The Hospital: The History
While working at a clinic in Impfondo, Dr. Joseph Harvey, an American missionary doctor, went one day to a wedding reception that some friends held at an abandoned communist youth camp. The camp had been built about ten years earlier by communists to indoctrinate youth in communist and Marxist philosophies. However, the 1990s brought wars and changes in Congo’s government, so the camp was never used. Joe looked around the site and immediately envisioned what the camp would look like if it can be transformed into a much needed hospital. Joe began regularly visiting this site and praying as he walked around its fence. One day, Joe found that the large steel gates in the wall of the camp had been removed. Apparently some fishermen had taken them off and used their long rods with sharp spear-like tops as new fishing spears. This encouraged Joe to approach the governor about using the camp. The governor said that the camp was national property, and that Joe would have to ask the president about using the camp. A few months later, when the president and his wife came for a visit to Impfondo, Joe was able to have a meeting with the president’s wife. As it turned out, Mrs. Sassou-Nguesso had personally overseen the construction of that camp ten years earlier! She had since become a Christian, and was delighted at the idea of the camp becoming a Christian hospital! With Mrs. Sassou-Nguesso’s help, Joe met her husband in Brazzaville a short time later. President Sassou-Nguesso gladly told Joe he could have the camp, and told his cabinet that they were to do everything they could to help Dr. Harvey get that hospital started. The hospital opened on January 16th, 2006.
The Hospital: Today
It is now a 50-bed general hospital located in Impfondo, capital of the Likouala Region. It consists of 30 buildings over a 17-acre site.
Services include: Emergency, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Laboratory, Radiology, Pharmacy and Chaplaincy
The Hospital: Future plans
- Nursing school
- HIV prevention and treatment program
More distant plans include:
- School
- Surgical residencies
- Aviation services
Hospital Organisation
All the hospital missionaries are supported by different local churches and mission boards mainly from North America. The hospital is registered under Global Outreach Mission. It is an inter-denominational mission organisation with headquarters in New York and Ontario. There are over 500 missionaries serving with GOM in over 40 countries. It serves as an umbrella organisation, providing administrative services, training and networking opportunities, and representation for missionaries.
