Elevating Medical Care in Central Asia
January 2025
It’s the first day of his mission trip to the Dominican Republic in 1992, and Ryan* wakes up to find a line of locals at the gate eager to see “el doctor.” This trip isn’t even supposed to be a medical mission, but the locals somehow learned that there was an American doctor on the team.
Knowing the locals don’t have access to quality medical care, Ryan sets up a clinic—but he quickly realizes he isn’t interested in running these types of clinics.
Is it because he doesn’t have a heart for missions? No. Ryan has been on mission trips to Cambodia about 15 times over the course of his life. Is it because he doesn’t like serving? No. In 2003 Ryan started a medical clinic in Ashland, Ohio that provides free medical care to those in need. To this day, he faithfully volunteers there twice a week.
So why doesn’t Ryan like participating in medical missions clinics?
He says, “Those kinds of trips can briefly elevate the level of care given to a few people, while leaving the level of care for the rest of the country down.” Ryan desires to make an impact that is wider-reaching and longer-lasting than a one-time medical clinic.
As he started approaching retirement, he and his wife Patti* started asking God, “What’s next?” Around that same time, an Encompass worker in a Muslim Central Asian country asked him, “Why don’t you come over here and help raise the level of medical care that’s provided?” Bingo! Ryan’s ears really perked up at the phrase, “raise the level of care.”
Ryan and Patti took a vision trip to Central Asia in 2022, and they met with an organization of Christians who mentor local medical students and professionals. “It’s exactly what I was looking for,” Ryan said. And the need is huge. “We saw so many people who had disabilities that were preventable or people who had been injured because of improper medical care,” Ryan says. “The level of medical care just wasn’t there.”
Now that Ryan is retiring in summer 2024, he and Patti will start traveling to Central Asia with Encompass twice a year starting in 2025. They’ll consistently visit the same areas and stay for a couple months at a time so they can build meaningful relationships as Ryan mentors local doctors.
We’re excited to hear all the stories of how God will use Ryan and Patti during this new chapter of their lives. And we love how eager they are about using their retirement to continue advancing God’s kingdom. They say, “We don’t look at retirement as our earned rest—our earned rest is when we get to heaven and hear Jesus say ‘well done.’”
If you’d like to share Jesus with Central Asia by elevating their medical care, consider partnering with Ryan and Patti.
*Names changed for security
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