This blog post is part of HealthServe’s 21st Birthday Celebration series. All month we’ll be celebrating HealthServe’s past, present and future, culminating in a live online Celebration Event on Monday 25th November. We’d love to see you there! More details here.
For the last 21 years, HealthServe has made enormous strides in global health, punching above its weight to help develop sustainable health programmes that improve the total health and wellbeing of communities around the world.
There have been many successes (and a fair few challenges) over the years, so we invited key figures of HSA’s past and present to reflect on what the last 21 years have meant to them.
Read on for a Q&A with Dr Paul Mercer (Chair of HSA Board), Rachel Gjisbers-Hayman (HSA Board Member), and Dr Owen Lewis (longtime HSA figure and Program Committee Member).
Reflecting on the beginnings
Paul: My first inklings of the entrance of HSA came at the CMDFA national conference in 2003. The conference had brought passion to our fellowship and fed the challenge to integrate work and faith. Cliff Smith (Executive Officer of CMDFA) found the Holy Spirit drawing a new vision direction in his life. As this vision came into focus, others came along such as Owen Lewis and Alan Gijsbers, and HealthServe Australia was launched in August 2003. HSA was a dream ready to blossom into reality and 21 years of operation bears this out.
Owen: I remember a chat with Dr Cliff Smith in 2007 after 13 years as a medical missionary in Nepal. I had been the national secretary of CMDFA, so I asked Cliff what he would like me to do. He asked me to please join the HSA national committee (before it was called a board). In my first meetings we were discussing a big proposal for a rehabilitation unit at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College in Tanzania. Unfortunately, the rehab project did not get off the ground, but Barb Lucas championed a young Tanzanian named Hallelujah Moshi to become a physiotherapist, with HSA funding the training. Hallelujah is now head of physio at KCMC. This is certainly a lasting contribution.
Impactful projects
Rachel: The PNG Health Manual is a fantastic long term project that HealthServe has supported. I found it so interesting that the materials used to physically create the book were developed to withstand the humid conditions of PNG. The South Sudan Medical training programs have been interesting because of Owen Lewis’ devotion to South Sudan and equipping doctors in this very resource poor and conflict stricken country. Anil who works in South Sudan was a medical student in India where my parents worked in the 80s. Covid India was an important project, as is the Ukraine Appeal, because of the great partnerships between ICMDFA and HealthServe. This is an important partnership to highlight.
Paul: The pioneering projects of dental care in Bangladesh and the village health worker manual easily stand out. Both were initiated in prayer and faith. Because God’s fingerprints are on all our projects, it is easy to be invested in them. Half a dozen PPE Covid safe projects sprung into life very quickly as the pandemic struck. Our relationship with our partner, Living Wholeness, also came to the fore during Covid, with amazing stories of resilience and compassion to be told by newly trained counsellors in South India and South America. Our healthy motherhood project in PNG has reconnected me with Debbie Butters and Jan Thomas. It is inspirational to hear their story and witness their love and commitment for vulnerable mums and babies in remote PNG. Australian donors have responded strongly to our partners in Ukraine, wonderfully led by Rudi Myhovych, and connecting globally with the Christian doctor community through ICMDA. While the war drags on, the legacy of this project will be profound. Not only will lives be saved and disability moderated, but a maturing sense of global partnership is emerging.
Key moments & changes in HSA history
Paul: Around 2012, HSA was experiencing challenges with governance and the human capital to conduct its work. Good people like Michael Burke, Owen Lewis, Barb Lucas, and Nathan Grills were putting their shoulder to the work. I had also completed my 8 years on the TEAR Board and Michael approached me in 2015 to become involved. By February 2016, I had become the Chair with my previous experience fitting this role well. I had held national and state leadership roles in General Practice prior to this as well, and a full immersion into the life of HSA seemed the right step to take. I have actively sought to grow my governance skill set as Chair and this has been pivotal over the last 12 months of change. We are now blessed with an active, informed governance structure.
Rachel: Achieving deductibility status took an enormous amount of work. Michael Burke’s and Paul Mercer’s dedication and leadership has been hugely inspirational to me and a board member. I feel privileged that they took on a young 30 year old and valued my inexperience and contribution. They are both kind servant hearted men who are incredibly generous with their time. It would be important to also pay tribute to their families who have enabled them to do ministry in this capacity. In the last 5 years the board has worked very hard to get to a point where we can pay a CEO. Over the years we have managed to make shifts in that direction. Praise God for the addition of Pui Cheung and the past treasurers who have steered us in that direction.
Personal impacts and inspiring moments
Paul: It has been a joyful encouragement to walk a mile and share the load of service with the people of HealthServe Australia, our Board colleagues, operations personnel, and supporter base. I will fondly remember working alongside Michael Burke. At times he appeared to have unlimited capacity to carry HealthServe forward. Michael had a knack of drawing people together across global time zones to connect with our conferences or online events. It is always inspirational to hear the story of the Kingdom of God coming today.
Owen: When I was Professor of Family Medicine in Nepal, I hosted visits by Dr John Geater, founder of PRIME (Partnerships in International Medical Education) who came with a team to teach whole person care. In 2006, we began to take steps with further meetings and got underway in 2009 with our first tutor training. We in HSA made an MOU with Prime International that has only recently been revisited. Prime Aust was created as a project/ program of HSA because of our international focus and tax-deductible fund-raising capacity.
Looking Back and Forward
Rachel: I am also inspired by HSA. The small budget we have has had a significant impact on many different projects and hopefully has been able to change the lives for people. With great love, generosity and the shoestring we have operated off we have been able to have such an impact for Christ. I pray that we are able to continue to grow and continue to be guided by God to have an impact on Health in developing countries, bringing hope and healing to many.
Paul: At our September 2024 Board meeting, an inspiring devotion focused on ‘legacy’ as a consequence of discipleship and service. The catchphrase “known unknowns, unknown unknowns and known knowns” applies to legacy. Only the Holy Spirit who weaves a Kingdom of God story from time will hold the full picture. As an organisation, we are on the cusp of growing while remaining faithful to God. Hope, joy, and hard work are before us.
