From the Founder

Hospitals of Hope founder Michael Wawrzewski writes about the many changes happening at HOH. You can read about all the latest news that Michael mentions and more in our fall newsletter (PDF).

After thirteen years of ministry, many things are changing around Hospitals of Hope. Personally, we will be adding another member to the Hospitals of Hope family this November as Elizabeth and I are expecting our first child, a little girl. With all our international traveling and Elizabeth’s dental school, we did not think it wise to add to our family before, but now all seems right….ready or not here she comes.

Here in Wichita, we have also implemented many changes. The warehouse, which has always been packed with medical supplies, is now almost completely empty. Bolivia and many African countries have instituted new laws that prohibit the importation of expired medical supplies, which is what we generally receive in donation. With this in mind, over the past five months we redistributed our supplies and equipment to our partnering organizations. Now the space once used to house donated supplies is a production area for Clinic In A Cans. Over the past year, we have built nine container clinics that have been shipped to Haiti and Africa and we continue to build more. We believe this to be a very economical method to replicate our ministry providing a completely contained, cost effective medical clinic to areas of the world in great need.

Elizabeth and I just returned from Bolivia in September after being absent for seven months. I must admit that I am impressed at the growth and organization of the hospital led by Rudy Guzman, our hospital administrator. Leta Reppert is now in charge of the guesthouse and volunteers serving at the hospital and she is doing a great job integrating the volunteers at the hospital. Another great addition and change was converting one corner of the patient waiting area at the hospital into Xelda’s Café. We have created a very warm and inviting environment. As patients wait to be attended at our hospital, volunteers serve free drip coffee, tea and cookies. Patients feel more comfortable sitting at one of the small coffee tables than a hospital waiting area. These patients more readily reveal personal problems, health concerns and family matters to our staff who take the opportunity to listen and pray with them.

We are very excited about all the changes taking place and the new opportunities to minister around the world!

Thank you as always, for your support.

Michael Joseph Wawrzewski III