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North Country Alliance Church in Plattsburgh, New York, has constructed a hospital in the West African country of Mali, specifically to help pregnant women and their babies. Bruce Overstreet, the Plattsburgh pastor, will take ten weeks off starting June 2. He plans to peddle his bicycle nearly 4,000 miles from California to Maine to raise money to expand the hospital.Before the hospital was built in Mali, most women would not seek medical assistance because of the distance they had to travel. According to Pastor Overstreet, the hospital has become very popular and has consistently saved lives in a country with a high mortality rate."They currently have about 37 or 38 beds, and sometimes they are delivering three babies in a room. They even had to deliver some babies by setting up makeshift beds on the floor ... because there just wasn't enough room," Overstreet explains. Overstreet says the high cost of medical care was another contributing factor for the pregnant mothers' poor health."The other issue, of course, is the cost of it for them was such that they sometimes had to weigh between whether they could feed their family for a significant portion of the year, or whether they would get medical care for themselves or their baby," Overstreet contends.He adds that many times, the women choose feeding their large families and often lose their own lives as well as their unborn children. According to Overstreet, the hospital has made a difference in bringing the mortality rate down by a tremendous percent, to the level that it is now "rivaling that of the United States." Pastor Overstreet has become a familiar face in Plattsburgh because he has already ridden his bike 1,000 miles locally in preparation for the big event. He plans to stop for preaching events when it works in his biking schedule.As in the days of Noah...
