John Lunn tries out his rudi- mentary sign language skills on young people from a school for the deaf at Christ Lutheran Church in Vellore, India. Not only do the stu- dents know sign language, they can read and write in Tamil.


Lunn, an ELCA pastor and registered nurse who coordi- nates Lutheran Global Health Volunteers, shares a moment with Sister Victima, a nurse and Roman Catholic nun who serves in Vellore. Lunn and Victima helped launch an inpatient hospice in Vellore, a cooperative ecumenical effort.


Volunteers needed A


n ELCA Global Mission program that matches U.S.-based health-care workers with hospitals associ- ated with ELCA global com- panions was unveiled at the 2013 Churchwide Assembly in August.


Lutheran Global Health


Basye, a freelance writer living in the Pacific Northwest, is the author of Sustaining Simplicity: A Journal (ELCA, 2007).


Volunteers will recruit people with credentials in a wide range of health fields. In the first phase of the program, volunteers will be matched with ELCA partners in three


34 The Lutheran • www.thelutheran.org


FRANKLIN ISHIDA/ELCA GLOBAL MISSION


Short-term global opportunities for health-care workers By Anne Basye


pilot countries: India, Liberia and Tanzania. “Tanzania is a logical choice because of the size and scope of the church and its health system,” said John Lunn, international coordinator for the program. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania provides more than 15 percent of the health-care services in that country and operates 21 hospitals and many dispensaries. The program aims to help hospitals narrow a gap in personnel in recent years. In previous eras, churches and others provided many long-term mission personnel and grants to companion institutions that focused on inpatient curative care. But globally, scarce resources are moving away from expensive, institutionally based models toward lower-cost, community-based health care. “When you want the best bang for your buck, you


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