The Myers Foundation, Inc. For Indigent Health Care and Community Development
Tchula, Mississippi
Reverend Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.
Sylvia Holmes-Myers
Founders - 1990
Last Up-date 1-24-98
The Mission
The Myers foundation for Indigent Health Care and Community Development is a charitable Christian Foundation, established in 1990, to demonstrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ through wholistic ministry to the poor in rural America. Presently, efforts are concentrated in Mississippi.
We seek to accomplish this through programs which develop individuals, families and communities, empowering them to reach their full potential in Christ. As pioneers in Christian community development, our goals include the creation of a health ministry that meets the needs of the community and works with churches to educate people about the importance of preventive medicine and maintaining healthy life-styles.
The Founders
Dr. Myers and his wife, Sylvia founded the Family Health Center of Tchula and The Myers Foundation. Dr. Myers is an ordained Baptist Minister, commissioned medical missionary and accomplished jazz musician.
After completing his residency in Family Medicine at L.S.U. Medical Center, Charity Hospital in Bogalusa, Louisiana, Dr. Myers began his health ministry in the Mississippi Delta town of Belzoni, located in Humphreys County, in 1988. Humphreys County had the highest infant mortality rate for any county in the state. Mississippi had the highest infant mortality rate for any state at the time in the country. Tchula, a poor town located 22 miles from Belzoni in Holmes County, had no physician. Belzoni at least had a hospital and several physicians.
Despite opposition from public health officials who felt Tchula was too poor to support a doctor, Dr. Myers and Sylvia, moved by the need for health care, took a bold step of faith in Christ and established a health center in Tchula in 1989. Without any government grants or assistance, they went into debt renovating an abandoned restaurant into a modern health facility. The Myers Foundation was established to meet the needs of the health center and provide an avenue of support for other health ministries with a similar mission.
Dr. Myers says:
"Health care is becoming more difficult for people to afford and access in America. This is especially true in poor rural areas. God wants us to dedicate our lives to Him and serve the medical needs of others, touching lives for Christ."
Music For Medicine Delta Aid Jazz Concert Series
Jazz musician, minister and physician, Ron Myers, has dedicated his life to serving others in America's poorest region, the Mississippi Delta. Funds raised through Music For Medicine, Delta Aid Benefit Jazz Concerts supports the ministry of Dr. Myers through the Myers Foundation. The critically acclaimed original CD and cassette sound track, "Doctors Orders" (MOJA Records), featuring original compositions written and performed by Dr. Myers at Music For Medicine Concerts, are available for purchase as a donation to the Myers Foundation. CD's are $17.00 and cassettes are $12.00 (includes $2.00 for postage and handling).
Dr. Myers says:
"Jazz, African-American classical music, is an original American art form. It was created in America. What a privilege to play jazz as a means of raising funds to help provide health care for the disadvantaged in America!" Dr. Myers conducts motivational workshops and seminars in schools to inspire students to reach their highest potential and challenge them to serve others in their community while visting an area during Music For Medicine concerts.
Dr. Myers says:
"Whenever I'm in town to perform, I visit schools to motivate young people and encourage them to reach their greatest goals and dreams."
New York Times, 1990
"There aren't many doctors like Ronald Myers, a jazz-playing Baptist preaching family practitioner, whose dream has always been to practice medicine in the kind of place other doctors wouldn't even stop for a tank of gas."
Statement of Faith
The Lord Jesus Christ, God's son, redeems us through His death and resurrection and empowers us by the Holy Spirit. The Bible is God's Word and through it we are called to live out justice, reconciliation, serve the poor and redemption. The church nurtures God's people gathered in community to carry out God's Word.
Annual African-American Medical Missions Conference
The Myers Foundation host an annual medical missions conference. The Fifth Annual Tchula '98' African American Medical Missions Conference will be held July 22-26, 1998, in Yazoo City, Mississippi. The conference includes ministry site visits to members of the Mississippi Association of Christian Family Health Centers (MACFHC).
Members include the Voice of Calvary Family Health Center in Jackson, Mississippi, Cary Christian Family Health Center in Cary, Mississippi and the Myers Foundation Family Health Centers in Tchula, Mississippi, Belzoni, Mississippi and Greenville, Mississippi). The MACFHC is a committee of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA).
Support The Myers Foundation Today!
We need your support to keep the dream of health care alive in poor rural communities in the Mississippi Delta like Tchula.
Please e-mail to myersfound@aol.com with any comments or suggestions.
Thank You,
Dr. Myers & Sylvia Homles-Myers
Our mailing address is:
The Myers Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 637
Tchula, Mississippi 39169
Office (601) 235-4227 or Home (601) 247-3364 or FAX (601) 235-5386
Questions about The Myers Foundation, Inc. myersfound@aol.com