Sister Blanche A Healer Par Excellence
By Sr. Ruth Manianchira MMS, SAR NEWS
PUNE, Maharashtra (SAR NEWS) -- Can you bring a retarded child to near-normalcy? A Catholic nun with a Midas touch, Sister Blanche Fernandes of the Pune Holistic Health Centre, has proved you can.
Hema, who had a child after ten long years of her marriage, was shattered when she found her only child was mentally retarded. She stood against the wall, as she could not conceive a second time. But she found solace in Medical Mission Sister, Dr. Blanche, after admitting her to the Pune Holistic Health Centre. Her three-year-old child is now showing signs of steady recovery after regular acupuncture treatment at the centre.
Says Hema: "I have full hope in the Lord and in the skills of Dr. Blanche. My child will be alright soon. Why, she is improving fast."
It is unbelievable that the 78-year-old nun, Dr. Blanche, and her team are at their desk every morning at the centre. The number of patients is on the increase daily.
Sister Blanche and her team specialise in treating children with congenital diseases and abnormalities like the Downs Syndrome, deafness and cerebral palsy, aside from taking care of children with other ailments. "Treating each of these children means a journey into the brokenness experienced by their parents. The whole family is healed and a new way of relating with one another and God becomes possible. The marked change in these children, especially those with Downs Syndrome, is a lovely surprise.
"After the treatment, their faces become normal in a week, the tongue is loosened making speech possible, and a few sessions later, they report a better performance in school, with an increased IQ," said the nun.
Sister Blanche is the first professionally qualified pathologist of the Medical Mission Sisters and the first Indian MMS doctor. Mother Anna Dengel, who founded the MMS congregation in the 1930s, always maintained, "The poor deserve our very best," Dr. Blanche said.
Sister Blanche post-graduated from a distinguished institution in the US as a pathologist and was assigned to work in the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) New Delhi to enhance its diagnostic capabilities. This she achieved by increasing and updating its technical competence and her department came to be known among the medicos of Delhi for its excellence as a diagnostic facility. Soon the School of Medical Technology, a first of its kind in India, was started and gave excellent professional training to the students.
Dr. Blanche has written a textbook on this course, which is being used by many other schools of medical technology. But her influence and ministry went beyond the Department of Pathology. She was appointed the first Indian medical director of HFH when Dr. (Sr. Alma) Lalinsky relinquished the office in 1966.
Sister Blanche's mission was far from over when she retired from the Holy Family Hospital run by the MMS. She came to Pune to pursue a quiet but intensively vibrant engagement with a "search for a more humane and genuine healing", to be built on the massive body of information, experiences and insights gained in the years of service as a dedicated doctor in Delhi and Bihar.
Sister Blanche and her team use acupuncture, homeopathy, imagery and various other alternatives to help a sick person to come in contact with one's own inner being, "by cleansing the energy channels and systems and removing blockages."
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_____ _/ ____\____ Frederick Noronha * Freelance Journalist * Goa \ __\/ \ India T +91.832.2409490 M +919822 122436 | | | | \ http://fn.swiki.net http://goabooks.swiki.net |__| |___| / http://www.bytesforall.net http://www.bytesforall.org \/
