South Baldwin County and South America are worlds apart, as witnessed by South Baldwin's glittering condos and the mud huts with dirt floors that are home for most of the Amerindians of Guiana, a country in northern South America.

Yet, the distance isn't so far - the worlds not so different - that a 38-year-old woman from a region bounded by the Amazon River couldn't get her medical needs met here, beside the blue-green waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Actually, Vime Ramnarace, mother of three, isn't the first person Summerdale Church of Christ has brought to this country in an effort to get medical attention that isn't available at home, home being a country that was known as British Guiana until 1966.

Jerry Davidson, now a full-time missionary to the Amerindians, the native people of Guiana, said Summerdale Church of Christ has been doing mission work among the Amerindians since 1989.

He actually met Vime Ramnarace in 1998 at St. Cuthbert's Mission in Guiana. Her son, then 7, had a hand that Davidson describes as being "all grown together in one mass." The church brought him over here to get medical attention that wasn't available in Guiana.

"This is about the sixth person we've brought over here," said Davidson last week of Vime Ramnarace. His comments were made during a telephone interview from Tennessee where he was holding revival services.

He also mentioned a 12-year-old girl from Guiana the church brought over at the end of last year. The girl was suffering from a massive brain tumor and was given only one to six months to live. She has been receiving chemotherapy at UAB's Children's Hospital in Birmingham and, according to Davidson, is doing remarkably well now. The girl has been staying at Hope Lodge in Birmingham, one of the American Cancer Society's free, temporary housing facilities for cancer patients.

Doctors at Children's Hospital are treating the girl's case as research and not charging for the medical care, Davidson said.

That case is similar to Vime Ramnarace's in some regards. She began having headaches and went to the doctor for an X-ray. Her condition was one that required surgery, surgery that couldn't be done in Guiana.

Vime Ramnarace spoke with Davidson whom she has known for years through the mission work done in Guiana by Summerdale Church of Christ. Davidson got the X-rays and sent them to Dr. Todd Sanford at Summerdale Family Medicine. Sanford, in turn, passed them on to Dr. Carl Nechtman, a ear, nose and throat specialist in South Baldwin.

Nechtman notified Davidson that highly specialized surgery could fix the medical problem; that the church could make plans to bring Vime Ramnarace to the states. They did, paying for the flight, cost of the visa and other expenses.

She came and received surgery at South Baldwin Regional Medical Center as a result of the South Baldwin physicians - Nechtman, Sanford and Dr. John Desverreaux III, anesthesiologist - donating their expertise, time and resources.

"The surgery went very well; she was very appreciative," said Dr. Nechtman of Vime Ramnarace, who was suffering from chronic ear disease and loss of hearing. He said his patient seems to be doing well and handled the stress of the surgery and being in a different culture equally well.

Nechtman is among a number of South Baldwin physicians and SBRMC staff, including Sanford, who have done medical missionary work.

Nechtman said people perceive the physician's role in a case like Vime Ramnarace's to that of a lead singer in a band, but he feels the credit should go to the church that brought her here and the people who have taken care of her in the postoperative phase. They deserve as much credit and praise as anybody, he said.

Vime Ramnarace is scheduled to return to Guiana on Oct. 9, when another mission group from Summerdale Church of Christ goes back to South America. While here, Vime Ramnarace has been staying with Davidson and his wife, Frances, and with other church members. She has also traveled and visited other churches.

Davidson describes the Amerindians as "very quiet, peaceable, soft-spoken, and living a simple life." Most villages have mud-block huts with thatch roofs and dirt floors. The people sleep in hammocks. They have no electricity or running water.

"A hoe is their most sophisticated piece of equipment," said Davidson, who is quick to point out the Amerindians are not ignorant people.

The literacy rate is 95 percent and all nine tribes speak English, he said, a fact that stems from the country being a former British colony. And they are "very receptive" to the message the Summerdale Church of Christ is trying to bring, Davidson said.

Hugh Wyatt of Silverhill, a member of the Summerdale church, said he appreciates the willingness of local physicians to help their fellow man. He calls it a "true life experience of Christianity at work.

"It's a wonderful feeling. We've had several young people that we've brought back here that couldn't get surgery over there."

"The attitude seems to be that our brethren here want to help, whether in Guiana or here," said the Rev. Tracy Moore, pulpit minister at Summerdale Church of Christ.

"We're blessed, and in Guiana they don't have the technology that's available to us. Our people feel blessed and want to share."