BBC Staff Visits Dialysis Patients in Bethlehem

“I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.” Mathew 25: 43

What we do for one, we do as if we are serving Jesus. This was the mentality of a group of BBC staff who visited the governmental hospital in Bethlehem last week to spend time with patients in need of dialysis during Christmas time. The staff spent time sitting, talking and laughing alongside those that were undergoing treatment.

This BBC group was the first to visit the dialysis section in the hospital. It was a big room with around twenty-two patients that undergo the process three times a week for five hours each time! In the Bethlehem area alone there are one hundred patients including children.

The staff saw the patients lying in a very big room all together with their families waiting for the treatment to end. They talked to them, got to know their names, learned some of their stories, and gave them bed covers and chocolates as gifts.

During the visit, the staff met the hospital manager who welcomed and introduced us to the patients by telling them the reason of our visit. She told us of the needs of this specific section of the hospital, as it is the least visited by visitors. Their needs and struggles were noticeable in their lack of good dialysis equipment, which the hospital manager mentioned needed to be renewed.

However, the most difficult struggle these patients are facing is the extra time. As we mentioned before, every dialysis treatment takes about five hours, and every patient has to do it three times a week, resulting in free time with nothing to do!

As our next project, we suggested to make a small library in the dialysis wing for those patients so they can read during their treatment. The staff and our friends will donate the books for the hospital.

This was our first outreach of the year as BBC staff, and we look forward to more encounters and opportunities for social work in the community in weeks and months to come!

A big thanks to the Shepherd Society who organized everything for this visit, and for Rev. Dr. Jack Sara the president of BBC, for always encouraging us to serve our community as we would serve Jesus.