Modeling Compassion Through Medicine
The ABC Health Foundation is a bright light for the gospel and for quality, whole-person care in a region where patient-focused medical practice is scarce. Established in Albania in 1994, ABC practices and teaches excellence in health care, with values rooted in biblical principles. It also seeks to meet spiritual needs and partners with local churches to host community health programs. Through its services and partnerships, ABC sees an average of 50 or more people come to faith in Christ each year.

ABC also imparts a biblical worldview to health care providers through an internship program. Over the past 20 years, 20 medical doctors and three physical therapists have undergone this hands-on training. Graduates are equipped to provide compassionate care and to serve as ambassadors for a patient-centered approach in the medical community.

ABC Health Foundation in Albania serves Christ by practicing and teaching excellent primary healthcare grounded in biblical values. There, every patient is treated with dignity and respect, whether they are a powerful foreign ambassador or a humble street sweeper. ABC provides the same excellent, whole-person care to each one, from the cradle to the grave, regardless of their situation, status or age. This attitude enables the ABC team to demonstrate the gospel as they model and teach the next generation of doctors, nurses and physical therapists in Albania and as they serve patients from diverse communities, including Albanians, the Roma and expatriates.

ABC serves as a bright light for the gospel and for quality, whole-person care in a region where patient-focused medical practice is scarce. Since its beginnings in 1994, ABC has taken a markedly different, patient-focused approach, seeking to find answers for the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual problems each patient is experiencing. Each ABC team member imparts a biblical worldview while practicing excellence in health care and implementing creative long-term solutions to the country’s shortage of patient-focused practitioners.

As a Christian organization ABC has the privilege of sharing the gospel and praying with 5,000-plus patients each year. Its lymphedema care center has a dedicated national and expatriate staff composed of nurses and physical therapists who love Jesus and share that love through care and conversation on a daily basis. ABC also partners with local churches throughout Albania to conduct outreaches in which needy patients receive excellent care while hearing the good news. On average, ABC sees 25 to 50 people come to faith in Christ each year directly through their health center and palliative care center or through outreaches in partnership with numerous local churches.

The ministries of ABC Health Foundation include:

Primary Health Care

The ABC Family Health Center was created to be a model health center and has helped set the standard for family medical care in Albania. ABC provides primary medical care for the entire family, offering lab services, physical therapy and specialties including audiology, pediatrics, radiology and oncology.

Medical Education

ABC team members are compelled from their hearts not only to provide medical care but to impact and train medical professionals and students who offer care throughout the entire country. In a culture where medical education is almost strictly theoretical, ABC provides practical, hands-on experience to allow each professional to practice medicine to the best of their ability.

ABC provides Internships in family practice, nursing and physical therapy with a focus on the basics of primary care and ethics in medicine. In the last 20 years ABC has trained 20 new medical doctors and three physical therapists through this program. Each one has been offered a position on the ABC team or has been sent out as a light to practice excellent care into the medical world.

In addition, through an agreement with Tirana Medical University, medical students can now gain experience through an observership program at the ABC health center, and ABC gives regular hands-on, on-campus trainings to nursing and physical therapy students. This program has the potential to impact thousands of future medical professionals for the gospel and to help bring lasting change to the medical system in Albania. ABC also invests in current medical professionals through continuing education in medical, nursing and physical therapy topics.

Community Health Outreaches

The ABC staff don’t only focus on medical care and education in the capital city. They also go out to rural areas, where young people seeking better employment have left the elderly behind, sometimes in dire straits.

Through partnerships with local churches, ABC conducts five to 10 medical outreaches each year, providing excellent care to needy patients while local pastors and church members share the gospel with them. These local believers continue to care for each of these patients and their families in gospel-centered relationships, helping them get necessary medication and taking them to recommended doctor visits, as well as helping to meet further needs of these families long after the medical outreaches have ended.

ABC’s community health outreaches include:

• Home visits by community health nurses
• Partnerships with local churches throughout Albania to conduct medical outreaches for the poor
• Health education programs in areas such as CPR, first aid and healthy eating
• Health screenings

Palliative Care Center

In Albania, those who suffer from cancer are often stigmatized as being “cursed.” In an effort to meet the medical needs of these survivors, the ABC team established a Palliative Care Center that gives free care to these precious but neglected patients. Through it, ABC facilitates a community among patients with shared experiences so that the gospel can be shared consistently in a caring, relational environment.

Through this program 100-plus cancer and post-cancer patients receive ongoing lymphedema care through 150 visits each month. ABC also provides training to help family members care for their loved ones, as well as wound care, doctor visits, physical therapy visits and other needed care for palliative patients.

Participate by Praying for ABC Health Foundation:

• Pray the ABC team members will work with one heart and mind for God’s glory. 
• Praise God for the launch of the partnership with the state-run university. Lift up the students who will be witnessing and participating in biblically based care, possibly for the first time. Ask God to touch their hearts with His love and care for them.
• Lift up the not-yet-saved patients who come to ABC, as well as the unbelieving family members of the ABC team. Pray ABC staff will faithfully share the hope of Christ and follow up with gospel conversations among their palliative center patients. 
• Praise God for opening the hearts of patients to the gospel as they experience His care and compassion through ABC staff. Pray many will trust in Christ.