By Steven W. Hildebrand ’80-A, AIMS Council co-chair

“Welcome to Blantyre,” I said, reaching out to shake the hand of a man I assumed was the Brazilian physician I was to introduce to our cardiology services at Blantyre Adventist Hospital (BAH) in Malawi.

This was my second relief tour to cover cardiology and ICU services for Tiffany C. Priester ’04. At that time, she was the only cardiologist in the entire country of Malawi. My time filling in for her had been both rewarding and stressful. I enjoyed it thoroughly, especially getting reacquainted with many of the physicians and hospital staff I had met there on my first monthlong visit two years earlier including, David A. Saunders ’06, one of the few residency trained infectious disease specialists in the country.

“You don’t recognize me, do you Steve?” said the suddenly familiar voice beyond the hand I was shaking.

“Gary!” I gasped, “What in the entire world are you doing here?” Gary E. Gilbert ’80-A and I had been classmates, hiked the Sierras together, and coordinated our senior medical school electives at rural Mwami Adventist Hospital in Zambia. Although we were both planning internal medicine residencies, in the mission field Dr. Gilbert had developed surgical skills to complete C-sections on his own, and I had been most proud of “saving” a baby with neonatal tetanus (although, I now give full credit to the nursing staff and to God for this small miracle). Throughout that elective, John B. Hoehn ’71 and John R. Rogers ’74 had been incredible role models and mentors.

After our three months in Zambia, Gary and I had climbed Mount Kenya together, but that was 1980 and we had not met since our 25th class reunion in 2005. I was as perplexed at his presence as I was embarrassed for not immediately recognizing him.

Gary explained that he and his wife, Donna Brezinski, MD, had been awarded a $250,000 USAID grant to develop their “Bili-Hut” phototherapy device for treating neonatal jaundice, a device particularly appropriate for use in countries with limited medical resources. They and other awardees were meeting in Blantyre to present their projects. He had walked up the hill to BAH to see what phototherapy services were offered, saw my name on the clinic list, and decided to pay me a visit.

Since my 1980 Zambia elective, I never imagined I would  return and help an African mission hospital provide cardiology care. Thanks to the Alumni in Mission Service (AIMS) Council, this became a reality. In fact, Dr. Priester and I both hope to revisit Blantyre to provide short-term relief as BAH awaits the return of a Malawian physician, now in internal medicine/cardiology training in South Africa.

Chance encounters and new friendships are just a few of the rewards of short-term and relief mission service. The AIMS Council has long had the goal of trying to connect our alumni who are willing to provide short- or long-term mission/humanitarian service with opportunities to serve. In 2018, more than 50 of you replied to our inquiries, offering your services in numerous medical specialties. We shared your availability with the alumni serving abroad at that time, and connections for relief service were made, but then the COVID-19 pandemic made international travel much more difficult. Now, as international travel options return, we will be contacting you anew to facilitate more of these connections.

If you have a desire to provide short-term relief to support your fellow alumni who are already serving abroad, or if you are interested in finding other ways to support our missionaries, please contact the Alumni Association office—we look forward to connecting with you.

Dr. Hildebrand serves as co-chair of the Alumni Association AIMS Council along with Tiffany C. Priester ’04. His time in mission service included one year working at Bangkok Adventist Hospital.