Drs. Rick & Anita Gutierrez serve Jesus in Durban, South Africa. They are developing church based holistic lay health ministries tailored to the needs of people living in Southern Africa. AIDS, diabetes, malaria, nutritional and cardiovascular problems are some of the health challenges here. Drs. Rick and Anita use their expertise in family medicine to consult with local churches. Together, they discern unmet health needs of the people and train members in health skills that can be used in concert with evangelistic outreach. Their vision is an energized and encouraged Body of Christ taking up its God-given role to be an agent of Christ’s healing and shalom.
They write: Six experienced health builders did an outstanding job screening people during the outreach to the Muthande Senior Citizens Center in Tafelkop. All health supplies used during the day were paid for by this organization. Before the screening started, I spoke with a woman from an organization sponsored by the CDC who also screened people for HIV that day. She told me that their experience had been that the elderly are typically reluctant to undergo testing. The number of people undergoing HIV testing that day exceeded expectations. About 100 people in total were screened for blood pressure, blood sugar and HIV. We showed our pre-test video in Zulu to all who were waiting. One woman who tested positive was actually relieved to get an explanation for her frequent skin infections for the past few years that were not responding to treatment. We told her about how effective HIV treatment is now. She said that her husband died about five years ago and she suspected that he and she both suffered from HIV. Another man learned that he had diabetes and had blood sugar in the 400s. About 70% of the people had abnormally elevated blood pressures and 30% had abnormally elevated blood sugars. Only about 5 % were HIV positive. We hope to train members of the community to be able to do long-term follow-up and health education. We are working to involve a Baptist Church in the training.
· Pray that God guides us we explore opportunities for future health builder training, evangelism and discipleship in this area.
- Pray for Anita and Rick as they seek to bring health to body and spirit through Jesus Christ to the people in South Africa.
- Pray for their children Marc (15) and Paul (12)