Guest Post: Meet the CHRISTUS Team in Haiti, Pt. 1

As Dr. Royer is in Haiti with the CHRISTUS team, updates on the team’s work there will be posted by the CHRISTUS Communications team in Dallas.

Each day this week, we will post photos and biographies of members of the CHRISTUS team in Haiti, as well as a prayer to offer on their behalf.

Thomas Royer, MD, is president and CEO of CHRISTUS Health. He leads day-to-day operations for CHRISTUS Health, and has over 41 years of experience in the medical field. Dr. Royer is board-certified in surgery, and has practiced, at various times, full- or part-time general surgery, emergency medicine (including serving as a Life-Flight physician), hyperbaric medicine, toxicology, and primary care. Dr. Royer founded the Geisinger Medical Center and Clinic’s Department of Emergency Medicine, and served in the Navy, spending two years as Chief of Surgery at Beaufort Naval Hospital. Dr. Royer and his wife Jane enjoy spending time with their family, including their 10 grandchildren.

Leopoldo Rivera Galvan, MD, is a General Anesthesiologist, and as served as a member of the Anesthesiology staff at CHRISTUS Muguerza Del Parque Hospital in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico since 1977. He is a member of the Heart Transplant team, and provides general surgery, gynecology and pediatrics services. He is also the Professor in Residence of Anesthesiology for the Universidad de Monterrey. Dr. Galvan is married with two children and four grandchildren, and is a cyclist and runs 50 km marathons.

Sister Rochelle Perrier, MSC, is a Marianite of Holy Cross. She currently serves as a chaplain at CHRISTUS St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and has been employed there for the past 6 months. Previously, she ministered for seven years at CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria, Louisiana. Sr. Rochelle is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, and has been a Sister for 45 years. Prior to hospital ministry, she taught school for 15 years, ministered in church parishes for 10 years, and served in various positions within her religious community. Sr. Rochelle has been on a one- week mission trip to Mexico, spent 3 months in India, and 6 months in Lima, Peru, studying Spanish and ministering to the people there.

Irene S. Trzupek, RN, NP-ED, has been a Registered Nurse for 35 years and an Advanced Practice Nurse for 25 years. She has primarily worked in Emergency Departments, and spent 13 years as a Nurse Practitioner in one of Chicago's busiest trauma centers prior to moving to Beaumont, Texas. Irene moved to Beaumont about seven years ago after marrying her husband, Bart Owens, who is originally from Southeast Texas. Irene has two children, Melissa, age 30, who is finishing her graduate degree in speech pathology at Lamar University, and Jonathan, age 22, who is starting the Doctor of Pharmacy program at Purdue University. Irene currently works full-time in the CHRISTUS Hospital – St. Elizabeth Wound Care and Hyperbarics Center and part-time in the CHRISTUS Hospital – St. Elizabeth Emergency Department. She is thankful for the opportunity to be a part of this mission.

Please join the CHRISTUS family in praying for our team in Haiti and their work there, as well as all those affected by the earthquake:

Our CHRISTUS Haiti Relief Team has been in Haiti for just two days. Already what all of us have seen on television and read in news accounts has become a tangible reality for our relief team. They are now confronted with the hurting and desperate people, with all of the wounds, pain, and fears that have continued from the earthquake devastation. The CHRISTUS legacy is to respond to the call of the suffering, which is just what the relief team has done. Let us commit ourselves to fervent prayer on behalf of the people of Haiti and our CHRISTUS Relief Team.

“To this end, we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and powerfully bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith” (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

God of compassion we pray for the people of Haiti: for those who have died, for those struggling to survive each day, for the children left orphaned, the elderly left vulnerable, the men and women left without resources. We especially pray for our CHRISTUS relief team. Guide them in each moment as they meet the intensity of needs. Give them wisdom, courage, and strength as they spend their waking hours, providing medical care, assistance and compassionate presence.

On this day we lift up in prayer Dr. Royer and Dr. Rivera. Bless their hands and their minds as they encounter each patient. We pray for Sr. Rochelle, may her presence be living encouragement to each person she meets. We pray for Irene Trzupek and ask for your blessing on her nurse practitioner skills and her ability to respond to the emergencies she will encounter this day.

May all of the members of the team experience your strength when they are weary, your courage when they are overwhelmed, and may each of them extend Your healing ministry. For this we pray. Amen.