Following the rest in Bombay, we flew to Bangalore where we were met at the airport by our colleagues from Bangalore Baptist Hospital. Airport would be the right word, but it was not what we think of today as a modern airport. There were no jet ways. We disembarked via steps and walked across the tarmac to a shed where we waited for our baggage (all 8 pieces). At the time Bangalore was a city with a population of 1.5 - 2 million people.
During our 9 years in Bangalore we saw the development of a new airport complete with jet ways and a proper baggage section. However my arrival in Bangalore this time was not to that "old" airport opened while we lived in India, but rather to the new International Airport, built six years ago north of the hospital. My arrival was at night, but I hope to eventually be able to post pictures of this ultramodern facility.
In 1974, Bangalore baptist Hospital had only been open just over a year. It was an 80 bed hospital staffed by three American Doctors (Dr. Rebekah Naylor, Dr. Russ Roland, and me) working along side four Indian "Junior Doctors" who had received an MBBS degree upon completion of medical school. The MD degree is not conferred until specialty training has been done. We were also joined by two other American personnel, Mr. Bill Mason, hospital administrator, and Miss Linda Garner, nursing supervisor. This group of missionary personnel from the Foreign Mission Board had been proceeded by other physicians, Dr. Jasper McPhail, Dr. Ralph Bethea, Dr. John Wickman, and Dr. Richard Hellinger who had begun the Foreign Mission Board work in India, These four had returned to the USA prior to or just at the beginning of our arrival in India. At that time the hospital campus consisted of the building pictured below (though the picture was taken later in our first four years there where the trees had begun to grow), a duplex under construction, and a cow barn which along with a chicken coop served as the location for some of the first outpatient clinics on the compound prior to the building of the hospital.
Over the next 9 years I worked as a physician, establishing a pediatric department for the hospital, and at times assuming additional positions such as hospital administrator, director of nursing services, and a participant in the community health team. In our early years there, we realized the need to bring into the hospital Indian physicians with specialty training and begin sponsoring medical students to "grow" a staff for the future. These individuals through the years have become key leaders in the hospital.
By the time our family returned to the USA in 1984 the hospital had expanded to 120 beds. A hostel had been built for single female nurses, a chapel had been added, a building had been constructed to house the laundry services and community health department for the hospital, and an additional dwelling had been build on the compound where our family lived for the last four years of our stay in India. More specialized medical services were being offered and training was beginning for internship programs in medicine and surgery.
During our 9 years in Bangalore we saw the development of a new airport complete with jet ways and a proper baggage section. However my arrival in Bangalore this time was not to that "old" airport opened while we lived in India, but rather to the new International Airport, built six years ago north of the hospital. My arrival was at night, but I hope to eventually be able to post pictures of this ultramodern facility.
In 1974, Bangalore baptist Hospital had only been open just over a year. It was an 80 bed hospital staffed by three American Doctors (Dr. Rebekah Naylor, Dr. Russ Roland, and me) working along side four Indian "Junior Doctors" who had received an MBBS degree upon completion of medical school. The MD degree is not conferred until specialty training has been done. We were also joined by two other American personnel, Mr. Bill Mason, hospital administrator, and Miss Linda Garner, nursing supervisor. This group of missionary personnel from the Foreign Mission Board had been proceeded by other physicians, Dr. Jasper McPhail, Dr. Ralph Bethea, Dr. John Wickman, and Dr. Richard Hellinger who had begun the Foreign Mission Board work in India, These four had returned to the USA prior to or just at the beginning of our arrival in India. At that time the hospital campus consisted of the building pictured below (though the picture was taken later in our first four years there where the trees had begun to grow), a duplex under construction, and a cow barn which along with a chicken coop served as the location for some of the first outpatient clinics on the compound prior to the building of the hospital.
By the time our family returned to the USA in 1984 the hospital had expanded to 120 beds. A hostel had been built for single female nurses, a chapel had been added, a building had been constructed to house the laundry services and community health department for the hospital, and an additional dwelling had been build on the compound where our family lived for the last four years of our stay in India. More specialized medical services were being offered and training was beginning for internship programs in medicine and surgery.
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