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St Lukes Medical Project:
 St. Luke's Medical Project | When Muintir Mhuire bought “ Europa”, our house in Medjugorje we decided that we would never be involved in any kind of fundraising in Medjugorje itself and that we would continue to facilitate our generous friends in Ireland who wanted to help the people of this area through the many outstanding humanitarian works done by the Franciscans. Since then we have been involved in various humanitarian activities. Initially members helped to unload trucks of aid coming to the Mother’s Village and to distribute aid parcels with members of other aid organisations. We also brought medical supplies to Sr. Muriel’s home for the elderly in Humac near Ljubuski. From this work it became apparent that medical assistance was also needed, we looked first at the needs of the elderly in rural areas. This need was met in the form of a nursing and general treatment service like the public health nursing service that we have here in Ireland, though on a much smaller scale provided by St. Luke’s Home Care, which we helped to set up. As time went on it became clear that we should continue to respond on a much broader basis to many of the local medical needs. We are always aware that every good work comes from God and all the resources needed for it come from Him we are only the instruments in His service and we need to be able to see His hand at work in every good deed. In this way the St. Luke’s Medical Project was formed and the following are some of the ways we are serving, always in consultation with the local Franciscans.
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Case Study
 Aida and Alena  Aida and Alena Mother |
Aida aged 10 and Alena aged 7 both suffered fractured femurs in a car accident where their father was killed. Their brother Adnan aged 8 is still in hospital and their mother Eika has suffered greatly. Jane’s 2nd follow up visit allowed the assessment of their progress and advise on their treatment. They now live in a refugee camp and thanks to Janet they will be supplied with 3 sets of crutches and transport to the hospital. |
News
 News | With the help and Generosity of people who are aware of St. Luke’s Home Care we have now employed a local nurse. The Nurses role will be able to asses, treat and monitor each individual situation and provide suitable medical assistance where required. There are many in the hills and countryside that we can find and help. Thanks to the generosity and support of our benefactors whilst, keeping you in our Prayers and thanking You for Your Continuous Support. |
Humanitarian Aid
 Humanitarian Aid | In the Ljubuski area alone there are 28,000 inhabitants, 320 of them in receipt of social welfare which is € 25, ($30) a month .There are 600 families which get a one shot financial assistance, there are 1500 civil sufferers from the war, and around 80 children with special needs. These are only the recorded statistics that we are aware of, each day we become aware of more needs Breda Prendergast from Castlemartyr , Cork Ireland has been involved from the start, fundraising , obtaining medical / hospital supplies and assisting the poor wherever is needed. Also in January 2008 we had the privilege of sending a 40ft lorry to a hospital in Mostar with almost € 500,000.00 of medical equipment obtained from Ireland. Presently we are compiling hospital equipment, medical supplies for the second contained to be shipped to Medjugorje. |
Intensive Care Unit, for Premature Babies, Mostar.
| A visit by Breda Prendergast, a nurse and midwife, to the Maternity Unit and the Neonatal Unit of Mostar Hospital demonstrated very clearly that there were many needs to be met there. Baby clothes and blankets as well as slippers and nightwear for the mothers were a very urgent need in the Maternity unit and with our assistance these items were gathered in Cork and Limerick and sent to Mostar. We thank all of those who gave funds, clothes and slippers, and also the members of the Riverstown and Blackpool knitting circles and the many individuals who knitted jackets, blankets and caps for both the hospital and neonatal unit. However even more urgent were the requirements for the Neonatal unit. On the day that Breda visited, Dr. Darinka Glamuzina was treating twins, a boy and a girl whose birth weight was 700-800 grams. The tubing in the incubator was inadequate being too big for these small babies, and the other incubators being used on the unit were generally in poor repair. The Doctor felt that with proper equipment she had a good chance of saving the lives of these very small premature babies as she had the knowledge and know how to save them, but she just didn’t have the equipment. She also said that people came and visited the hospital, and promised to help them get the correct equipment but they never came back. When Breda came home she really felt she had to find an incubator somewhere, and on a visit to a new mother during the course of her work, she learned that all the equipment at the new maternity hospital in Cork was brand new. This led to the realization there might be some incubators in some of the hospitals which had closed to facilitate the amalgamation into the new Cork University Maternity Hospital. We approached the Bon Secours sisters and through their generosity, incubators, cots, scales, baby warmers, and delivery beds as well as other vital neonatal equipment was donated. After a further request for beds for the New Hospital in Mostar, the Good Shepherd Sisters were approached in Clifton Cork their convent and nursing home were closing down; they generously donated many hospital beds and other necessary items. In January 2009 the first 40 foot truck load left Cork for Mostar Hospital, carrying this equipment. The Hospital Management described it as the best donation they had ever received. The cost of the transportation was sponsored by Des Kelly. It was followed later that year with another fully loaded 40 foot truck to the same Hospital the cost of transport this time was paid by another new Charity called Almas founded by Fr. Brian Kavanagh of Kildare& Laughlin Diocese. |
Franciscan Pharmacy in Medjugorje run by Sr. Kata
| We help out Sr. Kata, a Franciscan Sister who is a qualified pharmacist. She runs a free pharmacy service in the Parish of Medjugorje for those who have no money and no way of getting access to vital medicines. We are able to source supplies for her. Sometimes among the poor families there are children who have severe forms of epilepsy and no possibility of being able to afford the expensive medication. We have through the generosity of private donors and some of the Pharmaceutical companies been able to help five of these. . Pilgrims who have medicines that are still in date that they do not need for themselves often bring them here. All medicines that are in date are greatly appreciated at this parish pharmacy and every year through the generosity of all who contribute to us we are able to bring supplies to this Pharmacy. |
Mothers Village First Aid Clinic:
| The Mother’s Village which was founded by Fr. Slavko for orphans of the war has continued to provide for a large number of children now mainly from broken home situations. Beside this the Community of the Merciful Father has developed. It is now catering for around forty young men in Medjugorje and has two other houses catering for smaller numbers. Close by the Kay Centre caters for young mothers and babies. These along with the warehouse distributing Humanitarian Aid and the School for infants form a considerable Community. All of these projects are under the care of Fr. Svetozar one of the local Franciscans who succeeded the late Fr. Slavko in this role. All depend totally on Divine Providence. In 2008 a clinic was opened at the Mothers Village and we supported it by bringing our medical supplies there. A local nurse and a young doctor have worked at the clinic and provided first aid to the many communities and the poor at a local level during the season when the Order of Malta Clinic is closed. We did this because we were particularly anxious to continue our support for the outstanding humanitarian work being done in the whole region by the Franciscans of the parish. In 2009 we were able to supply equipment and furniture for the clinic through the help of Des Kelly who regularly brings aid to the Mother’s Village. We continue to source and supply aid of various kinds for these enterprises and encourage others to do the same. |
“ Susret " a newly established Disability Organisation .
| In July Godfrey Carpenter invited Fr. Donal and Keith to Dublin to explore the possibility of sending some wheelchair equipment to Bosnia. During a visit to the Irish Wheelchair Association we were made aware of a bus that just recently came off the road and being conscious of the situation in Bosnia knew that it would be of great use for the disabled people of the region. On our return to Medjugorje we spoke with Dragan Kozina about this bus and he agreed that it would be of great use if they could import it. He told us that there was a new disability association who had no bus and were currently trying to raise funds for a Bus. We met with Jasminka the president of this organisation who after returning from abroad, she herself has a disabled child, was appalled at the lack of services for disabled people. In the Citluk region alone there were 70 disabled people 30 of those who could go to school if they had the facilities. Later in the month the bus was released from the I.W.A. and Godfrey and Jackie drove it to Cork. Buckley Bros spray painters painted the outside but we needed someone with a C licence to drive it out. Seamus volunteered and his brother in law Joe offered to help. Soon we had been given various disability equipment which included 2 Hoists for lifting the Disabled, 2 Two Electric Scooters, 2 Electric Wheelchairs for the Disabled, 4 Push wheelchairs, walking aids and approx 20 boxes of wheelchair occupant’s accessories and baby clothes which all went aboard the bus. On a Thursday afternoon ( the same time that Sr. Grace was taken her first vows in Italy ) Seamus and Joe left for Rosslaire they travelled through Ireland, England, Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and finally into Bosnia after 5 days and having two setbacks at the customs in Croatia and Bosnia travelling a total of 3500km. After arriving at Europa late Monday evening some of the disabled children asked their parents to go to “ Europa” where they could pass and see the bus. One young man visited Europa and asked to see the bus but unfortunately it had gone to be reregistered. When speaking to Seamus about the journey he said “It was all worth it to arrive in Bosnia and see the happy faces of the parents who received the bus, the fact that the children could now go to school and also people received wheelchairs that they needed... I would do it all again". We were able to source and supply a Wheelchair Bus, electric wheelchairs and scooters as well as other supplies to the newly formed Susret (friends of the disabled) organisation in Citluk. |
The Nursing Home Built in the Parish of Medjugorje at Vionica by Arthur McCluskey
| There is a very fine home for the elderly built by Arthur McCluskey (from Co. Laois) in Vionica one of the five villages that make up the parish of Medjugorje. This home was built to care for the surviving Grandparents of orphans in the nearby Orphanage founded by the late Sr. Josepha for the children she found abandoned in a train carriage near the end of the recent war. It is another of the outstanding fruits of Medjugorje and deserves support from the Irish Pilgrims. We are amazed when we meet so many generous pilgrims many of them Irish who bring financial and material aid to Medjugorje who are unaware of the existence of this Home for the elderly poor. Unlike other nursing homes this home cares for many patients who are bedridden and they do not need to be able to walk in and they will be kept till they die. There is nothing big or elaborate about it but it is spotless and cares in a wonderful and loving way for all its 28 patients. There is no large full basement store there. We have begun to bring some much needed medical supplies there. |
Disability /Retirement Home in Stolac.
| In July last year (2009) we acquired an Ambulance and after a meeting with the head of the Department of Health for the Herzegovina region at his suggestion we decided to donate that to the new Home for the Disabled in Stolac. This home is situated in an area that suffered greatly at the end of the Second World War and again in the recent War. It is being developed to provide for 250 residents, young and old who have disabilities. They have need of Hospital beds and all kinds of furniture, chairs lockers etc. as well as physiotherapy equipment. We have been sourcing what we can for them. Frank Terry, Keith Sheehan. Godfrey Carpenter and Jerry O’Sullivan have gathered an amazing selection of very useful items. The Health Authority in Bosnia and Herzegovina recently sent over to us a forty foot truck and we got two Ambulances on board they were filled to capacity and every available space filled as well. Earlier this year the head of their Health Department called to our house “Europa” to finalise this. |
Wheelchair Organization Ljubuski
| Shortly after we opened our house this year, a delegation came from Ljubuski to ask our assistance in getting wheelchairs and a wheelchair bus for their area. All three who came including a local doctor are parents with disabled children. We promised we would do what we could for them. Now having got the Ambulances off to Stolac we hope to get a forty foot container and ship it to Ploce It can go from there to Medjugorje. We have more than 40 wheelchairs and various supplies for disabled adults and children. We now hope to put these on board as well as a large consignment of furniture for the clinic in Stolac. We also recently acquired a Transport Incubator an item much needed for Mostar this too could go. The container can then be used by the local wheelchair association as a store and workshop for the supply and maintenance of the wheelchairs we can source for them. We hope to have a donor to pay for this container and its transportation. We are still on the lookout for a wheelchair bus suitable for the Ljubuski region. |
Click on name to view full details.
| contact: | Mobile: | Email: | Full Details: |
| Frank Terry | 00 353 (0)87 777 7970 | frank@muintirmhuire.ie | Full Details |
| Godfrey Carpenter | 00 353 (0)87 0691009 | Full Details |
Total Found: 2
Muintir Mhuire, Muintir Mhuire, | Phone numbers: Mobiles: 086 257 1445, 087 7777970, 086 8247300 |