Our Story

Several years ago, a Kenyan man told us the story of his sister, who had come home to have her first baby, as is customary in Kenya. While home, she began running a fever, and the family decided to take her to the nearest hospital – 10 miles away. Taking their only method of transportation, the family took turns pushing and pulling their ailing relative in a wheelbarrow. Somewhere between their village and the hospital, she died.

Over the years, we have heard many such stories and witnessed them first-hand. Too many times, people suffer and die needlessly without receiving medical treatment.

Many people and organizations have asked for assistance to build a hospital for their community in developing countries. While we would like to help everyone, we simply cannot reproduce ourselves on that level. The cost, time, and government limitations make it impractical and unobtainable. However, we recognize that medical needs exist and something must be done to bring hope to the communities with no health facilities for hours or even days away.

As a result, in 2002, Clinic In A Can was conceived as an innovative division of Hospitals of Hope. We send entire equipped clinics through our Clinic In A Can program in which we retrofit 40-foot shipping containers into fully functioning health clinics. We have found converting containers to clinics to be an effective and efficient way to bring health care to remote communities.