Bloomington church aids health care mission in Jamaica [PHOTOS]

Wesley United Methodist Church in Bloomington sent a group of 12 volunteers to Frome, Jamaica last week to help prepare the Dr. Paul Gamertsfelder Mission Center for its scheduled opening in March of 2012.

The center is named after the now-retired Ohio optometrist who has led 65 mission trips to Jamaica, Haiti, Mexico and 21 other counties to provide eyewear to people in communities where access to health care is scarce.

Wesley’s mission team also attended a pre-dedication ceremony for the center. It’s a 18,000 square foot facility that will offer eye care, dental care, primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, counseling and pharmacy – all with an evangelical emphasis.

The center is being built almost entirely by volunteers and much of the money to pay for the site is being raised privately. Once it is open, it will need doctors and other health care professionals to serve at the facility as a form of mission work.

The center plans to offer some basic health care services by next month.

For more information abut the center, go to www.wesley-umc.com or www.missionofsight.org.

Click here to listen to Beth’s interview with Adria Schumann, James Ingold and Eric Stock.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.