Helping Hands …Healing Hearts Ministries first began at the James L. Gordon Memorial Hospital, in Olongapo City, in September 2002. This was the beginning of the vision Claire had to bring help and healing to the poor indigenous people of the region.
Dr. Arturo Mendoza, Chief of Staff of the hospital, welcomed and encouraged her to do what she could to make life more tolerable for the children in the Pedia wards.
A year spent in Ireland prior to this allowed Claire to clarify the vision and establish some goals to turn it into a reality. During her stay in Ireland she established a Board of Reference. With the full backing of Claire’s home Church she set about fundraising to begin the work in Olongapo.
Since that time the work has not only been established at the hospital, but also the raising up of a Children’s Recover Unit in Olongapo. There is now a staff of 38 working for the ministry, some in the C.R.U and others running the hospital ministry and medical missions. With an office at the hospital, there is always a team working there to see to the needs of the children, both physically and spiritually. Many patients are simply referred to Helping Hands as soon as they come to emergency. Apart from the medical care they provide, which is considerable, they also run puppet shows, craft days, videos, parties and bring the gospel to the parents. Recently Claire has been conducting Bible studies with several of the Doctors at the hospital. Hundreds of children have been helped and many, many, have made recoveries that would not have been possible without the intervention of Helping Hands. C.R.U. is for children who are either well enough to leave hospital, or can’t afford to stay there any longer, and yet are still not well enough to go home. Perhaps they are malnourished or just need more time to get their immune systems working properly again. In the C.R.U they get good nutritious food, proper sanitation, further medical assistance and lots of rest and recreation. It’s a fun place to stay and a loving, caring environment in which they can fully recover. Again, there is a team working around the clock to meet the needs of the children and the parents, who either stay or regularly visit. Bible studies are also conducted at the C.R.U. Children’s games and gospel stories are told. All of these children and parents come from very poor backgrounds. They really appreciate all the help they are getting through Helping Hands. In fact, most of the workers are people who have been ministered to by Helping Hands. On top of all this, Claire’s local Church (Church of the Risen Christ) is very supportive of the work, and some of the staff of HHM are from the congregation. The Church has also benefited from Helping Hands too. Several of the families helped through HHM have joined the Church and become active in the congregation.
So much has happened since September 2002. This website will give you a feel for the ongoing work of Helping Hands, Healing Hearts.
