Bolivia Update From Leta

Leta updates us from Bolivia about the past couple of weeks as the new volunteer coordinator. Here is what she reported:

For nearly the first time since I arrived here, I have the house almost completely to myself. The volunteers are off adventuring, one group in the city at la cancha (the biggest open-air market in South America) and the other at Inca Racay (Incan ruins about a half hour away). I considered joining the group hiking to Inca Racay, but, since I’ve been a little sick, I decided to stay home and take it easy. (It’s just a cold, Mom, don’t worry!)

This last week has been crazy. A group of 5 volunteers went home (and we miss them!) and another 17 volunteers arrived. That would have been crazy enough in itself, but a lot of them had trouble with their trips — canceled flights, lost luggage, etc. But now we have everyone and their luggage here, so life should calm down a bit.

This last week we did checkups on the kids at the school in Anocaraire, the community down the road. There are 540 kids there, but we only managed to get through around 200 of them. They’re starting their winter break this week, but hopefully we can go back once their vacation is over. We treated a lot of kids for parasites and skin infections, and treated one intestinal infection caused by salmonella. The hardest cases to see were the malnourished kids, because there’s really not much we can do for them. I’m hoping to go back there later this summer/winter and do fluoride treatments and hygiene education.

This coming week we’re doing an English camp at a girls’ orphanage, the Casa de Alegria, as well as doing a couple of clinics at other orphanages. We’re also starting to send medical students to the AIDS orphanage in the city. There’s only one pediatrician in the city of Cochabamba that can prescribe ARVs, so HIV positive kids don’t receive a lot of medical attention. We’re hoping the med students can help the staff at the orphanage monitor the kids’ health. We’re also starting to send volunteers to help at the main government hospital in the city, feeding and doing physical therapy with malnourished kids, as well as working with kids in the burn unit. I’ve been working hard to set up these partnerships, so it’s exciting to see them panning out and the volunteers getting excited about them.

Well, that’s about all the exciting news. I think I’m going to go take a nap in the hammock — life in Bolivia does have its perks!

Container Clinic Featured in Local Media

Hospitals of Hope’s Clinic In A Can has recently been featured in local Wichita media including the tv news station KAKE and also the radio station KFDI. You can see our stories by clicking on the following:

KAKE TV Broadcast

KAKE TV Article

KFDI Article

Hospitals of Hope is sending a three-unit Clinic In A Can to Southern Sudan later this year. The Clinic In A Can is converted from 40-foot shipping containers. This container hospital is Hospitals of Hope’s tenth Clinic In A Can. The first Clinic in a Can was sent in 2005 to Jefferson parish in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Another six Clinic in a Cans have been sent to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

While the news that Southern Sudan is set to become the world’s newest country in early July brings hope for many refugees, the infrastructure there is still unstable including access to adequate health care.

“The Clinic in a Can is a practical solution to not only the immediate healthcare needs but also the long-term healthcare needs,” said Michael Wawrzewski, founder and CEO of Hospitals of Hope.

Hospitals of Hope is working with Covenant Presbyterian Church and the Healing Kadi Foundation in Omaha, Neb. to send a Clinic in a Can hospital to Kajo Keji, Southern Sudan. This portable hospital is constructed in three forty-foot shipping containers and will be set up in a “U” shape. This small hospital will contain exam rooms, a laboratory, a pharmacy, and surgical and radiology suites. It will contain a generator and water system, enabling it to be self-sufficient regardless of the surrounding infrastructure.

The Healing Kadi Foundation eventually plans to construct a larger hospital, but that will take several more years. In the meantime, the Clinic in a Can will provide much-needed medical care to the more than 450,000 refugees living in Kajo Keji.

The public and media are invited to tour the three-unit Clinic in a Can before it ships next week at Hospitals of Hope’s office at 3545 N. Santa Fe in Wichita, Kan. For questions or more information contact the Hospitals of Hope office at 316-262-0964.

Container Clinic Continues Bringing Relief in Haiti

Hospitals of Hope’s Clinic In A Can was mentioned as continuing to bring to relief work in Haiti.

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Center (JDC) recently reported on the relief efforts continuing to help Haiti recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake.

“Through Partners in Health, (known in Haiti as Zanmi Lasante), the international health organization founded by Paul Farmer, they have brought a “clinic in a can,” a fully equipped medical facility set up in a container to provide services to Fondwa and its environs.”

This container hospital is one of Hospitals of Hope’s ten Clinic In A Cans. The first Clinic In A Can was sent in 2005 to Jefferson parish in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. Another six Clinic In A Cans have been sent to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Hospitals of Hope will send a three-unit container clinic to Southern Sudan later this year.

To read the rest of the article from JDC click on the following link: http://jdcambassadorscircle.blogspot.com/2011/06/jdcs-efforts-in-haiti-highlighted-in.html

ELWA Makes Plans to Expand

Hospitals of Hope’s partner ministry in Liberia, ELWA (Eternal Love Winning Africa) is making progress on drawing plans to expand its hospital in Monrovia.

Kedrick White, the director of ELWA in Monrovia, Liberia, has been working with a volunteer architect to develop plans for the new hospital. The current goal is to build a new a new 80-90 bed hospital to replace the current 40-year-old 30 bed hospital.
The plans also include an entry way area with seven wings coming off of it. The different wings house all the essential care facilities like an emergency room, surgical rooms, an outpatient clinic, children’s ward, male and female wards, a dental clinic, pharmacy, lab, counseling services, a chapel, a cafeteria, and administrative offices.

ELWA hopes to complete this project with in the next five years. However, they may be able to accomplish it sooner because Samaritan’s Purse has recently expressed interest helping with the project.

The current ELWA Hospital was built in 1965 and is too small and out-of-date to meet the needs of the community. With only 1 doctor for every 28,000 people in Liberia, ELWA is swamped with patients, and their limited resources are stretched thin.

Hospitals of Hope has sent volunteers to serve at ELWA the past four years. Also in early 2011, Hospitals of Hope partnered with the Brother's Brother Foundation to send necessary equipment to the hospital, including a much needed x-ray machine.HOH staff member, Daniel White will be traveling to Liberia next week in order to install the donated equipment.

Hospitals of Hope is committed to helping bring change in Liberia, through sending essential equipment, training hospital staff, and providing patient care.

Inivitation to a Hospitals of Hope Reception

Hospitals of Hope invites you to a going away and a welcoming reception for Leta Reppert and Tricia Erickson on Friday, June 3 from 12-2 p.m. at the Hospitals of Hope office in Wichita.

Leta is moving to Bolivia to be the Volunteer Coordinator and we would like to send her off with well wishes. We will also be welcoming our new Communication and Local Volunteer Coordinator Tricia Erickson.

Feel free to come and go as you please. Light refreshments will be provided.

We will also have our latest three unit self-contained hospital, which will be sent to Sudan, on site for you to walk through.


Reception information

* Date - Friday, June 3
* Time - 2-4 p.m.
* Location - Hospitals of Hope office - 3445 N. Santa Fe Wichita, KS 67219
* Come and go
* Light refreshments
* Say goodbye to Leta
* Meet Tricia, the new Communications and Local Volunteer Coordinator
* See our latest container hospital

For more information contact Hospitals of Hope at 316-262-0964 or at info@hospitalsofhope.org

New Addition to Hospitals of Hope

My name is Tricia Erickson and I am the newest addition to the Hospitals of Hope staff. As many of you know, Leta is leaving the Wichita office and moving to Bolivia to be the Volunteer Coordinator. While we are sad to see her go, we are excited for the opportunities she will have in Bolivia.

I thought I would take just a few moments to introduce myself and how I got to Hospitals of Hope. I am a Kansas native born and raised in Newton – just twenty minutes away from Hospitals of Hope.

I graduated from Southwest Baptist University in December 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in communications. In January I got married and moved back to Kansas. I never expected to move back to Kansas. In fact, it was the last thing I wanted to do. But God, with his humor, made it very clear I was supposed to be in Wichita. And as it turns out, he knew what he was doing because he gave me the incredible opportunity to work with Hospitals of Hope.

I am so excited to join the Hospitals of Hope staff. When I graduated, I desperately wanted to work for an organization I believed in and could share their passion for change. Hospitals of Hope is just that organization. I am thrilled to be able to use my skills to help Hospitals of Hope show Christ’s love by healing bodies and souls.

Making Plans

I’m a planner. I plan my meals, I plan the clothes I’ll wear, and, most of all, I plan my life.

The first two of those things generally turn out the way I plan.

One thing that I didn’t plan was moving back to Bolivia.

Last fall, I spent three months in Bolivia as the interim volunteer coordinator. It was heartbreaking to leave in November, knowing that I might never return. I said my goodbyes, packed my bags, and stocked up on Alpaca products.

A little over a week ago, I was asked to return, for longer this time. After taking some time to think, pray, and seek advice, I said yes.

The great thing, for me, about this job is that it lets me do a lot of what I do best – plan. I get to plan volunteer activities at the hospital, plan outreaches into the community, and plan just about every other aspect of every activity that the volunteers and I will be doing. I’ve already started to plan activities for when I arrive next month. I’m hoping we can do an English camp at a home for abused girls, invite the neighborhood kids to the hospital for a week of VBS, and help out at an orphanage for kids with HIV.

The not-so-great thing about this job is that, especially in Bolivia, things never turn out according to plan. The power goes out, the bus drivers go on strike, and the grocery store randomly runs out of things. (How am I supposed to make my carefully-planned Italian meal when the grocery store has no basil for a month?!?)

So I will also plan on some things that aren’t as subject to the whims of the power company, the labor unions, and whatever supply chain governs who gets basil and who doesn’t. I will plan to buy fresh pineapple off the street corner and joke with the street vendors. I will plan to pray with the volunteers and get to know their stories. I will plan to do all I can to let those around me know about the incredible love – and plans – that God has for us.

A lot of my plans probably won’t work. But His will. And they’re better than mine, anyway.