Dr. Sandra McCann achieves childhood goal of becoming a medical missionary; she and her doctor husband work in Africa

By LARRY GIERER

lgierer@ledger-enquirer.com

Her great adventure began with Albert Schweitzer.

The small elementary school that Dr. Sandra McCann attended in rural western Pennsylvania had an entire section of biographies, and McCann said she devoured them.

The one that fascinated her the most was the story of Schweitzer, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient whose greatest fame was as a medical missionary in Africa.

She doesn’t know why Schweitzer’s story had such an impact. “Maybe, it was because all of the other biographies were about dead people such as Davy Crockett and George Washington,” she said.

Still, it was in the fourth grade when McCann, now 67, decided that one day she would be a medical missionary.

McCann, an ordained priest since 2005, was back home in Columbus this week, visiting from Dodoma, Tanzania, the African city where the reverend does mission work for The Episcopal Church. While here, she was presented the first Sarah Stewart Award for her many years as an avid supporter of the Stewart Community Home, which provides housing to homeless adults with mental and physical challenges. Executive director Jeff Koehler said the former board chair is “still active.”

“It was great fun,” McCann said of the Stewart fundraiser. “I saw so many old friends.”

McCann, a teacher at Msalato Theological College, is also the school’s communications director and chaplain. McCann preaches in the country villages and administers baptisms. When she arrives at a village the people greet her with whistles and drums. She is also involved in the raising of funds for the college’s “Footsteps in Faith Endowment Fund,” managed by the Diocese of Atlanta. The donations are used to provide sponsorships for faculty and students.

Also involved in the missionary work is her husband Dr. Martin McCann, who teaches medical courses and has his own clinic. He is one of only 14 pathologists in the country. His primary interests are laboratory improvement and the use of fine needle aspiration for diagnosing infections and tumors.

“They are very good people and do great work,” said the Rev. Doug Hahn, rector at St. Thomas Episcopal in Columbus. “They have made a great connection between the people in our country and the people there. She has really raised awareness.”

St. Thomas is helping one village upgrade its water system. “Several parishioners have visited there,” Hahn said. He has also visited what he called a “very poor country.”

Sandra McCann was once the Chief of Radiology at Hughston Orthopedic Hospital. Martin McCann was once Chief of Pathology at St. Francis Hospital. They retired from those positions in 1999.

“We had successful careers here but we have never looked back,” she said.

That is despite living on a college campus in a small apartment with a tin roof and cement floor. It does have running water. “We are quite comfortable,” she said.

The majority of her seminary students live in village huts, many with no doors or windows. The people are poor but proud. “There is no shame,” she said. “You are always welcome into someone’s home there.”

Traveling the rough roads to rural villages is a hassle. She said a flat tire is almost a sure thing. It is unwise to travel to a village at night because there are no road lights and there are wild animals. She said when they do travel, their vehicle is always loaded with people needing to get to the city or return to a village.

“We are happy working with the poor,” McCann said. “This is what we were meant to do. We have a deep desire to help.”

But don’t, she insisted, make her out to being a saint.

“Really, it is just another job,” she said. “What I do is not that noble. It is not that hard. It is quite enjoyable. It is a great adventure.”

Her passion for aiding the needy comes from her mother.

“She always had a heart for others,” McCann said. “She would cut the neighbors’ hair. We did not have much but she would take the leftovers from our meals and give them to others.”

Her family lived on a farm with dogs and chickens and a cow but it was not a working farm. Her father worked in a factory. Her mother, a housewife, was a devout Christian. The family did not attend a particular church but attended a Sunday school class in a small Grange hall.

McCann and her husband came to Columbus when he was stationed at Fort Benning in 1977. They still have a home here and come back every year. Their daughter, Elizabeth, is a doctor in Boston. Another daughter, Catherine, lives with her husband and new baby in China.

She said neither of her children was surprised when the couple decided to make the change.

After retirement, she went to Virginia Theological Seminary and got a Masters of Divinity degree and he obtained a certificate in tropical medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. His degree work required mission trips to Haiti, Honduras, Dominican Republic and Kenya. After spending time in Kenya, he told his wife he did not think she would like Africa. She joined him for a short time in Peru. The couple have been in Tanzania since 2004.

“As long as we’re healthy, we’ll keep doing our work,” she said.