Hungerman, George

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 26 | Number 1 Article 2February 1959Newer Aspects of Medicine in the Mission FieldGeorge HungermanFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationHungerman, George (1959) "Newer Aspects of Medicine in the Mission Field," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 26 : No. 1 , Article 2.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol26/iss1/2Advertis,ng is a necessity of bi� ,iness in our modern eco ;>my.Each large producer spends millions ly on television, radio, aga-zine or newspaper commercials. Thef r·dia are controlled by ;: code of decency. This eliminates their avaJ 11ty to manufacturers o, con-traceptive devices. The latter, by stat - s, are big business. A 300dsales engineer must find other .avenues , ,romotion for these pro ucts. In his eagerness he might proselytize p: icians who evolve theii own moral code, social workers who act on gmatic norms, or clerg men whose opinions can be colored by their nancial need. An example of such promotion coulc.' ie a brochure entitled. "S nple Methods of Contraception." This was circulated by mail to de :tors in the recent past. It was ari alleged report of a scientific sympc ium. Its sales promotion value was enhanced by the doctors on the anel when they expressed scientific objections to the newer (pill) me 1ods of birth control. It might have been coincidence that distributi, 1 of this .booklet was· followed shortly by a sample of a contraceptive d, ;ice. Many physicians. who received both, were disturbed justifiably. Now, commercialism will brook no obstruction by a debar · on moral values. However, for our members who are interested iJ the latter, the following references are important: I. "Fertility Control and the Moral Law," John J. Lynch, S.J., T,rn LINACRE QUARTERLY, XX. August, 1953, pp. 83-/ 8. 2. "Another Moral Aspect of Fertility Control," John J. L) nch,S.J., THE LINACRE QUARTERLY, Nov., 1953, pp. 119-23. 3. Medico-Mora/ Problems, Gerald Kelly, S.J., 1958 Ed •ion,Chap. 19, pp, 149-167. The Catholic Hospital Associati, n. 4. "Myth of Overpopulation," Clement Mihanovich, Ph.D .. fHELINACRE QUARTERLY, XIX; May, 1952, pp. 50-53. 5. "Contraception - a Violation of God's Law," Wm. J. Kean­ealy, S.J .• Catholic Mind. Vol. XLVI. No. 1029, Sept., 1918, p. 552. And finally, advertising knows no monopoly. The Roll Call car­ried at the end of each issue of THE LrNACRE QUARTERLY is promotionby the National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds. In it. the Federation lists, coast to coast, the leaders of guilds of physicians who embrace the same credo. In this, they accept the direction of qualified specialists in morality. With this direction and in the words of PiusXII, they can devote their energies "to cure and to aid - not to harmor kill." 2 WILLIAM J. EGAN, M.D.LINACRE QUARTERLY Newer Aspe the r�. BROTHER GEORGI' THE HEADLINES andcasts of o�r -time are fi,111.1 with the u�rest of the worlJ •'he news from mission areas is o.Hen confusing and contradictory. There could be strong temptation to mentally and ·spiritually turn our backs on it all. Slogans such as "wait till the dust settles" or "op­eration rathole" to des cr ibe  American foreign aid have been somewhat popular. The timid Catholic may be tempted to won-. der whether missionary activity in some phJces is worthwhile or last­ing. There are some facts. however, that are not denied by anyone; the ancient static civilizations of the mission world are breaking up and new ways of life are in the making. The mission peop_les aredissatisfied with a way of life th�t offers desperate poverty and semi­starvation to so many. The missionary · duty of the Church and, indeed, a great deal of her future prospects are ines­capably bound to this ferment and struggle. The value of presentmg the Church in her charitable and educational work as a living. ef­fective reality, cooperating with the best interests and ideals of the new nations was never greater. It may be that the importance of this is seen more easily by an ob-FEBRUARY, 1959 of Medicine ,on Field ;ERMAN, F.M.S.L. M.D . servant Asiatic or African Catho­lic, living close to the revolution­ary changes in the non-Chnsttan world. Indonesia's senior  native Bishop, His Excellency Albertus Soegiapranata. S.J .. Vicar Apos­tolic of Semarang. in a recent m­terview used the strongest terms in warning that unless the Uni­versal Church takes a lead in the development of the peoples of Africa and Asia she faces the prospect of losing them the same way she lost the European work­ing class in the last century. He ·d "Think about what happened sa1 . f with the vast labor forces o Europe in the last century. Most of them are lost for the Church. Why? Because the_ Church ab­stained for a long time from ta�­ing their problems serious(y- This must be a warning for us. Physicians who have served in the armed forces in Korea or other parts of the Far East will have some knowledge of the general health conditions, but to ?thers some of the following estimates may be startling. Tt,e W arid Health Organiza­tion's recent estimate for the world is one hundred and fifty million cases of malaria, the great­est single cause of invalidism or chronic illness. The weakness 3 · caused by i_ts recurrent attacks, a c co r d ing to United Nations economists, is a cause of immensemonetary loss Five mil1ion peoplesuffer from m"1"ria in India alone,and the amount of work-time lostis estimated at $30,000,QOO a year;in Mexico the loss is calculated at$18,000,000. In India." five hundred thousandpeople die each yea·r from tuber­culosis; One-half of their childrendo not reach the age of ten years. Two hundred thousand Indiansdie of cholera ( Bouffard's Per­spective Sur le Monde, 1957 edi­tion.) t,, e use of this apostolate. P ,ysi­cians who serve as visiting men r ,. who are on the staffs o the I , "\Jer general or city hos· itals J , ,v that it is not rare to neet ·est young residents and E •me-husband and wife t ams p , .ring to dedicate their ves, or . wnsiderable part, to the J rot­est. ,,: medical missions.[1, 1936, the Sacred Cong1 ·ga­tion , ,£ Propaganda Fide isst' d a forn. J decree urging special at­tent,,,,, to health work in the nis­sions and urging that "Si ters should obtain certificates as loc­tors and nurses." This decre, re­versed for the mission fielr , a longstanding policy in the Ch ,rch - that the practice of med, :ine should be the vocation of lay neninstead of religious.One-third of the 1,500,000 casesof leprosy in the world are inAfrica. A complete medical survey of a _small African village, made by two British d o c to r s  in· 1949, showed that 95% of. the peoplehad suffered from malaria; 77%had yaws; almost I 00% were in­fected by one or · another of theworm diseases. The incidence of schistosomiasis (bilharzia), 9% in this village, was lower than aver­age. Some 33% of the children under five years, and 15% of allothers, suffered from malnutrition. The World Health figures for many other diseases, such as blind­ness causing trachoma, are equal­ly large. fn accordance with this d irec­tive, there are now sev, ralexcel l ent  Institutes for wo11en,dedicated specifically to mec• ical missionary work. These includ ..: in their membership doctors, nu1 ses, and technicians of all kinds In this particular apostolic endeavor,at any rate, the women lead the men. The first male religious I1,sti­tute dedicated specifically to the medical missions was establbhedat Framingham, Massachuseth. in1952 by Reverend Edward F.Garesche, S.J., with authority from His Excellency, Richard J. Cush­ing, Archbishop of Boston. In1955, it was recognized as an In­stitute of Diocesan Right underthe title of "The Sons of Mary, Health of the Sick."The reader may wonder howthe Church can meet this great challenge and opportunity. and how this concerns Catholic physi­cians in the United States. Highamong. the good works that showChristian charity in action to the non-Christian world are the medi­cal missions. The Protestants, in particular, have_ long made effec-1 One of the primary purposes ofthe Community is to form centers in the mission areas for the train-LINACRE QUARTERLY ing of lay workers who will fur•'­tion as nurse catechists. 1 he people will receive special tra,1• , .. to· go out into underdevelr: areas in organized groups to and help the sick poor, rega1 of race, creed, or color. Thesi tive lay workers will be undc, leadership of a native head ,, . or doctor and supervised b. l, members of ·thjs American munity. The great advantage of using native personnel who will agr�f lo thi, -plan on salary for a time fol­lowing their training is that it will multiply workers. One cannot fore­see that there will ever be enough trained persons from America or Europe to do the necessary work by themselves. Much of this work will be in the nature of preventive. medicine, public health and healtheducation. The �ew community is definite· ly designed to create a group oforganized lay apostles in the mis­sion fields to labor with the mis­sionaries in their medical and cate­chetical efforts. It is evident thatspecial training is needed for the . Sons of Mary, Health of the Sick.themselves, in order to accomplishFEBRUARY, 1959 this highly specialized apostolate. It is necessary, therefore, to either recruit members whn have received the required train , :4 in medicine, nursing, and techn,,aJ work, or totrain members aJ ! f'r they havejoined. In advancing this "ork, it is planned to recruit lay volunteers or auxiliaries, that is, a group of qualified lay people. who. whilenot becoming religious, would give a certain amount of time to prac­ticing or teaching medicine, nurs­ing, or the auxiliary specialties. Inlaying the foundation, it is also hoped to make use of the training facilities of some of the excellentCatholic hospitals already estab­lished in the missions. The combination of established hospitals and lay volunteers addedto the professionally trained mem­bers of the Society will greatly speed the establishment of mission foundations. Anyone wishing to offer help or obtain information about this project, may write to the: Sons of Mary, Health of the Sick Sylva Maria Framingham, Massachusetts 5 

Newer Aspects of Medicine in the Mission Field

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Newer Aspects of Medicine in the Mission Field

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