Medical Clinics & the Maternal and Child Health Program
Triage specialist taking blood pressure of a young mother.
MEDICAL CLINICS
Each year the American Imani project provides needed medical care to villagers. With the help of African project volunteers , the American medical teams hold clinics in several different villages each year. The medical clinics are held in churches, schools or other suitable buildings arranged by Marlene and Francis Kahinda, Imani Projects directors. There are several steps in the treatment process at the clinics. All patients first meet with a triage specialist who gathers essential information. They are asked about their current problem, and follow-up questions about age, chronic health problems, duration and specifics of current illness, and other pertinent information. Blood pressure, heart rate and temperature are taken by the triage specialists. This information is recorded and passed on to the doctors and/or nurses who provide whatever treatment is appropriate and available and complete triage form explaining treatment provided. In many cases, the symptoms are very general and include coughs, body aches, diarrhea, wounds, worms and other parasitic infections. These conditons are treated with medications brought from the United States or purchased by the African Imani Project. Some villagers come for treatment of more serious problems, such as malaria, tuberculosis, bone infections, severe burns, birth defects, severe malnutrition, and infected wounds and skin conditions cause by AIDS, parasites, leprosy or lack of basic initial care. Others come with chronic conditions that require extended treatment, hospitalization, surgery or medicines they cannot afford. If funds are available, the Imani Project pays for them to go to the district hospital for treatment, or for their medication. The need is unending, and most clinics end before all the people waiting to see the medical team are treated. At the end of the day, the medical teams returns to their accommodations, only to find another line of people requiring medical treatment.
Dr. Amy Earhart and translator Rodgers Karabu take a health history from a young mother.
MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH PROGRAM
The Maternal and Child Health Program was registered with the Kenyan Department of Social and Health Services and became an official subcommittee of the Imani Project in 2008. The goal and activity statement for the committee issued by the Kenyan government included education, family planning, and the provision of health care, education and general support for orphaned and other needy children. The Maternal and Child Health program has focused on two specific areas of need so far, diarrheal disease and basic first aid and hygiene. Next to pneumonia, diarrhea is the leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan African for children under five. This need was addressed by training the African Imani Project volunteersby providing them with comprehensive information about diarrheal disease. Six-hundred diarrhea packets were and given out at the medical clinics which contained instruction in both English and Swahili about how to prepare oral Rehydrating Solution (ORS) and dosing information for different age children. Also included in each packet was a special two-ended scoop so local ingredients could be used in the right proportions to make ORS. Two courses of zinc supplementation were included as the use of zinc has been extensively researched and found to shorten the course and severity of diarrheal episodes, as well as protect the children from future episodes. Six-hundred first aid kits were given to caregivers and parents. These kits included supplies needed to protect their children from cuts, scraps, burns, insect bites and other injuries that turn into crater like wounds sometimes resulting in septicemia and death. Each first aid packet contained a clean washcloth, bar of soap, tweezers, sterile splinter removes, alcohol prep pads, anti-biotic ointment, hydrocortisone creas, Q tips, different size bandages and two course of paracetomal (Tylenol). Both diarrhea and first aid packets were presented to villagers in small groups to encourage dialoque and better understanding of the supplies.
Earline Anderson, wound care specialist, treats the wound of a villager.
The Maternal and Child Health program will focus on other health issues in the coming years, including burn care and mother/children transmission of the AIDS virus.
