In May 2018 we were walking a financial tightrope. Our viability was at stake. As we celebrated 70 years of God’s faithfulness, the future was not looking bright. The year following saw a decline in the number of volunteers travelling due to new and restrictive regulations for volunteers in areas where most of our [...]
Vibrio cholerae is a nasty bacterium that can cause severe diarrhoea, vomiting, dehydration, and death. Its lethal potential is marked in children and mothers-to-be. The disease is eponymously called Cholera. Cholera and poor hygiene go hand in hand, mostly caused by lack of a good supply of clean water. Within the first month of operations [...]
We gather next month to celebrate our 75th anniversary with a tremendous sense of gratitude and a heavy weight of responsibility. Gratitude We have much to be thankful for, notably the people and resources that have been entrusted to us over the years. Among these provisions in trust is a large Canadian body of [...]
Twenty-five years ago, an EMAS team began to serve in Ecuador, providing orthopedic surgery, physiotherapy and treating general Musculo-skeletal diseases. It included a pediatric dental sub-team. This team has more recently specialized in knee and hip replacement surgery. Our Ecuador surgical team is led by Dr. Thomas Greidanus, Janet Greidanus, and Dr. Nelson Greidanus, [...]
In the lush tropical valley of the Grande Rivière du Nord, in northern Haiti sits a small green tin-roofed building housing a medical clinic in the village of Gambade. From Gambade, the next hospital is ten kilometres of rough and rutted road across a river that is impassible when flooded. For the average resident [...]
In 1948, Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children was restructured and there would be the construction of a new building and the acquisition of new equipment. A group of local doctors, dentists and pharmacists founded the Evangelical Medical Aid Society for the purpose of sending medical equipment from the old hospital to needy mission hospitals [...]
Maternity is a department within a hospital, or a hospital dedicated to childbirth and the care of newborns. However, there is more to maternity than just a room or the wing of a hospital because it refers to motherhood. Motherhood is life-long, and for most women, it is a joyful occupation, but it can [...]
The long wait is over. Most travel restrictions have been lifted. Teams, once again, prepare to travel in November and December of 2022; and January, February, March, and June of 2023. Once again, we will see and work alongside our overseas partners. The pandemic induced separation was frustrating. We kept connected with our overseas [...]
Remember the story of the paralytic who was lowered into the presence of Jesus through a hole in the roof? We wrote about him in our newsletter, EMASSARY, May 2016. It is a story of remarkable confidence in Jesus that left a hole in someone’s roof. We’re not told about the cost of repairs [...]
Moses was on a long journey with God. He was to liberate hundreds of thousands of slaves with nothing but a shepherd’s staff and the words “I AM has sent me to you.” The journey spanned over eighty years. Prior to the exploits of Moses that fill much of Exodus, he made a choice [...]
They heard it, they understood it, and it was a learning process led by one of their own. The message was universal and made progress and impacted the world. There was more to learn from outsiders, but not much, because they already had the core. Outsiders came along to do some fine-tuning, and even [...]
Luke, a physician with an eye for detail, had first-hand experience of the infancy of Christianity. He was on one of the pioneering mission teams that had a long-lasting impact, which was recorded in Acts 16-20. Luke was with the apostle Paul during part of his imprisonment in Rome as recorded in letters from [...]
These words speak of one of our core values: Going to Underserved Areas. Our teams bring a variety of gifts and skills to meet needs that have been prioritized by our local partners. We aim to serve only where we are needed. We avoid duplication of services and competing with other organizations through a [...]
Not long after His crucifixion and resurrection followers of Jesus proclaimed that He was a man accredited by God, through miracles, signs, and wonders. These were acts of God that people bore witness to and benefited from. People marveled, overwhelmed with amazement, the impact was qualitative and quantitative: “He has done everything well”, they [...]
Guest Post by Melony Teague One of the core values of EMAS Canada is to make sure we provide more than just a quick fix in the areas in which we serve. The people we serve need local leadership to step up, and serve their communities. This is important because local leaders can lead [...]
Hospitals are complex. The image of patients on gurneys, swiftly pushed through corridors by doctors in scrubs and pulled by nurses, do not tell the full story. There is a backstage. Behind the drama of life-saving teams at work are critical resources hidden from the public eye. These are built and managed by workers [...]
Every New Year brings the hope of new beginnings, and it is when we renew our focus and energy for on-going pursuits. We set goals and plan. We pencil timelines into our calendars and fill them with colour-coded intentions. However, we arrived in 2022 during a prolonged pandemic with travel advisories we ignore at [...]
We are two years into the COVID-19 pandemic (official WHO declaration was March 11, 2020). This disease continues to pose challenges to our health systems. Its pathogen is disrupting our way of life by frequent and unpredictable mutations that threaten to scuttle our plans for a return to normality. How we practice our faith, [...]
Trust is indispensable to good relationships for individuals and organizations. Commerce depends on it and so many other things in life too. We look for reliability in so much of our day-to-day lives at work, at school, and at home. EMAS Canada has relied on trust to deliver healthcare, medical aid, and education by [...]
The foundation on which we build our future as an organization must withstand the next pandemic and whatever upheavals are yet to come. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many lives and caused organizations to rethink how they function. There is much talk about reengineering, rejigging, agility, resilience, and pivoting. How do we emerge from [...]