Illuminating the "Healing Ministry of Christ" through CMC
A PUBLICATION OF THE VELLORE CMC FOUNDATION
EDITION ONE | JULY 2021
IN THIS ISSUE:
U.S. Faith-Based Institutions Extend their Hands to Ease India’s Pandemic Crisis Written by John A. Riehl, President Vellore CMC Foundation In times of human hardship and without regard to geography, the U.S. faith-based community has repeatedly responded to the needs of those affected by tragedies of every kind while also assisting with the long-term recovery of the community in which the survivors live. The U.S. faith-based community is often characterized by both its informal and formal contributions to disaster relief. Informally, our faith-based community partners help us rally around community members to offer moral upliftment and to assist in fulfilling unmet needs. In a more formal manner, the Foundation’s faith-based partner organizations enter into mutual aid agreements with us as we partner to stage the best and most appropriate response to disaster situations, most recently the second wave of the COVID pandemic in India. Starting in March 2021, the number of new COVID cases in India began to rise rapidly. The outcome was that the total number of people testing positive for the coronavirus quickly rose to and exceeded 15 million. During this period, hospitals in every part of the country began to exceed their capacity to admit new patients. The Christian Medical College of Vellore (CMC) was no exception. When the second wave hit, there was a lack of adequate equipment – ventilators and oxygen concentrators – to provide proper respiratory therapy; there was an overwhelming need for personal protection equipment (PPE); also needed was the ability to create access to
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U.S. FAITH-BASED INSTITUTIONS EXTEND THEIR HANDS TO EASE INDIA’S PANDEMIC CRISIS - 1 DEVOTIONAL - 1 FINDING INSPIRATION IN HISTORY - 2 BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD - 3 WHAT IS "ICU INDIA"? - 5
DEVOTIONAL
by Veni Manickam, Director of Grant Acquisition and Research Development, Vellore CMC Foundation
When contemplating Ida S. Scudder’s wholehearted submission to God’s calling on the fateful night of the 3 knocks, take time to ponder her decisions, with the hope that in understanding, we too may seek God in committing our lives wholeheartedly to Christ in thought, word and deed. No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Corinthians 2:9) Our intimacy with God is a direct corollary of our seeking, trust and submission to Christ, which leads to vast revelation of God’s nature and of our true purposes in Him – as we as dust cannot behold the inherent majesty of God except for through the aid of God Himself. Knowing God leads to greater desire to obey Him. Ida spiritedly walked God's will for her by maintaining tremendous intimacy with God and walking by faith, not by sight. May the LORD make us good and faithful servants, in Him, like Ida. In Him, we lack nothing. Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1-2).
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patient care without regard to one’s ability to pay. The requirement to quickly and adequately train medical personnel in the skills needed to treat COVID patients (particularly those with the most severe symptoms) was immense, and most importantly, there was a need to quickly acquire and administer the COVID-19 vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin – that are approved for emergency use in India. All of this began to unfold just 12 to 14 weeks ago, and what has occurred since has been nothing short of extraordinary – perhaps better stated, nothing short of “a miracle”! Literally hundreds of individuals and institutions from throughout the United States faith-based community came to the aid of CMC. Through the financial support of such nationally recognized institutions as American Baptists International Ministries, Bloom India, Gospel Missions of India, Paul J. Sumanth Ministries Inc., Reform Church in America (RCA), Samaritan’s Purse, and United Methodists Committee on Relief (UMCOR) as well as local parishes that included Bethany Memorial Reformed Church, Country Club Christian Church, Grace Trinity
United Church of Christ, and New Dover United Methodist Church, CMC built its capacity in the following ways: The addition of two (2) twelve-bed ICU pods The permanent installation of two (2) new Oxygen generators The acquisition of thousands of N95 masks, face shields, and gowns The purchase of desperately needed non-invasive ventilators and oxygen concentrators The provision of funds needed to support charity care for COVID patients with all levels of severity The purchase of more than 9,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine in support of CMC’s “Vaccinate Vellore” initiative. To those institutions mentioned (and to the hundreds of people within Christian communities from across the country), whose generosity changed the landscape of CMC’s response to the second wave of the COVID pandemic, both CMC and the Vellore CMC Foundation express their profound gratitude.
FINDING INSPIRATION IN HISTORY
"CMC IS DOING GREAT THINGS AND
Written by Scott Engelsman, Supervisor of RCA Mission in India, Reformed Church in America
BUILDING ON A HISTORY THAT WILL NEVER BE REPEATED BUT WILL
The words “history” and “historical” are fresh in my mind as we come off of a weekend of celebrating Independence Day here in the United States. So much of what we celebrate on this day are events that happened and documents that were written hundreds of years ago. But, what we are truly celebrating in 2021 is not the historical documents that gave us those freedoms, but rather the freedoms that they ensure. In the church, we often celebrate our history. And, we have an amazing history! Missionaries of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) went to far-off lands and brought lifealtering change to local communities where they worked. There are thriving churches, schools, and hospitals in places like India, China, Bahrain, Oman, and Mexico in part because God used RCA missionaries. God put people in place to plant churches, start schools for kids who didn’t have access to education and bring medical care to people
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FOREVER BE THE INSPIRATION FOR NEW THINGS." who were not able to get it any other way. The people and the places are truly historical, but we celebrate them today because of the impact they continue to have. Among the most influential historical RCA figures is the Scudder family. In fact, Dr. John Scudder was the first Reformed Church medical missionary sent overseas. The whole family’s history is inspiring, but their lasting legacy is still being written today. Chief among those legacies is that of Dr. Ida Scudder. She started with a one-bed clinic in 1900 and went on to start the Christian Medical College in 1918. Today, CMC serves over two million patients per year! Ida’s story is far more than historical! Her legacy lives on daily through the thousands of medical professionals at CMC and around the world.
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The legacy of that one-bed clinic and the lone donor who gave $10,000 to start it over 120 years ago continues to grow. Today, we are all part of building that legacy. Perhaps we are starting something that people like us will look back on as historical. Maybe it will be the addition of the clinic in the Jawadhi Hills. Maybe it will be the support of a medical student at CMC who will go on to start something else amazing. It is said that history repeats itself. I believe that history inspires us to do great things. Ida Scudder had no idea that her one-bed clinic would turn into what CMC is today. She simply saw a need and felt God nudging her to do something to meet that need. RCA Global Mission is constantly listening to hear what God is nudging us to do. What could we do now that people will celebrate as historical beginnings 100 years from now? What could be your role in that? Perhaps you are the doctor God is calling to start something new. Perhaps you are the donor that could help fund a new clinic for people in such great need. CMC is doing great things and building on a history that will never be repeated but will forever be the inspiration for new things.
3rd Annual Ecumenical Leadership Forum
Spiritual Inspiration and International Collaboration: Building on Historical Relationships
July 23, 2021 | 10:30 AM ET Join us: Please register by clicking here The U.S. Faith Community has helped strengthen the capabilities of CMC Vellore allowing this communion to accomplish God’s mutual priorities for the past, present, and future. This year, we are honored to have guest presenters from our network of faith-based communities who will speak on topics that point to God’s empowerment in our partnership
BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD Written by Dr. Thomas Ram, Associate Director of Missions Professor and Head, Radiation Oncology, CMC Dr. Ida S Scudder, a third-generation American medical missionary of the Reformed Church in America responded to a call from God and established a one-bedded clinic in 1900 at Vellore that would become one of the top-ranked educational, medical, and research institutes in India. She had a dream, as she writes in her diary, "we are not building a medical college, we are building a kingdom of God." In efforts to expand into a medical college, Dr. Ida approached multiple denominations and mission hospitals across the country to send doctors who could serve as medical faculty. Pioneers like Dr. Somervell from South Travancore Medical Mission Hospital in Neyyoor joined the department of General Surgery, Dr. Edward Gault from Christian Hospital for Women, Azamgarh Uttar Pradesh established the Pathology department, Dr. Norman Stuart Mcpherson missionary of the Church
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Missionary Society (CMS) of England from the Zenana Mission of London in Srinagar, later in Peshawar joined the surgery department and several others from the various missions served at CMC during the most critical stage of its development as a Medical College. As the institution grew, CMC Vellore continued to stay engaged in healthcare professionals' capacity building and supporting various initiatives at mission hospitals. CMC Vellore is currently training healthcare professionals who go out to serve in the network of close to 185 mission hospitals across the country, including many which are located in some of the remote areas of Central, North, and Northeast India. Apart from initiatives like Secondary hospital programs ( SHP) for students, support through short-term faculty visits is increasingly encouraged through pro-missions policies of CMC. Several struggling mission hospitals have approached CMC Vellore to undertake their revival. The following provides a few historical and current initiatives.
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CMC Vellore Mission Hospital Network 185 Hospitals
PARTNERSHIPS FOR REVIVAL Bangalore Baptist Hospital - The first initiative of CMC for Missions revival https://www.bbh.org.in/ In the mid-80s, the International Mission Board (IMB), represented by The Indian Baptist Society and CMC Vellore, partnered to develop the already established Bangalore Baptist Hospital (BBH) located in a needy area of Bangalore. Since 1989, CMC has managed the hospital through a tripartite agreement between IMB, BBH, and the College. Now BBH has developed into a state-of-theart 340-bed multi-specialty healthcare center providing compassionate care at affordable costs and developing committed professionals through quality academic and research programs. CIHSR( Dimapur) Nagaland- A Unique Partnership with Government in North-East India https://cihsr.in/ In January 2002, on the invitation from the Government of Nagaland (GON), CMC Vellore joined a tripartite partnership between Emmanuel Hospital Association (EHA), and GON to establish a Medical Institute at Dimapur, Nagaland. Today, the Institute comprises a 200bed secondary hospital, a Nursing College, DNB PG courses in 3 subjects, 5 Allied health courses, a center for children with special needs, a Cancer Center, and several health-training courses. Reynolds Memorial Hospital (RMH) Washim, Maharashtra https://www.rmhindia.org/ RMH was pioneered by Dr. Orpah Speicher, who came to Washim in 1938 as a missionary of the Nazarene Church. She started medical work in an old school building and built the hospital and a Nursing School by 1946. However, since the late 90s, the hospital services were struggling and in 2015 the Church of the Nazarene approached CMC
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to undertake the management and redevelop the hospital services. CMC invited EHA to partner, and a tripartite agreement was formalized in October 2017. Following a transition in 2018, various infrastructure renovations and re-skilling of existing staff were undertaken. Today with the support of CMC and EHA, this hospital is slowly undergoing a revival in one of the backward districts of Central India. THE MISSION CONTINUES As the world recovers from the Pandemic, various mission hospitals' response has reinvented the need for seeking cost-effective, compassionate care by the needy in our mission hospital network. CMC has a crucial role in sharing the light through the window of missions and propagating its values of ethical and compassionate care in the spirit of Christ by training health care professionals who will go out to serve in various mission hospitals. By further partnering with mission hospitals to repurpose, restructure and strengthen the missions network, CMC can gain immensely by reverse learning and in the process strengthen itself. This has an enormous value addition by infusing relevance, thus constantly adapting the education, training, patient care and research at CMC and thus enabling sustainability of its vision and mission with rapidly changing times.
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WHAT IS "ICU INDIA?" the Foundation, along with Deepika Srivastava, Director of
Written by Rev. Chuck Coblentz, Senior Pastor New Dover United Methodist Church
Church Relations, have spoken from our pulpit and held numerous meetings in our building, in a persistent effort to
What inspired a neighborhood church in Edison, New
make further connections in the greater Edison
Jersey, USA to fully equip an intensive care unit in India?
community and with the United Methodist Church in
The short answer is because we felt called on by God to do
general. In addition, New Dover has had a number of
so. The longer answer includes a partnership cultivated
dignitaries associated with CMC attend Sunday worship
over the years between New Dover United Methodist
including the current Director of CMC, Dr. J.V. Peter.
Church and the Christian Medical College, Vellore (CMC). Founded in 1847, New Dover United Methodist Church Although CMC was founded by the renown Dr. Ida
currently finds itself performing ministry in “the largest
Scudder, a third-generation missionary in the Reformed
and most diverse South Asian cultural hub in the United
Church of America, and still maintains its close
States.” The population of the greater Edison area is over
relationship with the RCA, New Dover has, over the years,
43 percent South Asian, including 30 percent Indian
had a number of personal connections with CMC. One of
American, and our congregation reflects that diversity
our long-time members, Catherine Poornaselvan, is a
with Indian Americans making up over 25 percent of our
nursing alumnus who earned her Masters in Psychiatric
membership.
Nursing there. Reflecting on her time there, Catherine testifies, “I was inspired by the story of Dr. Scudder. I had an
village of Jawadhi Hills.
As such, when the pandemic spiked in India this past spring many of our families were devastated by loss. One heartbroken family alone has mourned the death of over a dozen relatives. In addition, we learned that hundreds of Christian pastors, teachers, and missionaries throughout India have succumbed to the virus.
Over the past five years, New Dover has strengthened its
As the pandemic raged in India, on the weekend of May 1st
opportunity to practice my faith. I could feel the love of Jesus on the campus.” A generation later our church helped sponsor Catherine’s son, Jeisun, for a mission trip to Vellore to teach English and improve sanitation in the
partnership with CMC, mainly through the efforts of the Vellore CMC Foundation. Both John Riehl, President of
a few of us agreed that as disciples of Jesus we had an obligation to do something to help and so we immediately
Jawadhi Hills Maternity Hospital Please consider joining the Foundation’s collaborative initiative with CMC, the Scudder Family, the Reform Church in America, American Baptist International Ministries, and a host of other church communities. We are committed to establishing a 24-hour maternal health facility in the Jawadhi Hills to provide natural childbirth deliveries, obstetric & neonatal intensive care, and maternal-child healthcare training. Our main objectives are to: Reduce infant mortality rates (IMR) from 70 to 40 per 1,000 live births Reduce maternal mortality rates (MMR) from 3 to less than 1 per 1,000 live births To improve child immunization coverage from 30% to 95%. To learn more and support this initative, please click here.
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this writing, we have sent two checks totaling $24,000 to CMC and we believe we will meet our $38,000 goal by mid-summer. But when all is said and done, ICU India will have done far more than equip an intensive care unit in Vellore, India. It has literally saved lives! In that way, we have become an inspiring part of the compassionate legacy that started with a young daughter of a missionary named Ida Scudder, who refused to stand by while her Indian neighbors perished for lack of medical care. In the longterm, the ICU India campaign has raised awareness of the incredible ministry and mission of CMC throughout the United Methodist Church, not only in New Jersey but nationwide.
New ICU pod at CMC's Kannigapuram Campus
decided to schedule a Zoom meeting for the following Monday, May 3rd, and invited interested members of the church to attend. That evening, sixteen of us were joined by John Riehl and Deepika Srivastava. We listened attentively to the latest on the catastrophic conditions across India. Thousands were dying outside hospitals while waiting for access to critical medical care. The dedicated
So, what inspired a neighborhood church in Edison, New Jersey, USA to fully equip an intensive care unit in India? The answer is all of the above. But above all, it is the impassioned call of Jesus Christ, who pleads with us to love our neighbors as ourselves, whether that neighbor is next door, or on the other side of the globe! It is our hope that ICU India will inspire others to realize that no matter where we are, no matter how challenging the circumstances, we can all make a genuine difference in the life of a neighbor, and by so doing, build God’s Kingdom through acts of unconditional love and mercy.
staff at CMC Vellore was working feverishly over long hours yet clearly more help was required. What was most needed to address the crisis was an increase in the number of intensive care units (ICUs) at CMC. Each ICU would need to be equipped with, among other essentials, a ventilator, monitors, defibrillator, and ECG machine. The cost of each ICU would be $38,000- an amount greater than our total yearly budget for outreach. Nevertheless, there was little hesitation as the attendees discussed, then voted unanimously to begin a fundraiser for that exact amount. A motion was made in Church Council the following day and again it passed unanimously. And so “ICU India” was officially off and running! Word was immediately sent out via a number of social media platforms, over our weekly worship broadcasts, and
NATE VELLORE
A campaign to vaccinate 70,000 adults in underserved communities within the next 60 days.
old-fashioned door-to-door solicitation of neighborhood businesses. In addition, a major article was published in the
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“United Methodist Relay,” our Greater New Jersey United Methodist Church newsletter that reaches over 400 churches statewide. The response has been amazing. As of
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