PANAMA CITY, Panama — Cleveland Cooper, a Panamanian dentist and his wife, Matilde, a retired nurse, are the heart and soul of a vast labor of love.
“We are motivated by the love of Christ,” Cooper asserts, but to give emphasis to the hard work involved in taking medical care to the masses, he continues, “but the labor is real.”
Cleveland Cooper speaks to a patient’s mother before he begins treatment.
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Labor is not something the Coopers have avoided. In addition to his dental practice, Cooper served as president of the Panamanian Baptist Convention, president of the Panamanian Dental Society and president of the centennial society for the Panamanian Baptist Convention — an organization that prepared for and led in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the convention in 1992.
Despite their involvement in Baptist life (Cooper is a third generation Baptist), they came to the conclusion that they could better serve Christ by delivering, in the name of Jesus, medical care to those who would otherwise go without. So they started a non-profit foundation called Fundacion Cristiana Medico Social, now in its 11th year.
Recently Virginia Baptists Joe Teefey and his wife, retired nurse practitioner Judy Collins, had the opportunity to spend a week with the Coopers and their medical team in Panama.
“Dr. Cooper is not only a dentist, but also an educator and would make a wonderful preacher,” Teefey affirms. “And Mrs. Cooper brings this whole thing together. She manages all the details so Dr. Cooper can be Dr. Cooper. He not only does the dentistry but teaches every person who gets in his chair a lot about dental hygiene. They are a well oiled machine.” Collins adds, “They share the gospel with the healing touch.”
The Coopers initially operated the FCMS clinic out of their home, but when the PBC offered to provide a house, they eagerly accepted. And, later, when though a series of “coincidences” the Living Water Foundation in the U.S. had a bus equipped as a medical clinic to give them, they praised God and took it. On weekends and whenever his schedule permits, the Coopers leave a thriving dental practice and take medical care and the gospel on the road.
On site, often a church or school, the Coopers are met by a bevy of medial volunteers who donate more than their time. Collins recalls, “The Coopers’ dynamism as a couple has impacted the volunteers so that they give money each time they come! In this way they help the work continue. This was true of medical students as well.”
When patients visit, they are ushered into an area where vital signs and blood pressure are taken. They are then seen by medical students for further evaluation then to a volunteer physician who makes a diagnosis and writes a prescription.
Or in the case of dental needs, the patients are ushered three at a time into the mobile dental unit where one is seen by Cooper and two are prepared by dental student volunteers to be seen.
The woman who oversees the pharmacy, whose father from the States worked in the Canal Zone, is a former librarian named America. She possesses a librarian’s compulsive drive to label, file and systematize the medicines. Most of the drugs dispensed have been donated because the foundation has little budget to spend on pharmaceuticals. While patients are waiting for prescriptions to be filled, they are given tracts and told of the Great Physician, Jesus Christ.
Not all volunteers have medical training. While adults are waiting to be treated, other Good Samaritans gather the children to play games and to keep them entertained with Bible stories.
Unexpected challenges are taken in stride by the Coopers and their associates. Collins recalls that one afternoon, “The generator went out twice, once while he was extracting a tooth. In a single motion he swiveled his chair and kicked the door open to let in the sunlight. Meanwhile his dental assistant reached for a flashlight and focused the beam on the tooth to be removed and without missing a beat the procedure continued.”
While the dental skills of Cooper are essential, it is his wife who serves as the nerve center of the operation. In her latter 60s, Matilde is as energetic as she is personable. She cannot recall a time when she did not believe that Jesus is God’s Son, the Savior, and she is eager to share her faith in deed as well as word. Matthew 25:40 serves as the theme for FCMS and is written on the side of its mobile unit.
Taking the mobile unit into the rural areas has reached thousands of persons during the decade of their ministry. For that, Matilde is overjoyed. Still, much of what she has seen has surprised even her. The poverty, ignorance and disease continue to bother her.
Among her many accomplishments is one she didn’t seek. Responding to an invitation to serve as a nurse on set of an American movie company, her smile and buoyant personality soon captured the attention of the director. He cast her on the spot in the role of a Panamanian maid to the starring family.
“If you blink, you will miss me,” she laughs. Then, turning film critic, she confides, “It’s not a very good movie.” Pierce Brosnan and Jamie Lee Curtis, who shared the silver screen with Matilde might have a different opinion.
On the shirts of the FCMS staff is written, “We live to serve.” Virginia Baptists who have medical training and who can identify with that sentiment may be needed to join their skills for a time with those of the Coopers and their volunteers. During the five-year partnership with the Panamanian Baptist Convention, several teams will be needed.
In the words of Cleveland Cooper, “You have to reach out beyond the walls of the church and step out beyond your comfort zones. The harvest is large and the laborers are few.”