in this time of crisis. We believe everyone in the world should have access to both excellent health care and a chance to witness the Good News of God’s love for them. As alumni, let us join together to meet these goals wherever we are.