Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd

Day Thirteen 2/4/2012 The Outpatient Department is Buzzing!

master — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:31:14 +0000

One hundred to two hundred people are seen every day in the outpatient department of the hospital. These visits include prenatal visits, eye exams, episodic illnesses, and many more. Many of the patients are seen by nurses and Health Officers. Some are seen by one of the three doctors.

As part of prenatal care, women who have had previous obstetrical problems and who live far from the hospital move into housing provided on premises during their 9th month. They’ll be close to the hospital and care they need when it is time to deliver.

Day Twelve 2/3/2012 Aira Hospital Administration and Nursing School

master — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:29:54 +0000

The hospital administrator and the Medical director, both RNs, have requested assistance from the GHAP team. On previous visits, our groups have met with them and there is agreement that help is needed in a number of areas – strategic planning, revenue generation, personnel management, infrastructure improvement, materials management, and governance.

Dereje Tsegaye is the Medical Director of Aira Hospital.

Dereje and Obo Mengesha, the Hospital Administrator in Dereje’s office.

GHAP provides mentoring and coaching to church-based health systems in developing countries. The program involves 2 hospital administrators traveling on-site 1-2 weeks a year over a 3-5+ year period of time and communicating via email, phone and Skype in between in person visits.

Follow the links below to view the GHAP brochure:
http://www.ghapartners.org/gha_brochure
http://www.ghm.org/index.php/ethiopia

Our GHAP team hopes to help build administrative capacity – training, processes, systems, etc., based on mutually discussed goals. Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd has provided the funds to support this initial consultation that includes Cindy and Ron along with our member, Martha.

Dereje is pictured here in one of the nursing school training classrooms, with a mannequin for students to practice their nursing skills.

The study library at the nursing school.

Day Eleven 2/2 2012 Ophthalmology at the Aira Hospital

master — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:37:47 +0000

Trachoma, a common eye infection in African countries is a major cause of blindness. Many patients are seen daily in the eye department.

One reason a new operating room is needed is to allow space for the many eye surgeries that are done every day.

Patients waiting outside the eye department.

Scott Lien, from Global Health Ministries, met with the opthalmologist during our 2011 visit.

A selection of glasses for patients.

Day Ten 2/1/2012 Aira Hospital Surgery Department

master — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:37:41 +0000

There are about 3,000 surgeries every year done at this small hospital. Dr. Erik Erichsen is a Dane, educated in Sweden, who has been at the hospital for several years. For a while, he was the only physician at the hospital. Being able to afford to keep doctors is a struggle in this small rural town when they are able to do better living and working in Addis. Dr. Erik has been steadfast in his devotion to the hospital and the people in and around Aira.

Since our visit in 2007 one additional surgeon and an ophthalmologist have come to work at the hospital.

Thanks to our shipment of supplies that arrived in 2010, one operating room is well equipped. The hospital is hoping to be able to open another operating room.

Dr Erik in his newly equipped operating room.

On our 2007 visit, this child was awaiting surgery.

Dr. Erichsen and his wife. She is a native of Eritrea and a nurse who works in the hospital.

The new surgeon is a native of Aira and completed his medical education in Addis Ababa at the government hospital.

Day Nine 1/31/2012 Aira Hospital – a very busy place!

master — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:38:00 +0000

The hospital in Aira has around 90 beds. The complex has several one-story buildings that each house a department – maternity, men, women, pediatrics, and intensive care, to name a few.

Doctors, Health Officers, and nurses care for patients with conditions that are uncommon in the United States such as malaria, obstetrical problems, tetanus, burns, and birth defects. They also care for patients with more common conditions.

There is a well organized and managed pharmacy. With a computer donated by Good Shepherd, they began to go online with their pharmacy orders and distribution.

The lab gets by with old and outdated equipment.

Supply room, inventory and storage concerns will be a topic of interest for the GHAP team.
www.ghapartners.org

Supplies are kept in the international shipping containers they arrived in.

Supplies are considered very valuable. They are taken out of the containers only as needed. GHAP works with hospitals to help with inventory management and tracking supplies.

Day Eight 1/30/2012 Aira Hospital and Clinic

master — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:29:10 +0000

For the next 8 days, Martha, Cindy, Ron, and Teklu will be spending time at the hospital observing, interviewing, learning, advising, and planning.

In a previous email Cindy Wilke wrote: “It will be interesting to learn how their HR function works. I am also curious about the organization structure; I plan to follow Girma’s advice to ask detailed questions on how patients are charged and their payments are recorded. It will be interesting to find out how the GHM donated supplies are used. Another issue that I want to put forward is revenue generation. There certainly will be plenty for us to discuss and contemplate while we are there.”

Aira Hospital …..was established in the 1950s by German Missionaries and was staffed by a German doctor for many years. It became a well-known and highly regarded regional hospital and today serves an area of around 600,000 people. Renovations and the addition of new buildings took place in the 1990s.