June 13, 2007

Dear Friends,

Greetings and rejoicing from Nkhoma. We have just said goodbye to another fantastic mission team and have sent them off with many thanks. Paint and wood scraps were flying, the ceiling was off, wires were stringing, doors were measured, mission statements were translated, pictures were painted, equipment was hung, and then, wonderfully, a new children’s clinic appeared!

The idea behind its creation was that it would enable us to see acutely ill children more quickly and give us access to equipment specific for children. The floor wasn’t even dry from cleaning before the first patient, a 10-year-old girl with hepatitis, rolled in. And marvelously, the system worked. Although she was quite ill, she was not sick enough to be picked out by the screening staff as an “emergency” and would previously have had to wait several hours in the general clinic waiting area before being admitted, started on IV fluids and other medicines, and sent to her bed. It might even have been several days before she was seen by me.

Other joys for which we give thanks to you are an accessible and functioning oto-opthalmoscope, correctly sized blood-pressure cuffs for children, a pediatric resuscitation kit with equipment, drugs and flowcharts, a new lead apron enabling us to take x-rays of children and unconscious patients while protecting the staff, lots of difficult to obtain high quality medicines, more than a thousand baby caps, and even some toys! We now have enough inhalation treatments for all of our sick asthma patients and don’t have to save the medications for the very sickest. We have high quality burn dressings for severely burned patients (this is often an epileptic who has fallen into a fire at home and been unable to get up). We have nasal cannulas for oxygen for children, and we have more oxygen to run through those cannulas. We can continue the feeding program for malnourished inpatients, and we are again able to buy basic medicines for the hospital and surrounding health clinics thanks to generous financial gifts sent by many of you.

The baby caps you sent tell their own story. Ladies of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina: you have elevated the infant cap to an art form! Though they may seem like an extra, these caps can be lifesaving. This week a premature twin was rushed into the maternity ward almost without respirations. Her mother was on the surgical ward after a Cesarean section, trying to recuperate while providing “kangaroo care” to her twins. It was an especially cold day, and this infant became severely hypothermic. After being warmed up she became much stronger and is back with her mom. A review of our recent sick newborns showed that ten percent of them are significantly hypothermic. One important safety net, especially with small or premature newborns, is simply a hat that prevents the loss of body heat. So thank you for all of those wonderful caps!

Blessings to all, we look forward to seeing you before year’s end, and thanks again for sending that wonderful mission team!

Barbara, Melia, Anna and Happy