Thursday, March 11, 2010
   
Text Size

Hospital Vozandes del Oriente

Shell Hospital Hospital Vozandes del Oriente (HVO) is located at the edge of the Amazon basin in Shell, 150 miles (250 km) southeast of Quito. It is an intermediate healthcare facility that offers general medical, surgical and outpatient services for those living in remote areas. It also offers pastoral services and is a referral facility for other healthcare centres. The inpatient bed capacity is 30.

The ministry of HVO can be divided into three parts: spiritual, physical and education. Whilst healthcare is an obvious need, Christians understand that the human life span is very short in comparison to the eternal life we have with Jesus Christ. The practice of medicine must take into account that to heal a man physically and then leave him dead spiritually represents a seriously incomplete treatment plan.

Moreover, the work at HVO represents a partnership between nationals and ex-patriates. Interns and family practice residents from the mission's sister hospital HVQ , regularly come to Shell for month-long rotations as part of their training in family and tropical medicine. In this way the future physicians of Ecuador are trained to provide compassionate and Christ-like care to the people of their country.

Shell hospital patientHospital Vozandes del Oriente works in close cooperation with other mission agencies in the Amazon River Basin of Eastern Ecuador. One of these agencies is "Mission Aviation Fellowship" (MAF) also known as "Alas de Socorro". The MAF pilots maintain a regular contact with the remote villages of the jungle where no roads exist. The MAF ministry allows for missionary teachers and pastors to enter these communities and for people with health-related emergencies to come to Shell for much needed medical attention.

It is estimated that upwards of 40 percent of the population of Ecuador does not have access to health care due to economic, cultural or political barriers. HVO exists to serve these marginalised populations with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.

HVO also operates a guesthouse with a capacity of 34 guests and the Nate Saint Memorial School, providing quality education for the children of missionaries.