Physician Dr. Warren Cooper answers the call to earthquake-devastated La Guaira.
As aftershocks rattled the northern coast of Venezuela in the wake of devastating twin earthquakes, Dr. Warren Cooper worked on the open wounds of a man rushed to our Emergency Field Hospital near the epicenter in La Guaira.
Dr. Cooper, a general surgeon, joined our first wave to the region in late June and now is part of a team treating the sick and injured carried in from the surrounding city, where large swaths of communities became a mangle of collapsed multi-story buildings. The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude quakes killed more than 5,000 people and displaced tens of thousands. It left many hundreds of people injured and without access to medical treatment.
Dr. Cooper met with a surgical patient at our field hospital where our team has completed more than 200 surgical procedures since the June 24 earthquake that destroyed large portions of La Guaira.
“I would have been in the Congo right now,” he said, explaining how Ebola erupted while he and his wife were on leave from their home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
They have been serving as missionaries there for the last 14 years. The outbreak was declared while the couple was visiting family and friends in the U.S. Soon after hearing this news, they found out they could not return home.
“I know colleagues who have had Ebola,” he said. “We’ve been so heartbroken to see what’s going on there.”
He now sees that this is the course the Lord has set before him—to serve the people of Venezuela. “It must be God’s plan,” he said.
Dr. Cooper is a general surgeon who, with his wife, Dr. Lindsey Cooper, has served as a missionary doctor the last 14 years.
Over the course of his weekslong deployment, Dr. Cooper and the operating room team have performed more than 200 surgeries–not only providing the physical care that this grieving community desperately needs but also hearing their stories of survival.
Dr. Cooper recalls the story of a bedridden man he operated on whose mother was killed in the earthquake. She’d been his sole caregiver since having his leg amputated years ago.
“There have been so many stories that have touched us personally,” Dr. Cooper said. “[They’ve experienced] this agonizing loss and now to wonder, ‘Well, what is my future?’”
Dr. Cooper also met a Venezuelan anesthesiologist who came to help the medical team despite losing her entire home. Some of the local staff who are serving alongside the team, have similar stories of endurance.
As they and patients interact with Samaritan’s Purse staff, many are hearing a message of hope beyond their grief. While the man with the amputated leg was recovering in the Samaritan’s Purse hospital, he heard the message of the Gospel and chose to follow Christ—declaring a new, unshakable future.
Care for the whole person
“Often, we make a distinction between ‘This is the medical work, and this is the spiritual work.’ But helping somebody medically means ministering to them as a whole person—body and soul,” he explained.
As a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, Dr. Cooper understands that the sacred calling on doctors is to care for both body and soul through his work.
As a missionary kid, Dr. Cooper learned this from his parents who demonstrated that there’s no separation between a Christian’s vocation and call from the Lord.
“I got to see the joy my parents had in serving Christ—their job and their faith were not two separate things,” he said. “Watching them helped me realize what I wanted to do with my life.”
God at Work After Disasters
To date, the medical team has treated more than 3,000 patients. The trust built through excellent care has opened Venezuelans to hearing the Gospel.
“It’s amazing that even through tragedy, the Gospel goes forth,” Dr. Cooper says. “You wouldn’t think it’s possible under such devastation and to the degree this country has suffered. You wouldn’t think it’s possible for people to still find God, and I think that’s part of why we’re here.”
Dr. Cooper has also been encouraged by the faith of his patients.
“I think there’s a profound spiritual understanding here in Venezuela. There have been so many patients, even on the way to the operating room, who are lifting up their hands to God,” says Dr. Cooper. “Though we can’t communicate with them, we both acknowledge that God is in control, and he cares for them.”
“There was a time when I would’ve seen this kind of work differently, thinking-I’m here for the medical work and somebody else can kind of take care of the spiritual work,” he explains.
Serving in the Congo has shifted Dr. Cooper’s perspective on his work even more. Now, he is looking for opportunities to boldly speak to patients about their faith and eternal realities in the face of death.
He’s grateful to be surrounded by like-minded doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and surgeons in places like Venezuela.
“A lot of people may have that call upon their lives to serve, but they just have never taken that step,” he says. “I think the big thing is to step out in faith. If you do feel that call, then do something about it.”
