Utah Pediatrician Saves Lives in Brazil, Africa

Ryan Wilcox is a loving father and caring pediatrician.  He helps to run a Level II Newborn Intensive Care Unit in American Fork, Utah, and his wife, Gretchen, is a nurse who specializes in labor and delivery.   Dr. Wilcox is also a private-practice pediatrician.  Together, Wilcox and his wife are humanitarian aid missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  They specialize in teaching neonatal resuscitation to doctors and nurses in Brazil and Africa.

They had finished delivering a training course in Brazil, when they had a special experience: “I had a doctor come up to me at the end of the week crying and basically just told me, ‘Last week we watched a baby die at our clinic because we didn’t have the proper equipment, and now thanks to the church, I’m never going to have to sit there and watch another baby die,’” Wilcox said. [1]

The Wilcox’ leave their two daughters at home during their two-week service abroad.  They go out three times each year.  Their daughters, however, now have a better understanding of the service their parents render, since Dr. Wilcox has been featured in one of the Church’s “I’m a Mormon” ad spots shown in 9 U.S. cities in 2010.   

“Wilcox said one of his biggest hopes is that his portion of the ad campaign clears the air about the service the church provides.   ‘It doesn’t matter what nationality you are, what religion you are,’ Wilcox said. ‘Doing Christlike service is regardless of any nationality, financial status or anything like that, and Mormons are truly Christians who serve and help those around them.’”