The board of the George Faile Foundation met at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 28, 2015.  Present were Dewey and Bobbie Dunn, Paul and Cindy Shumpert, George Faile, Jarratt Bryan, Willie Ree Howell, Lee Jennings, and Martha Cates.  Cindy opened the meeting with prayer. 

 

The Ghana Baptist Convention is appointing a separate Baptist Health Services Committee to be in charge of BMC and 3 other hospitals.  The chairman will be a doctor, and other committee members will have medical knowledge.

The team of accountants from Global Health Administration Partners is preparing to go to BMC.  It is hoped that they can be there at the same time as George and Paul in June.  George will look after introducing them to hospital administration and staff, as is proper in Ghana.

 

Nine patients have been sent for surgery through the charitable foundation that has been established.  Most will go to a hospital in Kumasi.  The staff there was very warm and amenable to taking care of patients from BMC who cannot get the needed surgery at BMC.  Francis will set up the transport, either on public transportation or through BMC.  The lead physician at BMC will have the final say in who is sent.  There will be a separate bank account set up for this foundation.  Francis will make payments from that. 

 

In discussing the possible purchase of Dr. Joel Dickens’ truck, it was decided not to buy a vehicle at all at the present time.  Johnny Owusu, the driver in Accra that Cindy and other volunteers have been using, is very knowledgeable about vehicles.  The suggestion was for Johnny to sell the truck for Joel.   The  Toyota Land Cruiser that BMC owns (which we bought for them) is used for trips to Tamale and sometimes used by Public Health; we will request possible use of this vehicle for the GFF charity fund patients.

 

Peter Van Dingenen and his wife Ineke have been in Burkina Faso, and would like to spend some time working at BMC and possibly training in some surgery with one of our doctors.  He could see patients in OPD and take call, although he would need some supervision.  It was decided that the hospital administration and others in charge such as Heidi and Victoria should be responsible for working out the details.  His license to practice medicine is in Burkina Faso;  he would need to work out licensing in Ghana.

The repairs to houses 7 & 8 are still on hold.  At the present time the GFF manages houses 2, 3, 6, and 13 (which is off campus.)  The IMB has house 5, which the GFF helps with maintenance.   

 

Paul will be attending the INMED conference.  He and Cindy will also go to the Global Missions Health Conference in Louisville in November.

 

The Ebola scare has had an influence on our volunteers.  Several have cancelled their plans to go to BMC, especially since many hospitals and medical school programs have instituted a 3-week quarantine upon return to the U.S.

 

The GFF website needs to be updated; Jarratt will look into this.  William Haun is updating the BMC website, with more emphasis on Ghanaians who are working there.  Jarratt also suggested we set up a Facebook site.  That often leads to users connecting to the GFF or the BMC website.  Over the last month the GFF website has had 75 visits, with about 55% of those new visitors.

 

The new email address in Nalerigu for volunteers requesting to go to BMC is:  volunteers@baptistmedicalcenter.org

 

Board members are urged to be thinking of some new people to appoint to the GFF Board.  It would be good to rotate people and officers, if possible.

 

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.