Feb 12
Last week, DCMC’s shipping container left the port of New York City for the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Our container is one of many on a very large ship, the Nanjing Dragon. It is scheduled to arrive sometime the second half of March in the port of Tanga, Tanzania. Watch the blog for an update on the ship’s location as it makes this long trip and please offer your prayers for a safe journey.
Sailing the Atlantic
On January 21, almost 50 people helped pack a 40 foot shipping container with medical equipment and supplies of all sizes and shapes. The container made its way by truck to New York and is scheduled sail out on February 8.
We will continue to update this blog with the status of the shipping container in the coming month so please click the “Sign me up” button to the right for the update notices.
As you can see from this picture, every inch of space was used. Note the posters on the container door with the hand prints of the participants from the packing day as well as the poster at the end of the truck with the signatures from the children of Calvary Lutheran in Golden Valley.
Shipping Container on Truck
Saturday, January 21, will be a time to Work and a time to Celebrate as we pack our shipping container for Dodoma Christian Medical Center at Global Health Ministries in Fridley.
We can use your help and hands whatever your age. Our goal is 43 people over two shifts; one at 8:30, one at noon.
We could use more help!
If you would like to join the work or celebration, please contact Noreen Thompson at noreen.thompson@dthd.org or 651 432 6589.
Some of the needs are:
Packing a Container for Shipment 2008
If you are interested in joining the work and/or the celebration, the details are as follows:
| 8:30 – 9:00 | Gathering | Shift 1 |
| 9:00 – 10:30 | Packing | Shift 1 5 – Front of Container packing2 - Scanners/Gate Keepers 5 – Movers 2 – Fillers
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| Videotaping & Still Photography | 1 – Videographer 1 – Still Photographer |
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| Kit Assemblers | 4 – 10 people - Sign “Blessed by Stickers”- Stamp DCMC on Patient Gowns - Create newborn kits (bring supplies) - Create Hospice kits (bring supplies)
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| 10:30 – 10:50 | Coffee Break | 3 people- Make Coffee, set out donuts |
| 10:50 – 12:00 | Continue Packing, Videotaping, Kits | As above |
| 12:00 – 12:45 | Pot Luck Lunch;Celebration! | Shift 1 & 2 3 People – From the Coffee Break |
| 12:45 – 2:30 | Packing | Shift 2 5 – Front of Container packing2 - Scanners/Gate Keepers 5 – Movers 2 – Fillers
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| Videotaping | 1 Videographer as above |
On January 21, 2012 we will be filling a shipping container with as many pieces of medical equipment and supplies as we can afford and can fit. This will be a day of celebration for us at DTHD as we will be able to see, feel and touch medical equipment that will provide needed care for people at DCMC.
We have many items already through our work at Global Health Ministries but we will need to supply more items for the upcoming shipment. There are many needs at DCMC for the Hospital buildings being furnished in 2012 as well as for the ongoing care of the people of Dodoma. Some of the examples of needs at DCMC are:
Service Needs
$250 for a safe labor and delivery
$65 for pre-natal care for mothers
$5 for well baby checks up to age five
Equipment Needs
$1500 each for surgical tables for the surgical suites
$950 for equipment to monitor the vital signs of patients
$74 to buy one used surgical table
$33 to buy tools to prepare casts for broken bones
$20 for fetoscopes for obstetric care
Thank You for considering these needs. By your gift and prayers for the work of DCMC, you’re allowing more people to receive care for treatable diseases .
By Dr. Nikolas Chotta, Chief of Medical Services
Reception/Registration and Triage Section:
All outpatients are warmly welcomed, without impairing their dignity, without favor; services are given promptly. This is one reason why DCMC is standing out differently from other centers. We have consultation rooms, where patients are comfortable to give their medical history maintaining their privacy.
Laboratory, Pharmacy and Diagnostic Services.:
DCMC's Laboratory
At DCMC we have one of the best labs in the region; patients come to confirm diagnosis from other small labs. They are convinced that making a profit from patient care is not our mission. In most other clinics patients are given prescriptions to go find their own medicines. Having a continuous supply of medicines, working tools and availability of reagents and well trained and committed staff are key to fulfilling the mission of DCMC. Ultrasound and echocardiography diagnostic services are provided by consultants. Good quality machines and qualified staff attract many patients.
Dr. Chotta with young patient
Antenatal Services and Pediatric Services:
The cheerfulness and the Christian love have attracted families to come for screening and monitoring during pregnancy. Sensitive issues like HIV testing are being handled very well. Pediatric services provide growth monitoring, immunizations, nutritional education and treatment of acute illnesses and consultation for chronic conditions.
Inpatient Section:
A Patient & their Family
As a health center we are limited in the length of stay for patients. Patients admitted at our center have been amazed by the clean bedding and sheets in our facility. The Center ensures that the working areas are clean, disinfected, and the infection prevention protocol is followed.
by Bobby Griffin, Founder of DCMC
President Clinton accurately described the people of poor countries as having “Equal ability but not equal opportunity”. Specifically I heard this from the mouths of twenty young adults gathered in Dodoma ten years ago. When they were asked what they saw as their biggest need, their answer was “jobs and health care”. This statement planted the seed that blossomed into DCMC and later the concept of Compassionate Entrepreneurship and the development of Dodoma Innovation and Production Company( DI&PC). DI&PC, in addition to being key in the future sustainability of DCMC is about balancing the equation of ability and opportunity through investing and developing employees’ potential.
Winnie
Winnie, pictured here, answered an ad in 2007 for a receptionist/secretary position. She indeed was hired on her potential. She walked to the interview from the nearby village wearing an ill-fitting business suit; she had no resume, work experience or computer skills. Yet she was chosen from a number of others because of her ambitions demonstrated by trying to answer the interview questions in English. Her start was rocky; but today she flourishes as an administrative secretary and assistant bookkeeper handling multiple details of the business. Her abilities are enhanced by evening business college classes. DI&PC has invested in Winnie and continues to benefit from her maturing skills.
Grayson
Grayson, DI&PC’s chief engineer, tells a different kind of story of Tanzania’s work environment when jobs are scarce. He graduated from University of Dar es salaam with a degree in civil engineering. Previous to coming to DI& PC he was the maintenance engineer for a Ngorongoro Crater tourist resort. In order to keep his job he was requested to assume a new identity each year to enable the employer to avoid paying mandated benefits. As chief engineer at DI&PC he receives praise for his leadership and flourishing skills.
A temporary woman worker in the brick yard demonstrated the survival reality for poor women. Prostitution supported her and her children when she came to DI&PC on that quest. Instead she was offered day work in the brick yard. She was encouraged to be tested for HIV/AIDs and started on medication. Her health and life improved.
Woman at work at DI&PC
Constantin Boehl, DI&PC’s Managing Director, will tell you it is necessary and important to develop the abilities of the Tanzanian employees; however, there are sometimes disappointments along the way because poor people are lured to equal opportunity in the wrong way. A trusted and capable brick yard foreman was tempted to enter into a cement stealing scheme. A bookkeeper devised a plan to steal a safe. The police jailed all the office employees until the thief was identified. Although the money was recovered, that event was not the kind of opportunity Winnie imagined when she applied for her first office job.
Aug 10
Can
DCMC really help the poorest people in the Dodoma slums? After our visit in June, I would say “yes, they can”.
In the quiet evenings, members of DCMC’s Community Health Team pack up their HIV testing supplies, load up their small truck with a two large speakers and a sound system and head into the poorest areas of Dodoma. Why the speakers and sound system? Once the Team gets to the slum, they set up the speakers outside the small testing room and play loud, upbeat music. The crowds gather, they find out that HIV testing is being done and they line up to have the test.
The DCMC team is well trained as they counsel each individual before the test is done – the test is a simple finger stick. And, they act very professionally, keeping the test results private, for obvious reasons.
Some progress is being made against HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. There are drugs available to HIV infected people to keep the disease at bay and to keep it from spreading. However, you must have an official, HIV positive test to get the medications. Thus, the simple testing done by DCMC can make a huge difference in one person’s life and potentially in the lives of many others.
The children come in droves to the testing center to see what is going on. We can’t say exactly what these connections with the children will mean, but at least they become aware of the work of DCMC and are happy to have us there.
Bob and I have traveled to Dodoma yearly since 2001. During our early trips we saw Dodoma struggling to be the parliamentary capital. In 2011, it’s clear to see with University of Dodoma’s six colleges already reaching 20,000 students, the ongoing construction and the increased hauling and traffic including numerous piki piki’s (motorcycles), that the economy is growing and there is new energy in Dodoma creating both opportunities and challenges.
Baptist Mnyalape; Chief of Administration & Finance
There clearly is a new energy at DCMC! Baptist Mnyalape, loving Dodoma and catching the vision of DCMC became the Chief of Administration and Finance in April. His relational experience and leadership as Barkley’s Bank Branch Manager translates into creatively catching the DCMC vision of teamwork , excellence and financial sustainability. His enthusiasm for the staff style show and sports day was infectious even involving us “senior citizens”. Uninhibited joy of that day was caught in the antics of Hugo, Nicholas, and King (children of the management team).
New energy is emerging at the Reproductive and Child Health Center over anticipation of the completion of remodeled area and the normal and surgical deliveries to follow. Dr. Chotta was delighted with the five suitcases of hand carried supplies for that purpose. On my first trip, I toured the maternity ward at Dodoma General and then again on this trip. I saw the evidence of the overwhelming number of deliveries requiring the new moms to share a bed. Tears of gratitude come to my eyes knowing that DCMC will be able to meet an essential need. Even though not yet complete, the pregnant moms of Dodoma are pushing for the service. With the service comes the challenge of increased nursing staff. (Nurse volunteers would be welcome!)
Dr. Chotta & Dr. Gamble reviewing donated equipment
New energy is also emerging for the staff as DCMC participated in the mass deworming and vitamin A campaign for school children and the distribution of bed nets. We witnessed a steady stream of parents and children parading from the village for the distribution. In addition the dental and medical staff are courting many companies to sign with DCMC as the preferred provider for their employees.
Although enthusiastic for the completion of the emergency and surgical buildings and wards to bring that needed service to the emerging Dodoma, there is something that specifically touches me about DCMC’s the impact on public health. One day we experienced a HIV testing campaign in the Dodoma’s Chang’ombe ward with children crowding the sidelines and the next day a rugged 12 hour round trip (with Katrin Boehl driving) to remote Lwihomelo dispensary.
Distribution of Bed Nets at DCMC
Rural Lwihomelo Village Leaders & Health Care workers
Children in that primitive but beautiful landscape seem somehow safer. The basic building has not changed nor have the needs of the 7,000 plus people dotted over that remote country side. Philip, the new energetic Clinical Officer, makes piki piki rounds. There is the constant challenge of a woman in need of a surgical delivery getting to a health center! The presentation by the dispensary committee was particularly touching to me. Karl and Nancy Cambronne and I were named honorary Patron and Matrons, an honor which I cherish as a bond in caring about the medical needs of God’s people of Lwihomelo, Tanzania.
Rural Dispensary (Clinic) in a Mountain Village
Today, we drove about 4 hours to a small village in the mountains/hills where DCMC manages a Rural Dispensary (Clinic). The scenery along the way was spectacular as it changed from dusty and desert like to more green and lush in the mountains. However, the roads are quite a challenge to drive as they went from black top, to dusty dirt roads, to water eroded roads going up the mountain, and ending with a “prairie trail” to the dispensary.
The Rural Dispensary is the only health care facility for the people in this village in the mountains but it is very basic, with a few full time staff and some medications for some common conditions. That being said, the staff provides a huge service to the community with very few resources.
I’ll just attach a few pictures as I didn’t have many scenery shots on this camera.
Rural Tanzania
Sunday, we had the opportunity to attend church at Arusha Road Lutheran Church in Dodoma together with the group from Westwood Lutheran Church in St. Louis Park.
Arusha Road Lutheran is a large church and the main floor was full for the 10 am service. There were a few things different than our Lutheran churches back home. One thing is that everyone dresses up for church; I don’t think I saw anyone in casual attire. Second, there were no empty pews in the front row and third, the church service went 2 hours and 45 minutes and I didn’t see anyone complaining. Imagine that!
Dr. Gamble & a Child at Arusha Road Church
Westwood Lutheran focuses their mission work in Africa in Dodoma, so they have partnered with Arusha Road Church and have assisted several other nonprofits as well. In addition, they have partnered with us at DCMC, donating the Internet Satellite which allows us to communicate across the continents now and to do telemedicine in the future.
The church choir was a group of about 15 (and one girl about 3 years old that was with them doing a lot of the moves). They were very lovely singers and the songs were uplifting and they had coordinated dance moves (that might be pretty tough for most of us Norwegians). I’ve come to understand that singing is a big tradition in Tanzania. Our staff at DCMC starts each day with devotions and songs and everyone participates in the singing. And, they always do the singing in harmony.
Arusha Road Church & Westwood Group
Later in the afternoon, we had a DCMC “sports day” for the staff members. Part of the event was a fashion show where staff members came in their version of traditional African attire representing a certain African tribe. It was all quite charming!
DCMC Fashion Show
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