A Georgia Baptist Institution
Caring in the Name of Christ
Family tradition. It’s one of the things that can unite our families and define the people we will become.
For senior international studies major Peter Faile, it’s also a legacy of service that has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in and around the West African nation of Ghana.
The Faile Family Tradition Peter is the grandson of the late Dr. George Faile Jr., who helped found the Baptist Medical Center in Nalerigu, Ghana. Today, the hospital provides the only quality medical care available within more than 100 miles of the village. Each year, the hospital’s staff, which includes Peter’s parents, Dr. George Faile III and nurse Elisabeth Faile, helps more than 70,000 people from 20 ethnic groups. They come to Nalerigu from the surrounding region of Ghana as well as from the neighboring nations of Cote d’ Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Togo. “People come from all over, and the staff will see 400 patients a day on clinic day,” Peter explained. “People will be packed outside. They will stand in line for hours just to see the doctor.” |
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The clinic staff sees patients with illnesses that range from minor discomforts to cancer and other major health problems. The hospital staff delivers babies and performs surgeries in its two small operating rooms. They also offer a nutritional rehabilitation and education program as well as a public health program that offers immunizations and other important services.
A promotional video developed by the George Faile Foundation reports that instead of turning away patients when the hospital beds are full, the staff simply “makes room on the floor” for the patients.
Peter puts it quite simply, “I don’t know how they do what they do.”
The Spiritual Aspect
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That healing offered by the hospital for physical needs is a perfect opening for meeting spiritual needs as well. In an interview with the International Mission Board in 1999, Diane Lay, a longtime missionary at the hospital, said that more than three dozen of the Baptist churches in the area of Ghana have been started due to the hospital’s ministry. “Either someone from a village has been a patient and shown interest in becoming a Christian, or someone from the hospital has gone to the village to preach the Good News,” Ms. Lay told the IMB reporter. “The chiefs always tell me, ‘I know you. You are at the hospital, and you have helped my people." |
As an example of the spiritual impact of the hospital, Ms. Lay shared a story about the hospital’s 40th anniversary celebration, a night in which more than 120 people who attended the celebration made public professions of faith in Jesus Christ.
The Next Generation
Peter’s understanding of and appreciation for his family’s business has increased dramatically as he has grown up. “I grew up in Nalerigu, and I knew that the hospital was important to the people,” he said. “But to me that’s just where my dad was all day and sometimes all night long. On the weekends, my brothers and I might go and count tablets in the pharmacy.” Now, however, Peter hopes to put his international studies major to work to help the hospital. “I may apply to graduate school, but long term I would like to continue to work with the Baptist Medical Center.” |
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Peter will have the opportunity to share his family’s work with a group of friends from Shorter College in June as a Baptist Collegiate Ministries-sponsored team led by campus minister, the Rev. David Roland, volunteers at the hospital and at another site in Ghana.
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