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)
(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).
(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
Bram and our senior doctor and board member Dr Onyango discuss the plans