Change A Life Uganda with Healthcare and Education

tCervical Cancer Screening: Despite lacking the proper exam table, examination light and other equipment, Dr. Linda Taylor, a talented and dedicated GYN physician from the US came prepared and screened 110 MIgyera women for cervical cancer giving each woman a thorough physical.  Her days were long beginning at 9:30am and ending about 8pm.  After seeing 30 women a day she was tired but was also satisfied knowing that the women's many concerns were addressed.  The health center does not have a much desired ultra sound machine.  With that in mind, Linda brought a portable one.  Her exams did not result in cervical cancer diagnosis but did reveal a few surprises - unexpected pregnancy, fibroid tumors and unfortunatley an HIV diagnosis.  

Needs: In follow up discussions, the women identified their wishes for improved services at the health center.  These include an ultrasound machine, another midwife, dental and services, ophthalmology and a minor surgery room for circumcisions and treating accident victims.  A generous donation of instruments for dental extractions by Ricke Krantz DDS and her staff was a wonderful surprise for our dentist, Miriam Namugula.  More equipment is needed to provide a full range of dental care and hygiene.

Health Physicals  A team of nurses and doctors performed health physicals on 450 St. Lawrence School students including children from the nursery school.  Ring worm was quite common followed by malaria, worms, respiratory conditions and a TB diagnosis.  Our US school health team led by Susan Peacock came prepared with needed supplies and organized a health supply cabinet at the school. 

The one issue which is now is taking a back seat is lack of clean water.  We expect the incidence of water born diseases like typhoid and diarrhea to decrease now that the local community has access to clean water. 

Yes our health center lacks certain equipment which would improve patient care especially in the maternity area.  However, we are slowly moving forward providing care where care was previously lacking.  Thank you to our donors and supporters and 2014 medical team.

HIV Care: The St. Francis Health Center provides a number of health care services to the people of Migeyra.  In collaboration with Midlmay Uganda.one of these is HIV testing to identify members of the community who are HIV positive.  Recently 105 clients were tested resulting in 5 who were positive.  The total number of clients who are being treated for HIV at the health center has grown to 303.  Because Migyera town is a "hot spot" for HIV, it is very important to provide care to those who are postive.  If the treatment decreases the viral load to undetectable, they are less likely to transmit the virus to someone else.  Thus, treatment is also prevention. 

Dental Care:  Another important service the health center would like to offer is dental care.  A clinic room has been equipped with a dental chair and tray table both of which were shipped from the US last year.   A dentist is willing to provide services but the health center currently has just one set of adult forceps.  Only extractions can be carried out. There is no equipment to do fillings. 

Below is a list of basic equipment needed at the clinic.  With this equipment children and adults in Migyera can receive the dental care they need.  

If you would like to help CALU bring dental care to the people of Migyera, see the list below. 

Dental Forceps 

Item                                                       Quantity    Unit Cost     Amount UGX       Amount USD$

1.      A set of children’s forceps                   1         350,000          350,000                    140

2.      Universal upper molar forceps            2          38,000             76,000                     30

3.      Right upper molar forceps                   6          30,000           180,000                     72

4.      Left upper molar forceps                     6           35,000           210,000                     85

5.      Elevators                                             7           22,000           154,000                     62

6.      Dental mirrors                                     4           16,000              64,000                     26

7.      Upper root forceps                              4           27,000            108,000                     44

8.      Lower root forceps                              4           27,000            108,000                     44

9.      Lower premolar forceps                      4           30,000            120,000                     48

10.  Upper premolar forceps                        4           30,000            120,000                     48

11.   Central upper incisors forceps             2           28,000              56,000                      23

Total                                                                                              1,546,000                  $622

 Thank you for your continued interest and support.