CITY FOCUS:A healer for the soul

South Coast Medical Center staff barely had time to say hello to their new chaplain when they were bidding him hasta la vista.

The Rev. Bucky Weeks, who joined the staff on Sept. 15, left on Wednesday for a two-week trip to lead a medical team to care for Habit for Humanity volunteers in India. The 20-member team will provide emergency medical care to the 4,000 volunteers who are building 100 homes in a village near Lonavala from today to Nov. 5.

Weeks will be working alongside former President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, who founded the building projects.

“I do a trip every two years in conjunction with international Habitat projects,” Weeks said. “The last one was to Mexico.”

Medical care can range from treatment for blisters — which can be serious in tropical climates — to injuries from falls.

“In Mexico, we had two heart attacks and a couple of falls where heads were split open.” Weeks said.

Weeks has been involved in Habitat projects for decades.

He makes trips every two years, limiting them to international projects.

The trip to India was one of two stipulations Weeks set before accepting the position as Director of Chaplain Services and Community Relations at the medical center in South Laguna.

“I told them I had to finish up the project in India,” Weeks said. “This is my second trip to the site. I was there in February.”

The second stipulation was a hospital commitment to do a project on Roatan, an island off the Honduran coast.

Center physicians, employees and volunteers are invited to make the trip, scheduled for June 2007.

Travel is nothing new for Weeks.

He was Director of International Medical Missions for Adventist Health Systems on the east coast when he interviewed for the position at the medical center, which is owned and operated by Adventist.

“I was traveling constantly,” Weeks said.

He visited on-going projects in Russia, Peru and Honduras, sponsored by Adventist.

Weeks replaced Ron Hyrchuk in the chaplains’ office. Hyrchuk transferred with former center CEO Gary Irish to another Adventist hospital in the wake of the system’s decision in July 2005 to stay in Laguna.

The 60-year-old Weeks earned his masters of divinity degree from Andrews University Theological School.

He is 60, divorced, and the parent of two grown children: daughter, Sunshine, and son, Adam. His daughter was married on Saturday in Palm Springs, just a few days before he departed for India.

Weeks’ team will spend 10 days in India, caring for Habitat volunteer builders who work in conjunction with low-income families now living in dilapidated and temporary housing constructed of mud, grass, leaves, reeds and bamboo. Nearly a quarter of India’s population of 1.1 billion live on less than one U.S. dollar per day.

The homes under construction will range from 240 to 360 square feet of climate-appropriate and sustainable materials.

Habitat for Humanity began sponsoring work projects in India in 1983 and has built 12,000 homes there, making it one of the organizations’ biggest programs.

As an ecumenical Christian ministry, volunteers are welcomed. For more information, visit www.habitat.org/jcwr/2006/.

Donations of time and money also will be welcome. For more information, call the South Coast Medical Center Chaplain’s Office at (949) 499-7133.