Through the windshield, MedSend-supported doctor Suja Brane and her husband Tom could see the young lady in the wheelchair on the side of the road. They were driving down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere in West Africa on their way to check on one of Suja’s patients. The young woman lifted her hands to flag them down as they approached.
“I almost drove right past her as this was not built into my program for the day,” Tom shares. “But at that moment, I realized that [she] was ‘the one’ that I was to have eyes for that day. So, I stopped.”
Tom had recently begun praying that God would give him His eyes to see people the way He does and show him who He’d specifically brought into his path each day. He wanted to have God’s heart of compassion for others, a trait he says is especially strong in Suja. As the young woman tried to get his attention, he knew this was an answer to his prayer.
Meeting Unexpected Needs in West Africa: A Story of Compassionate Healthcare
It has taken time for Dr. Suja Brane and her family to find their rhythm in the tiny, rural clinic in West Africa where she began serving in 2021. While this was not her first assignment, she is the first long-term missionary to work at this specific clinic.
“I began making regular visits to the clinic to build relationships with staff. I made myself available to meet needs the clinic staff perceived as important to them, and this led to the staff referring their more complex patients to me. This enabled me to build trust and respect with the staff,” Dr. Brane explains.
The Ministry of Healthcare Missions: Dr. Suja Brane’s Impact in Rural Clinics
“My largest role is to provide care to the more complicated patients. Often, these patients have been marginalized and neglected, tried to seek care in the national public healthcare system, and returned home empty-handed. The barriers are overwhelming for patients from the village to receive the care they need in the large city hospitals,” Dr. Brane shares.
“In many ways, I become a social worker of sorts. I do whatever it takes to remove the barriers for patients to receive the care they need—whether that’s helping them navigate the healthcare system, connecting them with the right doctor, or overcoming financial barriers. I advocate for my marginalized patients to get the best quality of care they can receive here, but this requires a large time commitment on my part,” she says.
How MedSend’s Longevity Project is Preventing Burnout for Healthcare Workers
2024 marks the Brane family’s 12th year on the field. They are currently living in their third country of service in West Africa.
“The medical needs are endless, as are the opportunities to serve,” Dr. Brane says. “But the one thing I have learned is the importance of seeking the Lord for His invitation for how He desires to use me. It is easy to find a niche, get busy, and then invite God to be a part of it,” she confesses.
One thing that has helped Dr. Brane stave off the near-guaranteed burnout that many healthcare missionaries in West Africa face is The Longevity Project, a ministry of MedSend that provides grants for access to vetted organizations offering professional, spiritual, and relational support to healthcare missionaries.
“I deeply appreciate The Longevity Project! My caseload is overwhelming, and most times, it feels nearly impossible to maintain healthy margins,” she says. “I am without a doubt a healthcare missionary who has recovered from near burnout because of these programs. They’ve given me a new lease on medical missions.”
The Power of Staying Alert to God’s Leading in Medical Missions
Having the margin to stay alert for God’s leading is exactly what Tom had been praying for on that day driving down the dirt road in the middle of nowhere. He and Suja had an agenda set for the day—places to go, people to see, and important things to do. But the most important thing was to see exactly who God had placed in their path.
“We rolled down the window and asked her what she wanted. The only thing she wanted was to see if someone could pray for her,” Tom says, awed by how God brought two healthcare missionaries in West Africa and a pastor down the exact road at the exact time where this young woman was looking for someone to pray. “So, we got out of the car, and before we prayed, she shared her story.”
Supporting Healthcare Missionaries Through MedSend’s Grants and Programs
The ministry of MedSend is centered on modeling the love of Jesus in places where people have had little access to the gospel. Jesus’ ministry was full of healing and preaching woven together with compassion and mercy. When you give your financial support to our programs, healthcare missionaries in West Africa and beyond receive the funding they need to keep the mission going.
“The MedSend school loan grant enabled me to leave the US without worries about paying my school loans on a missionary salary. MedSend removed barriers that would have kept me working in the US and enabled me to go to the field much earlier. This has been an incredible blessing,” Dr. Brane shares.
“What I have valued even more than the debt repayment has been the priority that MedSend places on the mental well-being of their Grant Recipients. This focus on addressing the unique stressors we face as healthcare missionaries in West Africa has been transformational. MedSend normalized seeking help and provided a roadmap for how to get it. Words cannot express the depth of gratitude I have for this initiative of MedSend and how they are transforming the way we approach member care for healthcare missionaries.”
Join the Mission to Bring Healing and Hope
Your support enables dedicated healthcare missionaries like Dr. Suja Brane to continue providing life-saving medical care and sharing the love of Christ in underserved regions. By donating to MedSend, you’re helping to remove financial barriers and providing the vital resources they need to serve in the hardest-to-reach places.
Make a difference today—donate now to empower healthcare missionaries and transform lives across the globe!
