Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital Opens in Kampot, Cambodia
ANNOUNCING: The opening of the outpatient department of the Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital in Kampot, Cambodia
Kendrick Kahler, Chief Clinical Officer and
Nurse Daniel Moho examine an elderly patient.
“From all of us at Sonya Kill Memorial Hospital please accept our heartfelt thanks for your support. Your compassion keeps hope alive for so many.”
April 1, 2012 was the day HOPE worldwide opened its outpatient department of the Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital in Kampot. Approximately 300 families and local health partners participated in the opening. We also conducted a health fair with a variety of health stations for adults and children. Present were Mrs. Rosemary Kill, one of the cofounders who built the hospital, and Dr. Franz Marcos, international project director for KMW a chief funder of the hospital.
One Widow’s Story
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” James 1:27a
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| Pictured above: Randy Jordan, CEO of HOPE worldwide cuts the ribbon for the new hospital. Joining in the celebration (l-r) H.E. Lork Kheng, Member of Parliament; H.E. Khoy Kuhn Huor, Governor, Kampot Province; Dr. Winfried Kill, SKMH Founder; Dr. Gary Jacques, HOPE worldwide, Vice President of Health and Social Service and H.E. Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia. Back row middle left: Dr. Cornelia Haener, SKMH Executive Director. |
The crowd was large at the station where hospital staff was checking people’s blood sugar and blood pressure. That’s when we noticed a poor, elderly woman, sitting on the ground, complaining of severe chest pains. We examined her and immediately took an electrocardiogram and chest X-ray. We discovered the woman had a large heart accompanied by congestive heart failure, probably caused by malnutrition and vitamin deficiency.
This grandmother and widow has been the sole caregiver for her four grandchildren for some time, and told us that she receives no support. She spends about 25 cents a day for food for herself and the children. Today she had spent all her food allotment money, to get to the Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital, where she received care for her chest pain. Thanks to the opening of the hospital on that day, this woman lived and left in better health, and her grandchildren still have their grandmother.