Project 61 Medical Update

  

Let me begin by introducing myself – my name is Emily and I am the volunteer RN with Project 61. This July will mark one year since I moved here. I am so excited to have the opportunity to share with you all about what God is doing in East Africa and in the lives of the people, specifically with health and medical needs. When I came here one year ago, ibuprofen, amoxicillin, and band-aids was about the extent of medical supplies. I began treating children and families with what we had, but more often had to take them to the hospital because of my limited resources. In October 2011, we a medical team served for 10 days and at the boarding schools. They brought an abundance of medical resources. These donations became the base for starting our “Project 61/Great Hope Ministries Clinic” on our compound. I began seeing patients in the clinic and traveling to the boarding schools once or twice a month to care for the students. Since I’ve been here, I have seen a variety of different illnesses, diseases, and injuries amongst the people. Some of the most common being: respiratory infections, urinary infections, skin infections, allergies, hearing loss, sport related injuries, burn injuries, heartburn, and parasites. Keep in mind that I am a new graduate and have no doctors, assistants, or other help when it comes to medical care for our program. The clinic continues to expand. Donations have been pouring in and I am so grateful for that. The line at the clinic door is at least 10 people long when I arrive in the village for the day. And I am excited to share that we are doing construction for a new clinic that will be nearly five times as large and have plenty of space to store the medical supplies and see patients.  Last month, we had a medical team of 20 people serve with us. They treated all the children in our program and saw an additional 400 patients from the village community. This only scratches the surface of a “Project 61 medical update” and I look forward to sharing with you much more over the months. I am reminded of the verse Jeremiah 30:17 which says “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds”. One thing that I love about my job is that I continually see God’s healing hand at work here in East Africa. I am excited to be able to share some of the stories with you. If you would like to make donations for medical needs, please contact me directly at emily.cornish@61.org. Please pray for all the children as they are home from school for the summer. Several students will be undergoing minor surgeries and many having follow-up doctor visits.