CURE International

CURE International (also known as CURE, formerly CCURE or C²URE) is a Christian nonprofit organization based in Spring Lake, Michigan.[1] CURE's efforts are focused on providing medical care to children suffering primarily from orthopedic and neurological conditions. The organization's stated mission is "healing the sick and proclaiming the kingdom of God." The organization operates hospitals in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, the Philippines, Uganda and Zambia. The organization also runs a specialty program for hydrocephalus in an additional 7 countries[2] including Bangladesh, Mali and Indonesia.

CURE International
Founded1996
FounderC. Scott Harrison, M.D., Sally Harrison, R.N.
TypeInternational child healthcare organization
FocusInternational Healthcare
Location
  • Spring Lake, MI
Area served
Africa, Asia, Central America
MethodSurgery, advocacy, treatment
Key people
Brant Hansen, storyteller
Revenue
$60 million
Employees
1500
Websitecure.org

History

The organization was founded in 1996 in central Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg, by Dr. C. Scott Harrison and his wife, Sally.[3] Ten years earlier, Harrison had traveled to Malawi, Africa to perform spine surgery and teach higher level orthopedic surgery skills to local surgeons. In the years following, Harrison and his wife made many trips back, discovering a need for children with orthopedic disabilities. When his tenure as CEO and President of Kirschner Medical was over, Harrison created the Crippled Children's United Rehabilitation Effort[4] (CCURE or C²URE, later CURE), hoping to meet that need. CURE's first hospital opened in 1998 in Kenya which was the first orthopedic pediatric teaching hospital in Africa for children with disabilities. Today, CURE is the largest provider of pediatric surgical care in the developing world. Harrison stepped down as President in 2012.[5]

In 2006, CURE acquired Oasis Hospital in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.[6] The hospital was established in 1960 by the American missionary couple Drs. Pat and Marian Kennedy, who were a part of the missionary organization TEAM (the Evangelical Alliance Mission). The hospital has a focus on maternal health and is the oldest hospital in Al Ain. The hospital became the first non-government hospital in the emirate of Abu Dhabi to receive the Joint Commission International Accreditation in 2007 and was re-accredited in 2010 and 2013.[7]

CURE established a program to treat infant clubfoot called CURE Clubfoot Worldwide, in 2006.[8] This program then began to expand beyond CURE hospitals and partnered with other national hospitals and established clinics in countries that CURE International did not have a presence in, like Rwanda,[9] Mozambique[10] and India.[11] In 2019, CURE Clubfoot separated from CURE as a new independent NGO, and was renamed Hope Walks.

CURE created a separate division for management of international hospitals, called CURE Healthcare Management Services, in the late 2000s.[12] Capabilities ranged from initial strategic analysis of a project to construction, staffing, outfitting and management. Clients included hospitals not owned by CURE International, in countries such as China,[13] Indonesia[14] and Angola.[15] In 2012 the division became a separate company, renamed CURE Management Services, or CMS, and continued to operate for a few years.[16] The company is no longer active.

On July 1, 2019 CURE acquired International Aid Inc., which became a distinct but wholly owned subsidiary of CURE International. Both organizations will merge resources, teams, and offices into a shared West Michigan presence at International Aid’s building in Spring Lake, Michigan, with additional offices in Grand Rapids, MI.[17]

Hospitals

Current hospitals

Afghanistan: CURE accepted the invitation from Afghan Ministry of Public Health to take over a hospital located in Kabul in January, 2005. The hospital offers care for 8,000 patients each year and training programs for doctors and nurses in obstetrics and gynecology, pathology, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery and general practice. In the fall of 2006, CURE partnered with Smile Train to develop a cleft lip and cleft palate surgical training program.

On 24 April 2014, three CURE physicians were killed by an Afghan security guard, among them one American, Dr. Jerry Umanos, a pediatrician.[18] Dr. Umanos' wife, who forgave the gunman, commented on her husband's "love for the Afghan people" and "desire to be the hands and feet of Christ".[19][20]

The CURE Ethiopia Children's Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Ethiopia: The CURE Ethiopia Children's Hospital, established in 2008, is a pediatric orthopedic teaching hospital in Addis Ababa. It provides training in pediatric and advanced orthopedic techniques and has a dual focus on pediatric orthopedics and pediatric plastic reconstruction, such as cleft lip, clubfoot, and limb deformities.

Kenya: The first CURE hospital opened in 1998 in Kijabe. The AIC-CURE International Children's Hospital is a 30-bed hospital that serves approximately 8,000 children per year, also operating mobile clinics to remote regions.[21] The orthopedic training program has been certified by the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa, where surgeons spend five years training at the hospital and then work at another CURE hospital. CURE Clubfoot, a non-surgical treatment for the correction of clubfoot in young children, is hosted in this hospital.

Malawi: Established in 2002 with a donation from the Beit Trust, the Beit CURE International Hospital in Blantyre has 66 beds and has expertise in total hip and knee replacement surgery. The hospital also provides physiotherapy and chiropractic services, orthopedic training, mobile clinics and a partnership with Smile Train.[22]

Niger: The CURE Hôpital des Enfants au Niger opened in Niamey in the summer of 2010, offering specialty surgical care and training programs for doctors and nurses. In April 2016, the Satmed eHealth platform was deployed to the Niamey CURE hospital to provide communication between staff and national and international doctors to receive medical counselling, remote diagnosis of patients by experts across the world, online training for doctors and nurses to improve their knowledge, and easy access to the internet, via satellite.[23][24]

Uganda: Specializing in treating neurosurgical needs, the CURE Children's Hospital of Uganda opened in 2000 and has been recognized as a global leader in treatment of hydrocephalus. The hospital, located in Mbale, also treats children with neural tube defects, spina bifida, epilepsy, and brain tumors. The training program brings in surgeons from many countries, including Bangladesh, the U.S., and Ghana.

United Arab Emirates: The CURE Oasis Hospital, located in Al Ain, was established in 1960 to bring American medical care to the UAE. The hospital delivers 3,500 babies and treats over 122,000 patients annually. CURE acquired the hospital in 2006.

Zambia: The Beit CURE International Hospital of Zambia was established in 2004 in Lusaka when CURE signed an agreement with the Zambian Ministry of Health to operate a pediatric teaching hospital, specializing in treatment and care of children living with disabilities. The Beit Trust, a UK-based charity, donated $1.5 million to support construction of the hospital as a centennial gift to the people of Zambia. The hospital partners with Smile Train and has a hip replacement program.

Tebow CURE Hospital
The Tebow CURE Hospital in Davao City, Philippines

CURE and the Tebow Foundation announced plans to build a children's hospital in the fall of 2011 in the Philippines, the country where ESPN broadcaster Tim Tebow was born. The Tebow CURE Hospital in Davao City, on the island of Mindanao, will hold 30 beds and will specialize in orthopedics. Construction began in January 2012 and was completed in late 2014, with a grand opening in May 2015. The project is estimated to cost $3 million.[25]

Closed hospitals

Dominican Republic: The Centro de Ortopedia y Especialidades CURE International, established in 2003, was located in Santo Domingo. It served approximately 700 outpatients per month. The hospital also sent surgical teams into Haiti and responded to the 2010 Haiti earthquake by sending in one of the first surgical teams into that country.[26] The hospital ceased doing surgical operations in 2018.[27]

Honduras: In 2013, the CURE Internacional Hospital de Ortopedia Pediátrica, located in San Pedro Sula, closed due to increasing insecurity in the country, and a lack of funding from the government. During its four years of operation, approximately 20,000 children were treated with orthopedic corrections.[28] CURE continues to work in the country through its specialty hydrocephalus program.

Specialty programs

Current Programs

CURE Hydrocephalus:[29] The program provides surgeons the training and equipment to combat the condition. Surgeons are trained in multiple forms of hydrocephalus treatment, including a “shuntless” procedure known as the Warf procedure, or ETV/CPC, where they identify the blockage in the brain and create a new path through which the accumulating fluid can drain naturally. With the surgery taking as little as 45 minutes, CURE claims the results are permanent and often much more stable than implanting a shunt.

On August 2, 2011, three representatives of CURE Hydrocephalus testified in front of the U. S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights. Dr. Benjamin Warf, former medical director of CURE Uganda, Dr. Steven Schiff, who conducted research at CURE Uganda, and Jim Cohick, Senior Vice President of Specialty Programs at CURE International, spoke on the issue.[30][31]

Former Programs

CURE Clubfoot: Clubfoot, a congenital deformity making walking difficult or impossible, can be corrected, using the surgery-free Ponseti Method for $250.[32] CURE Clubfoot's goal is to eradicate clubfoot in the developing world, with over 220,000 children born each year with the deformity. Through partnerships with other international NGOs, the donor community and in-country partners, CURE has enrolled over 100,000 children[33] in 18 countries with 291 clinics.[34] As of 2019, the CURE Clubfoot program was turned into an independent company and renamed Hope Walks.[35]

CURE Egypt: Through partnerships with Good Shepherd and Angelo American hospitals in Cairo, patients with disabilities who could not afford care had their surgery costs subsidized by CURE International, and then performed at one of the hospitals.[36] Established in 2006, originally CURE had plans to build a hospital in Cairo but the hospital was never constructed.[37] The program ended in 2016.

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References
  1. "The Mission of CURE". CURE. 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2014. As a Christian organization, we can help them through this difficult time. For the last 2,000 years, what they are looking for has been called the “kingdom of God.” It is something to obtain in the future, but it also something here now. It is a reference to Jesus but is also within those who follow Him. Helping people find that kingdom of God is the other half of what we do. So the answer to my question is simple: CURE International, healing the sick and proclaiming the kingdom of God. That’s our mission!
  2. "CURE International". Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  3. Vaidya, Anuja; et al. "26 Spine Surgeons Involved in Humanitarian Efforts". Becker's Spine Review. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2000-10-19. Retrieved 2018-11-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. International, CURE. "CURE International Appoints Dale Eugene Brantner as New Chief Executive Officer". CURE. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  6. Hamdan Award for Volunteers in Humanitarian Medical Services
  7. "Oasis Hospital - Welcome from our CEO". Archived from the original on December 9, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
  8. Partner Organisation of the Month: CURE Clubfoot Worldwide February 13, 2013
  9. What do you know about clubfoot? June 3, 2019
  10. "The Mozambique Clubfoot Program". MIHER. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  11. Nonprofit Successfully Opens Healthcare Clinics in Every Indian State August 16, 2017
  12. Discovering Rabia Balkhi
  13. How did the top international medical centers get trained? April 24, 2011
  14. CURE Indonesia December 12, 2013
  15. Vital Capital Closes Financing for Luanda Medical Center September 29, 2014
  16. Internet Archive: cms-health.com
  17. CURE/IA Announcement Retrieved December 11, 2019
  18. "American Father, Son Among Victims in Kabul Hospital Shooting". ABC News. 24 April 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  19. Curry, Colleen. "Wife of US Doctor Slain in Afghan Hospital Forgives Gunman". ABC News. Retrieved 25 April 2014. "I know Jerry would also like everybody to know about his love for the Afghan people," she said. "And we don’t hold any ill will towards the Afghan people in general or even the gunman who did this." Mrs. Umanos, who said she also spent several years working in Afghanistan, made it clear that her husband was a religious man. "Jerry always wanted us to serve underserved populations and Afghanistan was just one of them. He always had a desire to be the hands and feet of Christ," she said.
  20. Mitch Smith, Andy Grimm and Rosemary Regina Sobol (24 April 2014). "Chicago doctor among 3 Americans killed in Afghanistan". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 25 April 2014. "Jerry always wanted to serve under-served populations" his wife said. "Afghanistan was just one of them. He always had a desire to be the hands and feet of Christ. He had a love and commitment that he expressed for the Afghan people because of that love for Christ.
  21. AIC CURE International Children's Hospital Archived 2012-04-25 at the Wayback Machine CMB International, Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  22. "Worldwide Partners, Search Criteria: Malawi". Smile Train. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  23. SES Deploys SATMED E-Health Platform to Improve Quality of Healthcare in Niger BusinessWire. April 22, 2016. Accessed May 27, 2016
  24. How satellite helps power quality health care in Niger CURE website. May 2016. Accessed May 27, 2016
  25. Associated Press. "Tim Tebow foundation to build hospital". ESPN. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  26. "Born for this Moment - CURE International's response to the Haitian earthquake". CURE International. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
  27. "CURE Dominican Republic". CURE International. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
  28. "Cierran Hospital de Ortopedia y llevarán equipo a Dominicana". latribuna.hn. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  29. CURE Hydrocephalus
  30. New Treatment for Hydrocephalus Topic of Health Subcommittee Hearing Congressman Chris Smith, retrieved April 2, 2012
  31. Hydrocephalus Treatment in Uganda C-SPAN, retrieved April 2, 2012.
  32. Creating country wide program for Ponseti Method CURE, Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  33. 100,000 Children Rescued from Life-long Clubfoot Disability JULY 24, 2017
  34. CURE Clubfoot CURE, Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  35. An important change for CURE Clubfoot Retrieved January 30, 2019
  36. Stories of healing from Egypt December 22, 2015
  37. CURE Egypt Featured in Watani November 27, 2011
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