The new beds are a much-needed addition to the hospital in Bibiani.

March 12, 2009. Thanks to the fundraising efforts of Catholic World Mission and the dedication of HELPING HANDS Medical Missions volunteers, the Norvant Hospital in Charlotte, NC was able to donate 25 electronic beds worth $75,000 to the Bibiani Government Hospital in Ghana, Africa.

The beds had been donated earlier this year, but the $11,000 expense of transporting them overseas had been a significant obstacle. Thanks to the generosity of many benefactors, Catholic World Mission was able to raise the necessary funds to send the beds by the February 20 deadline.

An article about the donation appeared in a national online newspaper called GhanaHomePage. (To read the article, click here.)

An alliance of giving

Last April, the first group of medical missionaries traveled to Ghana to begin caring for the needs of the poorest of the poor. One of the missionaries, a family practitioner from Concord, NC named Dr Harrison, found out that Norvant Hospital in Charlotte, NC was about to discard 25 hospital beds to make way for new state-of-the-art beds. From his

	The entrance to the clinic in Bibiani.

past trip to Ghana in April, he knew how much the local Bibiani hospital needed beds.

Transporting those beds required a total of $11,000. Catholic World Mission, which fundraises for humanitarian projects like schools and missions, came to the rescue and the beds were sent off to Africa on time. When the second medical missions trip to Ghana takes place this April, the missionaries will see their patients resting in real beds, not on the floor.

Lupita Assad, the International Missions Coordinator for HELPING HANDS Medical Missions, said, “It is amazing how things connect and we are able to be instruments for the people of Bibiana to receive this donation through the contact of HELPING HANDS.”

Ryan Flood, Executive Director of Catholic World Mission, commented on the generosity of the donors in these difficult economic times. “It’s even more heroic when people continue giving now,” he said. “It’s thanks to their sacrificial giving that we were able to raise those funds in time.”

On the horizon

Catholic World Mission will also be fundraising the upcoming medical missions trip to Ghana this April. Interested donors may click here for more information.

The missionaries will work through a medical clinic at the St John of God Catholic Hospital in the city of Asafo while traveling teams of doctors and nurses visit nearby villages to offer free medical care. Find out more by visiting the HELPING HANDS Medical Missions web site at www.hhmm.org.

HELPING HANDS Medical Missions also has a You Tube site with videos from past missions. To watch a video of the last medical missions to Ghana, click here.