By Lynn Pelton | Executive Director
Dear Donors,
On behalf of Greatest Goal Ministries I want to thank all of you for your continued support of our work in Sierra Leone over the past couple years. I am so pleased to announce that together, we were able to raise over 15,000 USD. With those funds we provided much needed medical care for literally, tens of thousands of disabled and underserved people in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Although the goal we started when we posted our project on GlobalGiving has been reached we are not done. GGM has decided to attempt once again to raise 15,000 for our new facility and the villagers we are serving.
The Greatest Goal Ministries facility moved in late 2012 to the Lady Deborah Berewa Hospital (LDBH) in Lakka Village in the Western Rural District just outside the capital of Freetown and we are providing medical care to an area of the country that has had no access. The hospital is providing the only laboratory diagnostics and has the only quality pharmacy in the area. With our new generator installed in early January, 2014 we can begin to set up recently shipped laboratory equipment, ultrasound and EKG machine.
December 3-18, 2013 an 8 member medical team arrived at the LDBH. Included in the team were nurses, a radiation oncologist, a cardiologist and an ARNP. The cardiologist has decided to make additional visits and will begin training the staff regarding use of the EKG machine. In the absence of international medical teams our outpatient facility is operated by 22 staff members all involved in various aspects of the facility. From our Community Health Officer, nurse, pharmacy assistant, lab tech and registrar we have security, a phlebotomist, cleaning staff and hospital chaplains. It is a very busy place open 5 days a week.
We hope that our donors will continue to fund our new facility as we continue to provide quality, outpatient medical care to Lakka Village and beyond. Sierra Leone is in dire need of facilities that can provide care for malaria, cholera, sexually transmitted diseases, skin infections, diabetes, hypertension and other diseases. When the patient’s condition is beyond the scope of our local staff a designated fund is used to transport the patient to another facility. Often GGM then covers all additional costs including necessary surgeries if funds are available.
The people we are able to assist are so grateful. They know that they have no other place like this to receive medical care. Without the LDBH many would die. We thank you in advance for your continued support. The 7,850 individuals we treated in 2013 thank you for your support. Thank you for helping us reach our new goal of 15,000.00 USD for the Lady Deborah Berewa (outpatient) Hospital.
By Lynn Pelton | Executive Director
