THE RESUSCITATION EQUIPMENT HAS ARRIVED

Thanks to Melissa Ostoga in Australia, Arrow Web Hospital now has a resuscitation machine which will save the lives of adults and children as well as newborn babies. Bram says it has only just arrived from the UK and once he gets it set up he will be able to tell us more about how it works and give more details about the machine for the doctors and nurses amongst you. We will of course post some photos on the blog.

This is a wonderful gift for the patients and staff . We are so grateful to you Melissa for thinking of Arrow Web Hospital when you posted your dream on the Sunsuper Dreams website. Of course we must also say a big thank you to all our supporters worldwide- around 5000 of you voted for Melissa's dream.

Watch this space!

A HAPPY ENDING TO THE CONTAINER SAGA

An ambulance for Arrow Web Hospital

For those of you who have been following our blog, you may remember that Arrow Kenya board had to make a very difficult decision in August, to give up on our project to ship recycled medical equipment from the UK to Kenya. Although many of our UK supporters had managed to fundraise £1800 to pay the shipping charges, our main donor pulled out at the last minute. Everyone was really disappointed as we had been working on this for over two years with Aid to Hospitals Worldwide http://www.a2hw.org.uk , and Alison Lowndes from AVIF http://www.avif.org.uk/.

We contacted the UK donors and asked them if they would like their donations returned or used to pay for the conversion of a second hand matatu (minibus) to an ambulance and for new mattresses and covers for hospital beds. As we need to transfer about 20-30 patients per month to larger specialist hospitals, the Kenyan National Hospital Insurance Fund inspectors had told us that an ambulance was a priority. So, in August our local garage set to work on the matatu; meeting the NHIF standards which included a bed, water supply and first aid equipment.

Working on the inside of the ambulance after the seats had been taken out

Our new ambulance - fit for purpose

The ambulance is now being checked over by the Ministry of Health before we can start using it. This will make a big difference to patients who have had to be transferred in Bram's car or by board members in the past.

Thank you again to Alison Lowndes and all our very generous UK donors who made this possible.

Melissa's dream is still in the lead

With just over three days of voting to go, Melissa's dream to fund urgently needed resuscitation equipment for newborn babies at Arrow Web Hospital, is still in the lead.

http://sunsuperdreams.com.au/dreams/popular

With 4892 votes so far, we are nearly 1000 votes ahead of our nearest rival. However, a lot can happen in a few days, so please keep voting and pass on the link to your friends. Your response to this has been overwhelming- so a big thank you to everyone who has supported us, especially to Melissa Ostoga from Australia. Melissa started supporting us via our "village" on Nabuur, a global network of volunteers.

http://www.nabuur.com/en/village/kayole-soweto

Melissa's dream will help ensure all mothers will deliver healthy babies at Arrow Web Hospital

MORE VOLUNTEER NEWS

Goodbye and thank you to our Australian friends
Last week we had to say goodbye to the six Australian medical student volunteers who have worked so hard for us during their visit. We have learnt much from them and as you can see from Tori's blog they seemed to have learned from us too. We do hope you have a good rest in Mombasa and a safe trip home to Sydney. http://kickstartkidsinternational.com/category/victoria/

The volunteers show off their Certificates Of Appreciation

A special thank you from Bram to James who organises the volunteer placements

A Social Worker volunteer from the US

As you know we have been very fortunate to welcome many volunteers over the years, mainly from the medical profession who are able to work with our doctors and nurses at Arrow Web Hospital. So we were very pleased to hear from Brooke Scole, a social worker from the US when she offered to work with us for six weeks.

Brooke has been working mainly with Rachel our own social worker and each has been able to learn from the other about the real challenges in providing services to the most vulnerable and poor in their very different communities.

Much of Rachel's time is spent in the community in some of the poorest slums in the world and Brooke was able to work with her there and in Arrow Web Hospital.

Brooke holds a young baby in her arms at Arrow Web Hospital

She admires a proud mum's new baby at the clinic

Brooke hard at work at the busy immunisation clinic

Brooke has been a great help to us and we look forward to hearing more about her before she goes home.

MORE INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEERS SUPPORT US

Jacq Goldthorp from Moray, Scotland

As you know Jacq visited us for two weeks earlier this year. She spent time with our staff at Arrow Web Hospital and out in the community with our social worker Rachel. As Jacq walked around the slums, Rachel told her about the desperate situation for people with serious learning disabilities and mental health problems. The government no longer provides them with free treatment and care and this means that many of them live in dire poverty, living on the streets.

Jacq visited Soweto Orphanage and was very impressed with the care provided there for over 250 children. Arrow Web Hospital provides immunisations and inpatient treatment and care for these children as part of the Comprehensive Care Program which has been funded by our board members.. We are currently seeking support from other donors to extend this program to help more of the poorest children in our catchment area.

During her time at Arrow Web Hospital, Jacq was able to help Bram improve the systems for managing finances and for collecting data which is required for the District Health Authority. As a result of all Jacq's work with Bram, we now have more evidence of the good governance of Arrow Kenya to show the government and potential donors. Job Onimo, our assistant board secretary has kindly agreed to lead the improvements which Jacq has recommended.

Jacq, thank you so much for all the advice and support you have given us.

"Thank you Elizabeth for looking after me so well during my stay"

Some of the children Jacq met at Soweto orphanage

Bram takes Jacq up country for a well earned break

This week's volunteers organise a special medical camp

James Harrison. who was introduced to Bram by a fellow medical student volunteer with Alison Lowndes' great charity AVIF, visited us at the end of last year. This week he returned with five other medical students from Kickstart Kids International, "a charity founded and run by young Australians, that enables advantaged countries to help "kickstart" the lives of kids who effectively have nothing"

Apart from helping out at Arrow Web Hospital and in the community, and visiting other health facilities as well as their own projects, James and the other volunteers Miranda Norquay, Victoria Rebecca, David Kc, Amanda Sherwin and Reid Schofield organised a special medical camp at the hospital for the community. They organised special treatment plans and paid for the drugs and supplies needed. These young volunteers treated over 360 children and adults in one day-what an amazing achievement. Thank you so much from Bram and the Arrow Kenya board, the staff and of course the community.

You can read about their experiences on the blogs on the Kickstart Kids International website and on Facebook. http://kickstartkidsinternational.com/category/david/ http://www.facebook.com/KickstartKidsInternational

Apart from the medical students from Australia, we also welcomed a social worker from the US.

Our volunteers from Australia and the US with our staff

"I want to play with your stethoscope Miranda"

"I am not sure about this Miranda"

James with some of our staff and patients

"Open wide for David"

Amanda listens carefully to one of the mothers

But it's not all good news.....

For those of you who have been keeping up with the challenges we have been facing in trying to transport a container full of urgently needed medical equipment and supplies to Arrow Web Hospital - last week Arrow Kenya board had to make the very difficult decision to abandon the project. We were due to ship the container on August 4th, but unfortunately our major donor COCO had to withdraw their offer of support last week, as we do not meet their new funding criteria.

This project which has been going for over three years, has been a lot of hard work for Bram and many of our supporters had given their time and money to help make this happen. Arrow Kenya would like to thank everyone who has worked with us on this project, especially Alison Lowndes from AVIF who helped set it up in the early days and has given us so much support and advice along the way. http://www.avif.org.uk/

We would also like to thank Jackie Keens from Aids to Hospitals Worldwide who has been so helpful and patient with us as we had to keep postponing the shipment, due to the difficulties in getting a Tax Exemption Certificate. http://a2hw.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

We will be contacting everyone who contributed to the project, but if you do not hear from us over the next few weeks, (when we will be asking you if you would like your donation refunded, or used to support other fundraising), please get in touch.

VERY SAD NEWS AND SOME GOOD NEWS

A TRAGIC ACCIDENT

Last week we heard the shocking news that two of our board members had been killed in a tragic car accident. We send our sincere condolences to their families for their great loss. They will be greatly missed by our board and staff.

THIS YEAR'S VOLUNTEERS

We are really pleased to let you know that the following international volunteers have confirmed that they will work with us this year:

Sebastian Nedak a medical student from Germany, who will be working with us for his medical elective for six weeks from June 25th.

Kelly Potter from the US, who will be working with us for three months from September.

James Harrison and his medical colleagues from Australia will be working with us, arriving in July. You may remember James visited us at the end of last year.

A doctor from the Emirates has applied to work with us for a year from October (we are just awaiting further documentation from him) and we are currently discussing some opportunities for another volunteer from Italy, who will be moving to Nairobi for a year in September.

We are always so grateful to all the volunteers who are willing to share their skills and give so much of their time to support the work we do. If you are interested in working with us please go to our "volunteering" section on our website; we would be very interested to hear from you.
(http://arrowkenya.org/help.php#volunteer)

Other visitors

Since our last post, we are really pleased to tell you that Muriel Armstrong a director from COCO visited us. Muriel a senior nursing lecturer from the UK, set up the Kenya Acorn Project in Ndhiwa in Western Kenya in 1998.The charity now runs a hospital and supports five schools.Bram and Muriel were able to share experiences of providing health services in two very different locations.
(http://www.kenyaacornproject.org/History.html).

Thank you for taking the time to visit us, Muriel, during your visit to Kenya.

NHS Grampian

You may remember that we applied to the International Health Links Funding Scheme for funding to support NHS Grampian volunteer doctors and midwives provide training on maternal and infant health for our staff. Unfortunately this application was not successful. However we have just heard that Dr Jamie Hogg's application to the British Medical Association will support another visit from NHS Grampian volunteers later this year. We are now working hard to find funding for a solar powered generator and reliable water supply for the hospital before their visit.

NHIF AUDIT UPDATE

Every quarter we are inspected by the Kenyan government's National Hospital Insurance Fund auditors. In April we scored well with an average of 65% (against the minimum 45% required). The main areas we need to work on are " Equipments and diagnostic" and "Transport". Both depend on our abilty to raise funds. We now need to provide an ambulance to transport patients to more specialist facilities as well as other basic equipment.

Of course the day to day work of the hospital and community outreach team continues, as we face many challenges and work hard to improve the quality of the services we provide. We rely on the commitment and dedication of our board and staff and the great support we receive from local colleagues and our international network of friends and partners.

Another safe delivery at Arrow Web Hospital - this makes it all worthwhile

LOOKING BACK AT OUR ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2010

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE !

As we look back at 2010 at so many successes (as well as a few disappointments), we realise that we could not have achieved so much without the dedication and commitment of our Board and staff as well as the support, generosity and advice from all our many friends, volunteers and partners at home and abroad.

2010 has been a year for building foundations for the future, strengthening existing partnerships and developing new ones; to enable us to improve the quality and scope of the services we provide to more patients and communities in the Nairobi slums.

Arrow Kenya, with its Arrow Web Hospital and Community Outreach Team continues to go from strength to strength and this is most clearly demonstrated by the increasing numbers of babies, children and adults we have treated and cared for over the years. We increased our total annual numbers by over 25% this year and since 2005 we have provided health education, treatment and care to over 76,000.

Link to activity data and our achievements in 2010

One of our nurses caring for one of the babies born at the end of 2010

Healthy and contented

One of our doctors with a proud new mother

Another very busy immunisation clinic at Arrow Web Hospital

Women and children queuing outside the hospital

Volunteers from Australia

At the end of 2010 we were so pleased to welcome two volunteers from Australia - James, a medical student and Dominique a nurse. This was arranged through a contact of our great friend and supporter Alison Lowndes whose innovative UK charity AVIF (http://www.avif.org.uk/), which assists online and onsite volunteering, is now working with projects in Nepal, Tibet and the Amazon as well as Kenya.

James, a medical student from Australia one of the last volunteers of 2010

The container of medical equipment

Many of you have been eagerly awaiting news of the container of recycled medical equipment which has been accessed for us by Aid to Hospitals Worldwide (A2HW) - a UK charity. We had all hoped that once the necessary Tax Exemption Certificate was provided by the Kenyan Revenue Authority, the shipment would leave the UK in November, arriving at Arrow Web Hospital by the end of 2010. Unfortunately new regulations require approval by the Minister of Health who has to personally sign a Memorandum of Understanding with us. So Bram has been very busy getting this organised. The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry has been very helpful and having heard about all the work done at the hospital and in the community, has said she would like to visit us.

Jackie, our contact at A2HW has been really patient, having to cope with the delays which have been outside our control. As A2HW can only book one shipment per week, we will now have to wait until the beginning of May before our equipment can be sent to Mombasa and then on to us in Nairobi. If there are any cancellations A2HW will be able to ship the container sooner.

So, thank you once again to everyone who has supported us with this project which will bring urgently needed medical equipment and supplies worth over £58,000 or 6,000,000 Ksh to Arrow Web Hospital.

Developments for 2011

We are now finalising our plans for 2011, with a lot of hard work ahead of us and many exciting opportunities. We will post them on the website and look forward to hearing from anyone who feels they can help us meet our objectives. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like more information about the services we provide.