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In the late 1950’s, when Nepal opened its doors to the world Stanley and
Raylene Sturges and their children were the first Seventh-day Adventist
medical missionaries to Nepal. 
They asked the King where
they could be used the most and they were sent to the village of Banepa, 26
kilometers east of Kathmandu. With nowhere to live and no church support
structure in place, they accepted the offer of a local elder to live in his
home. They lived with this Nepali family for almost two years. (The man’s
grandson would later be the Assistant Mayor of Banepa and a supporter of the
hospital).
The Sturges began with
just a small one-room clinic, caring for the immediate and urgent medical
needs of the community. Within two years, they expanded into a 20-bed hospital
in 1960. At that time Scheer Memorial Hospital was the only hospital serving
the one-half million people of Kavre District. Mr. Clifford C. Scheer, as a
memorial to his parents Charles J. and Carolyn Scheer, donated most of the
money needed to build the hospital. Funding for equipment, room furnishings,
and medical supply necessities came from CARE and the Seventh-day Adventist
Church.
Since those modest early
years, and with the continued volunteer and financial assistance of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church, Scheer Memorial Hospital has evolved into a
150-bed hospital that provides a full range of outpatient and inpatient
services to a service area which now includes Kathmandu.
From those early days of
the Sturgess, Scheer continues to the home of missionaries with a heart of
service. In 1960 the Sturgess were the lone missionary family at Scheer. Today
we have eight long-term missionary families representing six countries.
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