Lifesaving healthcare for remote farming villages

 Reaching Out to Many More

By Chanda Lama, Co- Project Manager

Namaste, A warm greeting from Nepal

Besides Our regular hospital operation, we are now rapidly increasing our Outreach Activities by reaching in different communities with various health awareness programs and mini health camps.  The month of June, July and August have been very progressive.

-          DCWC Community Hospital conducted a Free General Health Camp on August 9^th at Dutti, Approx 2 hours walk distance from hospital at Shree Kalika Malika Primary School and treated 86 Patients. Our 2 Medical staffs and a manager went with few medicines to conduct this camp.

-           4 Medical staffs and a manager from the hospital went by foot approx 1.5 hours to Punditar, Doramba along with sugar testing kits to conduct a Free Blood Sugar Testing on July 5^th and served 32 Patients at Shree Antarastriya Yuwa Barsa Secondary School and they also held an awareness class on this topic.

-           Outreach Educator and 2 other staffs went to Shree Kallabari Secondary School, 5 hrs walk from hospital with Eco friendly Sanitary pads and distributed to 53 teenagers students and conducted a hygiene class. Similarly we have distributed sanitary pads to 52 teenagers at Shree Suryadhaya Secondary School, Wangthali after walking 3 hrs from our hospital.

-          6 volunteers from France, as a part of a University graduation came to Rajbash Hospital and went to 3 different schools to teach personal health and hygiene with or outreach educator and distributed Soaps, Toothbrushes and toothpastes to numbers of Students listed below.

 1. Shree Buddha Himalayan Secondary, Majpheda,2 hrs walk from hospital, 69 students participated. .     2. Shree Kallabari Secondary, Kallabari, 5 hrs walk from hospital, 95 students participated. .   3.ShreeSuryadhaya Secondary, Wangthali, 3 hrs walk from hospital, 36 students participated.

 Besides these lots of Health awareness conduct in different communities on Jaundice, Mumps, Enteric fever, Typhoid, URTI, Tuberculosis and Water Purification which helps to prevent being sick on monsoon season in Nepal.

We have just built a waste burner down the road to manage the waste and keep the environment healthy for villagers.

Mini renovations at hospital premises have taken place in the month of July and August with the help of France volunteers.

-          6 volunteers from France from different faculties went to Rajbash to teach about the important of environment and plantation and also supported with gardening tools and did some plantation at Hospital premises.

-          Another 5 Engineering Students from France help to repair and mention the fences and Flage poles at hospital.

We are very grateful to all of you for your financial support to continue our services for the rural communities of Nepal and please keep supporting us to save many lives in upcoming days.

As previously reported, our small rural Hospital in Rajbash continues to treat a steady patient load of 300 to 350 individuals per month. We are providing basic medical care that includes diagnostics and treatment, peri-natal services, maternal & child services, non-complicated surgeries, pharmacy services. However this number increases substantially if we take into account outreach to the villages by the midwives and nurses.

The month of April has been particularly productive because we held two of our always well attended free clinics: one for  Dermatology and another for VIA (Visual Inspection of Acetic Acid) and general Gynecology.

The Dermatology Clinic was set up and fully staffed by our hospital. We examined and treated 271 patients who came with a host of different ailments. One very large problem is a skin rash caused by scabies, a communicable disease that, if infected and left untreated can lead to more serious problems down the road. Disinfectants and medical ointments are not found in most poor households and necessitate a visit to the hospital and pharmacy.

The VIA & Gynecology Clinic was set up by the Health Unit of the Village Municipal Administration of Rajbash with government doctors while our hospital staff provided logistical and medical support for 100 women who took advantage of this free service which included regular gynecological exams and consultations as well as testing  for various cancers through VIA.

While the Clinics were held, an inauguration celebration for our new ambulance, donated by our sister organization in Oakland, California, was held.  Up to 450 appreciative villagers, patients and staff attended and celebrated this important event. The new ambulance will now transport patients in need of more serious hospital care to Kathmandu, while the old ambulance, after years of service on terrible roads less reliable, will be used for local patient pick-up around closer to the hospital. 

Links:

• http://dcwcnepal.org.np

In our reports we often refer to our Rajbash Hospital.  It is in fact the DCWC Community Hospital located in the small rural village of Rajbash and opened in 2010.  DCWC refers to the founding non profit organization’s original name: Development of Children and Women’s Center.

An accupuncture clinic was held on Dec. 21st at the Hospital. 236 patients were treated, coming from villages as far as a 6 hour walk. This, our second accupuncture clinic, was jointly sponsored by the Chinese organization Care and Support. We were surprised to see such widespread participation in this event and we are delighted to be able to offer yet another healing modality to the community. Many of the treated patients expressed deep gratitude.

Another First Aid Camp was held on Dec. 28 at the Shree Khanda Secondary School near Chauri Deurali. This camp was staffed by our hospital staff and is held mainly to deal with minor injuries and health complaints. These First Aid Camps are always well attended, especially when held at locations far from the hospital. They are also an example of our outreach into communities at some distance from the hospital. We think of the hospital in Rajbash as a hub from which branches reach into even remote villages. Each camp provides points of contact in traditionally underserved areas, allows us to identify potentially serious health issues and refer these back to the hospital for treatment.

We hope you'll enjoy our photos from the Accupuncture Clinic - look for the needles in the middle four pictures.

To intensify our efforts of health education beyond the outreach to local schools and outlying communities,  the Rajbash hospital has recently opened a Health Awareness Center directly at the hospital. This provides an opportunity for a health educator to use patient waiting time to explain a variety of health related information to patients and visitors. While we are still in the process of sourcing books, magazines, posters and short documentary films, we believe this will particularly help us to reach an older, uneducated population who may better understand visually presented material.

Maintaining good overall health is an ongoing challenge in poor rural areas of Nepal. In spite of our intensive health education efforts, sanitation still remains an issue for many of our patients. Thus, in late August/early September we saw another uptick in the number of typhoid cases which filled our small hospital to capacity. These patients in particular are deeply grateful to have access to the care of our little hospital.

Rajbash Hospital’s most recently held free Dental Camp on October 27th again was a roaring success. 137 patients of all ages walked from their villages and waited for hours to receive treatment. Nobody was turned away. Health educators used the long waiting times to teach patients about dental hygiene, both in groups and individually. This included demonstrations of proper brushing.

The important work of this hospital has been made possible through your ongoing financial support. Please continue to help us bring this often lifesaving care to these poor communities.

Links:

• DCWC website

While the town of Rajbash has been busteling with construction projects, the Rajbash hospital continues to perform everyday miracles for the people of the region. That’s its mission and that’s what it does well. 

A miracle happened one afternoon in early July.  A relative of a patient called for our ambulance. A woman was in severe pain. Immediately our doctor and nurses packed the necessary medical equipment and got on the road. By the time they reached the town of Doramba the road condition was so bad they had to leave the car and start walking. Before they got very far they met the patient on the trail. She was in the final stage of labor pain and birth appeared imminent. Our team immediately took charge, made the woman comfortable right there on the trail and helped her to successfully deliver a little baby girl. Mother and child were then safely carried across the river where the ambulance was waiting to take them to the hospital. Although born prematurely, the little girl and her mother were in good health and released to go home soon after.

Our free health camps have been very popular with the families in our district. For the month of October we would like to organize another ‘Dental‘ camp.  The need for dental care is huge in the remote villages of our district and few are the people that can afford to seek care in Kathmandu or some other bigger town. However, bringing the machinery and filling materials from Kathmandu to the village is expensive. In order to make the treatments affordable we are attempting to coordinate with a dental hospital in Kathmandu, but the details remain to be worked out. 

In addition we’d like to bring back a group of Chinese doctors who held a very well received free acupuncture clinic for villagers at the Rajbash hospital last year. 

After some personnel changes our Outreach department is in firm hands again. Our efforts to distribute sanitary pads coupled with personal hygiene training to teen girls in our schools are continuing and expanding. This effort is super successful with teen girls and has resulted in a reduction of truancy because of the shame formerly associated with menstruation.

Our mother's groups continue to provide a forum for village women in their home environment, to share information with each other and to learn about health, hygiene and nutrition from an outreach worker. This provides not only for better health outcomes for families but also a social support network for the many young women that live in these remote places.

And now a last comment about the above mentioned construction activities: You may recall us telling you that the recent improvements on the road into Rajbash involved some widening of the road bed right below our pharmacy building. As you can see in some of the attached pictures a building crew has been busy shoring up our property against erosion toward the road. A solid stone retaining wall was erected between road and hospital. It not only secures the hospital property against further deterioration but also provides a security fence making it easier to control access to the hospital.

With gratitude for your support and involvement, Karin