The International Look of Health Services Missionaries

“Worldwide health services, which emphasize disease prevention and assist members throughout the world to appropriately use local health resources, are being expanded to a major degree. This will require a substantial increase in the number of health services missionaries.” (The First Presidency, September 6, 1974.)

Health Services missionaries now number more than 100. They come from 20 different countries and are serving in 25 missions of the Church. Working under the direction of local priesthood and auxiliary leaders, they seek to improve the health and well-being of Church members, help to identify health problems, particularly those which are of concern to members, and then assist in developing and implementing programs designed to solve these problems. They identify local health resources which are available, and help members to wisely use such resources. They then help to supplement these available community resources with the teaching of health principles.

Health Services missionaries are called just as proselyting missionaries are, except that their recommendation form should include a concise statement of their qualifications as a health missionary. Initial contact is made through a bishop or branch president; information may be obtained from the Missionary Committee, 47 East South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111.

If prospective Health Services missionaries are learning a non-English language, they will receive additional training during their time at the Language Training Mission.

Health Services missionaries tell many success stories, some of which were quoted by Bishop Victor L. Brown at the Welfare Services meeting held in conjunction with October general conference.

Health Services missionaries in Chile are teaching Latter-day Saint mothers the importance of good nutrition for their families, including the value of local foods, new recipes, menu planning, and how to select the best bargains in the market. In Mexico, Primary children are learning the importance of washing their hands and taking good care of their teeth. Sister Liselotte Stuber, a nurse from Switzerland serving in the Mexico Torreon Mission, wrote, “I have never seen so many clean hands, nor so many feet with shoes on, in all my time in Mexico.”

In Brazil, members are learning how to prevent heart disease; in Hong Kong, they learn to detect cancer. There are projects for building latrines in Guatemala and for planting gardens in Paraguay. In Colombia, the Health Services missionaries participate in special family home evenings on physical fitness, accident prevention, and immunizations. Elder and Sister George Brown from Idaho are district leaders for the Health Services missionaries in the Arizona Holbrook Mission, where they are doing research and finding materials for the branch libraries and the use of members.

In the Ecuador Quito Mission the work is just beginning. Sister Jeannette Hafner, a nutritionist from Texas, writes that they are finding good local physicians, dentists, and hospitals for the use of missionaries. Lists of these resources are kept in the missionaries’ apartments. In other missions the emphasis is on physical fitness, improving the diet, or some other aspect important in keeping the missionaries healthy and able to work effectively.

The Health Services missionaries have had an impact on the proselyting effort in the missions. From Costa Rica came the report that “as we visited hospitals, we became acquainted with a wonderful thoracic surgeon whom we referred to the proselyting missionaries. He has now joined the Church.” Sister Gertrud Strohbeck, a nurse from Germany who worked in Honduras, wrote that “lessons to children often helped us get acquainted with parents.”

There is an increasing number of local Health Services missionaries who are called to serve in their own countries, working as companions to those called from other lands. They become a permanent resource to priesthood and auxiliary leaders.

Sisters Irene Yuen and Chung Ching Shan have been called as Health Services missionaries in Hong Kong. They recently participated in a seminar on the detection and prevention of lung cancer; approximately 700 people attended. Sister Lin Mei Yu, a registered nurse from Taiwan, is serving as a Health Services missionary in her own country. She and other local missionaries, such as Sister Sulianna Manoa in Tonga, have been invaluable in teaching regular missionaries about the land and the people and about communicating in a new language.

Sister Muriel Ozo, a student nurse serving as a Health Services missionary in the Philippines, writes, “I am so happy I will not have to leave my people when I finish my mission, like all the other Health Services missionaries. I can stay to help them with all the things that I have learned.” Sister Ozo helped to teach a Latter-day Saint mother in Manila, Sister Sally Pilobello, who said, “I feel important because of this Church program to make us happier people. I lost my first child due to malnutrition, but my last baby, my ‘Mormon baby,’ is the healthiest of them all, thanks to what I have learned about good nutrition and good health.”

Sister Iris Ehrsam, a physical therapist from Switzerland, is teaching the same important principles to the members in Italy as Elder Michael Beuger, a physician from Holland, is teaching in Bolivia. Sister Odette Sookun, a nurse from Mauritius, learned Tahitian as she prepared to be the first Health Services missionary to Tahiti. Sister Nancy Opperman, a physical education teacher from Wisconsin, is learning Thai as she prepares to begin her work in Bangkok. Elder Ronald Berg, an anthropology student from California, is learning Navajo, and Sister Solveig Sommervold, a nurse from Norway, is learning Spanish.

There is much to be done to help members throughout the world prevent disease and deal with health problems wisely. To have helped with this challenge is a meaningful experience. As Dr. Blair Bybee, who served in Samoa, expressed it, “God helped me more, blessed me more, answered more questions, and gave me more of a feeling of having accomplished something good than at any other time in my life. If I never were to practice medicine again, all my years at the university, in medical school, and in my internship would have been well spent just preparing me for my health mission.”

The impact is being felt in the missions. President Russell Bishop in the Peru Lima Mission wrote, “These young ladies are doing a tremendous job. If other Health Services missionaries are available, we would certainly be happy to have them, as I feel their work is invaluable. In fact, President Kimball told me personally, ‘Fill those mountains with health missionaries.’ I would like to work toward that goal.”