The Sabado Family

Drs. Francisco and Diane, along with their children, have been living in the Dominican Republic since the fall of 1995 when they moved there to study medicine. As students, they became active with medical missions, working with the teams from all over the world that came to serve. As their studies came to an end, their hearts were softened by the Lord’s call to stay and serve the least of these with their lives. After praying, fasting and waiting on the Lord, they received a rhema through Isaiah 41:10 assuring them that He would take care of all their needs.
During a feeding outreach in the downtown district at night, they found a young 15-year-old girl pregnant, dying on a park bench. Moved by compassion to help her, they took her to several public hospitals where she was denied care. Fighting for her plight, they contacted the Public Health Department who quickly gave attention to the matter and the girl was able to die in a warm bed in a local clinic. Thus, the vision of providing dignified End of Life care was sparked in their hearts. Today their ministry has expanded to providing in home care for children and adults facing terminal illness. The dream is to see a hospice and palliative medicine specialty recognized by the medical community in Dominican Republic and a hospice home established for children and adults that would provide a place to continue living as they face death.
The ministry they have been called to is multifaceted. Medical benevolence is only part of their focus, as they carry out mobile medical clinics, give specialized attention to those who cannot afford medical care, and address problem areas such as malnutrition and prevalent diarrhetic disease. They have been involved in disaster relief logistics after natural disasters such as flooding and the Haiti earthquake.
They also have built schools, churches & established wells in rural communities in an effort to bring development in communities. Community Health Education and technical training are also a focus. They have brought in sewing clinics to teach women to mend and sew clothes from a pattern in order to make them more marketable on the job market.
They also work in the prisons, collaborating with different ministries to provide consistent health care for the inmates. Having worked in military as well as government prisons, they recognize the need for hospice care within the prison population. Although some medications are available for patient to treat infectious and viral disease, many of the supportive measures are not addressed.
The Lord continues to burden their hearts to serve in new countries such as Haiti, Guatemala, India and the Philippines. You are invited to come and be a part of what God is doing, but carefully consider if God touches your heart, you may find a new place to call home!