loma de luz Hospital
following taking from Cornerstone Website
www.crstone.org/
A Brief History
The Cornerstone Foundation was founded in 1992 by Jefferson C. McKenney, MD, with Rosanne Lillard McKenney as co-founder. Since that time the Lord has brought together a Board of Directors (both in the US and in Honduras), committed career missionaries, part-time volunteers, and supporting churches and individuals. God has also granted cooperation from the Honduran authorities for the perfect location and full title to the property. Extensive electrical and water supply project have been accomplished as well as that of roads and bridges. The hospital itself and accompanying support structures--such as Dormitory / Staff Housing, Kitchen and Laundry Facility, Warehouse, Equipment Repair Building, and the Power Plant Building--have been constructed. Continuing construction goals include Sanctuary Housing, additional missionary housing & warehouse space, an airstrip, and on-going outfitting, equipping & maintenance of the various buildings in the hospital complex.
In January 2003 the hospital, Hospital Loma de Luz, saw its Grand Inauguration. Loma de Luz is a 30,000 square foot, 50 bed, modern, full-service medical care facility. Working through its Honduran board of directors ( APAH), Hospital Loma de Luz is a rarity in the small world of Christian mission hospitals. It was built and is administered without the backing of a denominational system. An average of 900 patients are seen through clinic and outpatient surgery monthly, and many more with minor problems are seen and treated in triage. Hundreds of these patients are ministered to through the on-going Chaplaincy program at the hospital, with new believers and recommitments being made almost daily.
The Vision
The vision of Cornerstone is one of a diverse community of Christian believers cooperating to provide medical care and a constant, present, on-going hearing of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of the north coast of Honduras. In order to accomplish this, a tertiary care referral hospital is the structural hub of various services and outreaches including public health & community development, chaplaincy, pastoral/Christian leadership & discipleship training, home health care outreach, and ministry through local schools. We pray that the hospital and community surrounding it would be a "city set on a hill that cannot be hidden" and that we would not only meet physical needs, but that the meeting of those needs would serve as an in-roads into peoples' lives. It is our goal that the people who would come to the hospital for medical care, the people who would find employment related to the hospital, and the people who would benefit from other connected services would not only hear the gospel preached, but also see it lived-out in the lives of the Christian workers.
Honduran Material and Physical Needs
The need in this part of Latin America is concrete, ubiquitous, and “with you always.” Honduras is considered “the poorest nation on the mainland of the Americas” with over half the people living below the poverty line and an unemployment rate above 28%. About the size of Tennessee, Honduras has a population of 6,560,600. The average per capita income is $660 per year, but the lives of the people in the remote countryside, where we are ministering, fall far below the statistical averages for the country as a whole. Malnutrition, intestinal parasites, impure water & improper sewage disposal, along with inadequate housing, are major causes of health problems. Diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and TB are not uncommon, and HIV disease in Honduras is “the elephant in the room,” a present and quietly growing crisis.
Reaching the nearest public hospital often requires nearly a day of travel for many of the people in our region even with the best of weather conditions and is often simply inaccessible during the rainy season. Even if one reaches that hospital, chronic shortages of personnel and supplies make the effort a gamble, and “extra” expenses such as food, lodging, medicines, and materials make this care prohibitive for most of our people. From a physical perspective it boils down to this: with the simple “wear and tear” diseases of life, Hondurans in the countryside are likely to suffer without relief. From an injury, such as a broken arm or burn, they are likely to be crippled. From a simple emergency, such as appendicitis, an obstetric complication, or a serious trauma, they are likely to die.
The Spiritual Needs
Although 93% of the population is statistically considered Roman Catholic, the majority of Hondurans living in the countryside have often never understood basic precepts of faith or of the Christian life--due to widespread functional illiteracy, nominalism, and the intermingling of superstition & occult practices. Those who are believing Catholics also suffer from an acute shortage of clergy (the ratio of priests to parishioners is about 1 to 22,000). Among the growing minority Protestant population, there is often great need for balanced Biblical discipleship and freedom from legalism. In short, Hondurans in the countryside are likely to live their entire lives without understanding that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life—without understanding that He is a real person rather than a mythological character or a religious system or manmade legal code. Our hope is that through this work, He will become known as the Savior who walks with them, shares their burdens, never leaves nor forsakes them, and offers them a life of grace and hope.
We are along the northern coast east of la Ceiba in Balfate
