About Clínica Evangélica Morava

On June 16th, 1946, the Reverend Werner Marx founded the Clínica Evangélica Morava. On that date, he planted the corner post of a one room clinic on a pine covered hill just east of the Patuca River village of Paptalaya.

While Cleve Fischel, a nurse from North Carolina, was the first medical missionary to staff the facility, Dr. Sam Marx, his wife Grace, and their children spent more than 30 years ministering in Christ´s name to the predominantly Mískito population of eastern Honduras. Under Dr. Sam´s direction, the one room clinic grew into a regional referral center. Today it is one of only two hospitals in a region traditionally ignored by the national government.

With the years, the hospital has grown to include a wide range of both curative and preventive medical services. A staff of 37 includes three Mískito physicians, two registered nurses, fourteen practical nurses, two lab techs, and administrative, housekeeping and laundry personnel. The Preventive Health Program teaches midwives, holds weekly well baby clinics, oversees pregnancy monitoring, and works with the Ministry of Health to diagnose and treat malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS cases. Surgical cases are seen nearly every day and we typically have between 10 and 15 inpatients at any one time.