Thanks for Supporting Quality Medical Care in Burundi, Africa!

This update comes from one of our partners with the Friends of Kibimba Hospital, with whom we partnered to send a container of medical supplies to Burundi, Africa in November.

On Monday, January 24 the word came that the container should be in Burundi during that week. So that created a lot of quick planning, but we got it worked out and got a great travel schedule and left on Saturday morning. We arrived Sunday pm in Bujumbura. We stayed in Bujumbura Sunday night and were on our way Monday am after a breakfast visit with Modeste.

The Doctor was going to come up and get the necessary papers on Monday, so the container could be opened, but he didn’t get them until Tuesday. Then three people from Customs came, and the doors were opened. David’s worries that the lack of padlock would leave the container open to be pilfered were unfounded, and it looked exactly like it had when the doors were shut. One more answer to prayer.

The storeroom built for the last container is now being used as a pharmacy stock room. They need that because the government is now sending inspectors every three months to check on their inventory.

I’ll jump ahead and tell you that the baby warmers and incubators were put into use almost as soon as they were unpacked. Marcelina said that the inspectors had been giving them a bad time because they had no baby warmers in the delivery rooms, so that was very timely. There were triplets born the day we arrived. All in good shape, but being kept in an incubator. The x-ray was put into use quickly as well. There is a trained technician (He has 4 years of training in Germany) in Gitega and he came over and showed some how to use it. A pastor from Mutaho with a broken arm was the first patient! Then on Saturday he was there with a class of several students from Gitega that he was teaching how to use it. They will use the x-ray room to store it, I think.

I believe all the B.P. machines were in use by the time we left. Took a while finding all the connections etc. The IV poles were all in use, I’m sure.

The new buildings are so nice. There are three… a 54 bed maternity with 3 nice sized delivery rooms and an operating room.

The Pediatric building has 64 beds, and there is a new building with business offices and 3 doctors offices, and a conference room. There is a restaurant and a covered place for patients caregivers to eat, with tiled tables. They have two plastic water tanks, and are not using the brick tank anymore because it leaks so badly.

Thanks for helping to improve the quality of medical care in Burundi!

Healing in Haiti

The following reflection comes from Rachel Skarbonkiewicz, one of our volunteers who just came back from Haiti:

We had an amazing trip!!! It was extremely rewarding and extremely frustrating all at the same time. Virtually every child we saw had worms – something easily treated and prevented, but without any change in their water it will continue to come back.

On our first mobile clinic day, we had just left Mission of Hope when we came upon a motorcycle accident that had just occurred. How lucky for that man that up came a truck full of nurses and physicians, with plenty of supplies in tow! We hopped out, stabilized the patient, got access and gave fluids and pain meds and then faced the frustration of trying to find an ambulance and someone to stay with the patient and hope he was accepted to the closest hospital.

After more than half an hour we had an ambulance and one MD to ride with the patient, but, unfortunately, they were turned away from the first hospital and had to continue to a second in Port au Prince. Things like that which would, of course, never happen in the States were so frustrating and sad to see. It was almost two hours after the accident before the patient made it to the hospital. His ear was almost all the way ripped off, and he had several deep facial and scalp lacerations, as well as possible fractures. We could only imagine what it would have been like for him had we not pulled up.

My husband Rick worked with the construction crews all week and very much enjoyed watching a community be born. We were both amazed at how well-run everything was and how wonderful our translators were, even teaching us a significant amount of Creole. At the same time there were so many areas that seem so simple to fix but, because of lack of people and time, they just get thrown to the side. The MOH staff were wonderful! We were very well taken care of and very safe and appreciated. I very much look forward to doing this again next year.

Container Clinics Provide Treatment in Haiti

After Daniel’s exploratory trip to Haiti at the end of January, we have a medical team working there, treating patients on the Mission of Hope compound.

During his trip, Daniel was able to see all three of the Clinics in a Can that we sent this past year. The clinic for Mission of Hope had just arrived on site, after being delayed in customs, so he was able to help get it set up.

He also visited the two Clinics in a Can that we sent earlier this year, with help from many in the Wichita community, such as Wesley Medical Center, Hutton Construction, and many others. One of them is in Leogane and sees approximately 60 patients per day. The other, in a smaller town called Fondwa, is currently open 1 day a week, when a medical team comes, and sees about 75 patients every Friday.

Our current volunteer team is working on the Mission of Hope compound and consists of 4 medical professionals and 2 assistants. They arrived last Saturday and will be coming home this Saturday. Please pray for a successful, safe trip for them.

If you’re interested in joining our next volunteer team to Haiti this summer, call the Hospitals of Hope office at 316.262.0964 or email daniel@hospitalsofhope.org. If you’d like to help construct Clinics in a Can, call us or email info@hospitalsofhope.org.