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The Epiphany Medical Missions Imagine lying on a stone floor in a cardboard shack battling the last stages of AIDS with nobody to help you... Dr. Pavel Z. grew up in communist Czech Republic. He experienced a profound conversion during his medical studies and while working with poor children as a medical volunteer in the former Soviet Ukraine. He has voluntarily switched the direction of his medical career from working full time as an Internist in a hospital to working full time for the Epiphany Medical Missions, as a mission doctor. He joined a team of medical professionals who are establishing health care clinics, hospitals, and education programs for the poor and needy around the world. Let's hear some of his testimony: Recently some team members and I went through the slums in Bombay, India, throughout which the open trenches ran with a filthy black sewage thick with rubbish and waste. The foul odor was constant and nauseating. As we walked through the slums I thought to myself, "How could people survive in these conditions." I was truly amazed. Rosie, one of our social workers, took us to see a young woman that she had been caring for. She was in the last stages of AIDS. When we arrived to her dark, old shack we entered and found her lying on the stone paved floor. It was obvious that she was in extreme pain. She couldn't eat anything, nor could she pass any waste. We knelt down by her side and gently examined her. The only thing we could do was to treat her pain. After some time when the medicine took effect she looked at me with grateful eyes. That look penetrated my soul and still remains there. We are currently developing and implementing a nutrition and pain management program that is bringing hope and relief to many AIDS patients in Bombay. |