About Hospitals of Hope

Hospitals of Hope History 1999 - 2005

"When was the need realized? Was it after an eleven-year-old girl came into my primitive clinic with advanced tuberculosis? Or was it after a beautiful nine-month-old baby girl was brought in with congenital cataracts, rendering her blind for life? Maybe it was the abandoned children sleeping alone on the streets without even basic shelter? Night after night, my emotions stirred deep within me. I compared medical cases in the United States to those in third world countries. I realized that many people all over the world lack even basic medical care and die from easily preventable diseases. I asked myself, "If the actions of a few could change the lives of many, would I be one of the few?"

Michael Joseph Wawrzewski III, PA-C
Hospitals of Hope, Inc. USA & Bolivia
Founder/CEO

After a short-term mission trip with a group of fellow Christians in 1996, Mike Wawrzewski was moved to return to Bolivia and offer his services as a Physician Assistant to the indigent population of Bolivia. Mike returned in January of 1998 to work alongside of Compassion International in the city of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Compassion International representatives had made arrangements for Mike to work out of three different churches providing free medical services. It was during this time while seeing many needy patients that God was writing his plan on Mike's heart. During a lunch break at a local restaurant, God spoke to Mike's heart and told him that He wanted a children's hospital built that would not only provide health care to those children that needed it the most but would also be a place where people would come and find Him.

Through the support and help from many friends and family, Hospitals of Hope was founded May 22, 1998 and then on December 31, 1998 we received our 501 C (3) tax exempt status. The significance behind the name of Hospitals of Hope is simply that people without "hope" for either their physical or spiritual bodies would find it there in a hospital staffed with Christians who would lovingly serve them and give them something to hold onto….Jesus!

Hospitals of Hope has grown only because the Lord's hand has been upon us. Initially the focus of HOH's mission was just Bolivia but that changed quickly. The staff and board of HOH realized that there are many missionaries all over the world that are in need of supplies and medications so that they can fulfill the mission that God has called them to.

One of the many roles that HOH plays is gathering medical supplies and medications for short-term or long-term missionaries traveling all over the world. With this in mind, Hospitals of Hope has a 10,000 sq. foot warehouse and office complex in Wichita, Kansas for the sole purpose of procuring medical supplies and medications each year for the many requests received. Since 1998 we have helped provide medical missionaries with over eighteen million dollars worth of supplies, equipment and medications. At this time, eighteen countries have benefited either in big or small ways through the ministry of HOH.

Bolivia is still our main project. Over seven hundred and fifty short-term missionaries have traveled to Bolivia since 1998. These short-term missionaries have worked in a variety of settings. Teams have in the past worked on medical outreaches to small communities providing free medical attention. Others teams have worked in orphanages providing desperately needed support and love to children. Smaller teams have also joined forces with New Tribes Mission and traveled out into the jungle to serve tribal village people living along the Chapare River.

The majority of the teams over the last seven years have focused their attention on remodeling the clinic given to Hospitals of Hope during the 2000 year. New plumbing and wiring needed to be installed into the clinic. Septic tanks and in ground water storage tanks had to be hand dug. Rooms needed either to be re-bricked or totally rebuilt. This took over a year to finish but as of April 2, 2001 we were finally able to open the clinic doors. Since the opening of the clinic, over sixteen thousand medical/dental patients have been attended for free. Many of those patients have come to know Jesus as their personal Savior for the first time. For this we are greatly pleased!

As of January 17, 2003 our plans to build a Christian hospital have become reality. Where is God going to take Hospitals of Hope and how big will we grow. Only He knows but for now, we will focus our attention towards Him and pray that through our meager efforts, people's lives might be touched. The HOH medical/dental clinic in Bolivia has treated over fifty-five thousand patients providing care for free, paid through our annual banquet fundraiser and through volunteer mission fees.

Hospitals of Hope has established an affiliation with the Wichita State University which opened up the university's first international rotation for students in Bolivia. Since the initiation of this affiliation, HOH has hosted eleven PA students from WSU and three from other PA programs in three years.

Casa de Amor orphanage was established next to the HOH clinic/hospital in Bolivia after many events and exposures to orphans challenged our board and ministry to be a father to the fatherless. Three forty-foot containers of medical equipment and supplies has been sent to Bolivia over the past three years with two of the containers being sent in the last quarter of 2004.

Clinic in a Can project was developed after numerous foreign nationals asked Hospitals of Hope to consider building a clinic or hospital in their country. One request that launched the idea of Clinic in a Can came from a Kenyan man back in 2002. He shared how his sister had died on the way to the hospital during her first pregnancy. She had come home to have her first baby as is customary in Kenya. While home, she began running a fever and the family decided to take her to the nearest hospital ten miles away. Taking their only method of transportation, the family took turns pushing and pulling their ailing relative in a wheelbarrow. Somewhere between her village and the hospital, she died.

With this image burned in my (Mike Wawrzewski) mind, I began thinking of a way that Hospitals of Hope could make a small but lasting impact in the lives of others around the world. That is when the idea for Clinic in a Can came to mind. Converting a semi-trailer or shipping container into a transportable, self-contained medical/dental clinic that could be built in Wichita, Kansas and then shipped anywhere in the world. I wrote about this idea for the Clinic in a Can in our 2002 newsletter and a couple weeks later I was approached by Jean Eustache. Some of you may have read about Jean Eustache in the March 7, 2004 Wichita Eagle article titled "Living an Impressive Life, Inside and Out". Jean asked if Hospitals of Hope would consider building our first Clinic in a Can for Haiti if he would help come up with the resources needed. Our answer was "yes".

Kyle Stevens and Myron Smith headed up this daunting task and after two years of design and one year of construction, our first Clinic in a Can has been completed. The Clinic in a Can was constructed within a forty-eight foot semi-trailer donated by the Love Box Company. The trailer is a mobile, (or can be stationary) self-contained clinic with a medical exam room, dental operatory suite, laboratory and storage room. A diesel generator provides power for all the electrical equipment which provides water, compressed air and suction for all the clinic rooms.

EMW