Words from Dr. Tek

I first learned about Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope (SHCH) in Phnom-Penh, Cambodia from Dr. Jim Miner, a friend I knew when I first came to Jacksonville for my Fellowship in Gastroenterology under Dr. Jack Groover. He had volunteered at the hospital and suggested that I check it out. I then learned that in 2006 SHCH treated 300 to 350 patients daily free of charge, but the patients had to be selected by lottery to be seen. The waiting line was very long. SHCH opened its door in 1996 to serve the poor entirely free of charge.  More than a million outpatients have been treated since.  It has been called "Angel Hospital" a place where a poor person with no money "can receive a new life".  It is one of the best hospitals in Cambodia, one of the best training centers in the country for Cambodian healthcare professionals (Nurses, pharmacists, medical students, physicians.)  SHCH treats common illness such as diabetes, hypertension or more specialized diseases such as HIV, TB, and breast cancer.  The hospital receives a steady stream of overseas medical and non medical volunteers, mostly from the United States, Australia, Europe, and Asia. I married my wife, Suon, in September 1970 soon after my graduation from the only medical school in Cambodia. The war with Cambodian communists, the Khmer Rouge, just started then. We spent our honeymoon dodging the shrapnel from the rockets launched into the city every night by the Khmer Rouge.  We came to the United States in March 1971 for my post graduation medical training. In 2007, we went back to Cambodia with our two daughters and our son, all born in the United States. We traveled all over Cambodia so that our children can see Suon's home where we got married, my medical school, the village where I was born, and the famous Temple of Angkor Wat. I visited a few medical clinics on the way to Angkor Wat and talked to the people about the healthcare needs in Cambodia. The government and international non-governmental organization (NGO) had been actively working on developing small health centers in the rural areas and in the cities, but significant numbers of Cambodians still lack access to affordable and effective healthcare services. During my visit to SHCH to enroll in the volunteer work, the hospital administrator showed me the endoscopy suite, and only one upper endoscope and one colonoscope all of fiberoptic type with eye pieces were in use. With great apprehension, I humbly promised that I would try to get them more advanced video scopes expecting to get a few old video scopes from our Borland-Groover Clinic. By a stroke of luck, Dr. Kyle Etzkorn had just returned from  a visit to Cambodia and loved the country and its people and told me that he wanted to do something for them. After several months of very hard work, Dr. Etzkorn was able to acquire three upper video scopes and three video colonoscopes and accessories donated by Olympus of America and several other scopes from Baptist Medical Center and from our own Borland-Groover Clinic. In addition, our clinic through our president, Dr. Jack Groover, has approved a generous grant to pay a BGC team of two physicians, one nurse, and a technician to go to Cambodia to set up an endoscopic center at SHCH with two rooms. We will teach the Cambodian physicians and nurses during our week long stay. The SHCH had agreed to name the center The  Borland-Groover Clinic Center of Endoscopy. BGC will become worldwide. In addition, BGC will donate $5,000 each year for future repair of the scopes. We also have acquired donation of $5,000 worth of service from Instruments of Mercy Refurbishing Company for future scopes repair. This is much, much more than I expected. Several other people are involved in this project with great enthusiasm. Cindy Hall, Brigitte Schmitges, and Angela Hull have been of great help. I greatly appreciated the tireless efforts by Dr. Etzkorn who is responsible for the success. I cannot express enough gratitude for Dr. Jack Groover, my great teacher and mentor, who has made this project possible.  Many thanks to the Borland-Groover Clinic organization and all its members, Olympus of America represented by John Watt, Instruments of Mercy represented by Michael Davis and Toney Peer.