Since 2012, our medical teams have traveled numerous times and have engaged in projects and programs to support Ndolage Hospital and the local community. As an example, our past projects have included the following ...
Bugandika Health and Faith Ministry
In 2015, BHFM began in collaboration with a Bugandika Lutheran Church committee, under the auspices of Pastor Mufuruki and Diane Waarvik, a THA board member and parish nurse. The program had eight community volunteers that were government-certified Community Health Workers (CHWs). They addressed the health needs of the community through home visits, making about 200 home visits annually. Working with the local Bugandika Clinic under the direction of the clinical officer, CHWs provided individual and community health education, care coordination, referrals, and follow-up. Community education examples include basic information on chronic diseases including diabetes and hypertension, infectious diseases, sanitation with handwashing stations, and nutrition. They also provided blood pressure measurements and blood glucose screening.
THA provided the CHWs with the following: health education, supplies and equipment for basic first aid treatment and screening including glucometers and glucose strips, paper and documentation supplies, and AV equipment for community education. In addition, THA supervised CHWs during home visits and church health fairs when in-country, and payment for CHWs transportation costs for home visits. The program was discontinued in 2020 by THA after the transfer of Pastor Mufuruki. The community and the church of Bugandika were unable to commit financial support, resources for supervision, direction or strategic planning that met new government requirements for CHWs in Tanzania.
Video Library and Educational materials
Education is a major focus of Pediatric Medicine. Books, instructional videos as well as discussion in the pediatrician’s office are aimed at teaching parents and teens how to identify medical problems and how to avoid them and maximize quality of life through healthy life choices. THA’s Pediatrician member Dr. Kristine Foslien wanted to do more than provide face to face education during mission trips. She worked with Dr. Jeffrey Carithers from Empower Tanzania to obtain open access educational videos in the Swahili language to support THA’s mission in Tanzania. These professional quality videos covered patient education topics such as healthy eating, how to identify pneumonia, and avoid cholera as well as medical education on topics such as how to identify sepsis or examine the placenta. THA purchased AV equipment that allowed videos to be displayed on existing televisions in patient waiting rooms. To provide wider viewing including by families in the community, THA purchased two laptop computers, a pico projector, three Kindle Fires, and multiple jump drive storage devices onto which over 100 videos were loaded. THA collaborated with officials at the hospital, the school of nursing, and palliative care to maintain the library of videos and facilitate their viewing. During one THA visit, Ndolage medical staff helped Dr. Foslien create a laminated visual aid to be used by community health workers that illustrated the nutrition facts of locally available, inexpensive foods.
Severe Acute Malnutrition and Refeeding Program:
In the fall of 2015, Dr. Kabibi Byabato, then a pediatrician at Ndolage Hospital, voiced her desire to provide services to inpatients with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). This is a life-threatening degree of malnutrition seen mostly in children under five years of age. THA entered an agreement to fund a one-year pilot feeding program for children with SAM based on WHO (World Health Organization) standards of care and with heavy input and support provided by Dr. Steven Swanson, Pediatrician at ALMC (Arusha Lutheran Medical Center) and Selian Hospitals in Arusha, the University of Minnesota Global Pediatrics Program, and Patterson Miller from MANA (Mother Administrated Nutritive Aid) who generously pledged an ongoing donation of the vitamin and mineral powder to allow the therapeutic food to be prepared exactly as recommended by the WHO. This ambitious program required acquisitions of tools for precise measurement and preparation of therapeutic food in a safe manor, development of monitoring protocols, and extensive training in identification of patients with SAM at the time of admission and signs of adverse reactions to treatment. Once the physical space was set up, ongoing THA funds defrayed the costs of locally acquired ingredients and provided salaries for additional hours for nurses trained to monitor and treat the patients suffering with SAM. Local seamstresses sewed hats to keep children warm as they recovered. Nursing staff were trained to use the video library and other THA provided visual tools to educate the families on nutrition and how to avoid malnutrition by avoiding illness and supporting healthy pregnancy giving every child a strong start in life. Unfortunately in 2018, the hospital lost its pediatrician and was no longer a suitable hospital to provide such specialized care. Children now visit other hospitals in the area to receive SAM care.
Bugandika Health and Faith Ministry
In 2015, BHFM began in collaboration with a Bugandika Lutheran Church committee, under the auspices of Pastor Mufuruki and Diane Waarvik, a THA board member and parish nurse. The program had eight community volunteers that were government-certified Community Health Workers (CHWs). They addressed the health needs of the community through home visits, making about 200 home visits annually. Working with the local Bugandika Clinic under the direction of the clinical officer, CHWs provided individual and community health education, care coordination, referrals, and follow-up. Community education examples include basic information on chronic diseases including diabetes and hypertension, infectious diseases, sanitation with handwashing stations, and nutrition. They also provided blood pressure measurements and blood glucose screening.
THA provided the CHWs with the following: health education, supplies and equipment for basic first aid treatment and screening including glucometers and glucose strips, paper and documentation supplies, and AV equipment for community education. In addition, THA supervised CHWs during home visits and church health fairs when in-country, and payment for CHWs transportation costs for home visits. The program was discontinued in 2020 by THA after the transfer of Pastor Mufuruki. The community and the church of Bugandika were unable to commit financial support, resources for supervision, direction or strategic planning that met new government requirements for CHWs in Tanzania.
Video Library and Educational materials
Education is a major focus of Pediatric Medicine. Books, instructional videos as well as discussion in the pediatrician’s office are aimed at teaching parents and teens how to identify medical problems and how to avoid them and maximize quality of life through healthy life choices. THA’s Pediatrician member Dr. Kristine Foslien wanted to do more than provide face to face education during mission trips. She worked with Dr. Jeffrey Carithers from Empower Tanzania to obtain open access educational videos in the Swahili language to support THA’s mission in Tanzania. These professional quality videos covered patient education topics such as healthy eating, how to identify pneumonia, and avoid cholera as well as medical education on topics such as how to identify sepsis or examine the placenta. THA purchased AV equipment that allowed videos to be displayed on existing televisions in patient waiting rooms. To provide wider viewing including by families in the community, THA purchased two laptop computers, a pico projector, three Kindle Fires, and multiple jump drive storage devices onto which over 100 videos were loaded. THA collaborated with officials at the hospital, the school of nursing, and palliative care to maintain the library of videos and facilitate their viewing. During one THA visit, Ndolage medical staff helped Dr. Foslien create a laminated visual aid to be used by community health workers that illustrated the nutrition facts of locally available, inexpensive foods.
Severe Acute Malnutrition and Refeeding Program:
In the fall of 2015, Dr. Kabibi Byabato, then a pediatrician at Ndolage Hospital, voiced her desire to provide services to inpatients with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). This is a life-threatening degree of malnutrition seen mostly in children under five years of age. THA entered an agreement to fund a one-year pilot feeding program for children with SAM based on WHO (World Health Organization) standards of care and with heavy input and support provided by Dr. Steven Swanson, Pediatrician at ALMC (Arusha Lutheran Medical Center) and Selian Hospitals in Arusha, the University of Minnesota Global Pediatrics Program, and Patterson Miller from MANA (Mother Administrated Nutritive Aid) who generously pledged an ongoing donation of the vitamin and mineral powder to allow the therapeutic food to be prepared exactly as recommended by the WHO. This ambitious program required acquisitions of tools for precise measurement and preparation of therapeutic food in a safe manor, development of monitoring protocols, and extensive training in identification of patients with SAM at the time of admission and signs of adverse reactions to treatment. Once the physical space was set up, ongoing THA funds defrayed the costs of locally acquired ingredients and provided salaries for additional hours for nurses trained to monitor and treat the patients suffering with SAM. Local seamstresses sewed hats to keep children warm as they recovered. Nursing staff were trained to use the video library and other THA provided visual tools to educate the families on nutrition and how to avoid malnutrition by avoiding illness and supporting healthy pregnancy giving every child a strong start in life. Unfortunately in 2018, the hospital lost its pediatrician and was no longer a suitable hospital to provide such specialized care. Children now visit other hospitals in the area to receive SAM care.