Saturday 21 March 2009
Yesterday, our group toured the Maua Methodist Hospital and the Giving Hope Office. As speakers started to share, I decided to take notes as I wanted to remember their words. Jean Hedrick did the same thing. Together we collaborated to write on a couple of points. So here goes!
The Maua Methodist Hospital treats AIDS patients as well as other medical conditions. But they have become a model internationally for HIV treatment and intervention. Their primary focus is on care and treatment since 2002. Prior to 2002, they focused on prevention only. But they saw the need to change in order to be effective. Presently they treat 1270 AIDS patients with anti-retroviral drugs thanks to financing legislation passed during the Bush administration. They see 100 patients per day with HIV/AIDS. They enroll 70 new HIV patients per month. Community outreach via three clinics aims to bring hope to those in the community in a couple of ways. First they encourage people to get tested and to know their HIV status. The hospital can provide home testing with results available the same day. Secondly, the clinics attempt to make these people with HIV to feel a part of the community, not isolated, by becoming a member of one of 18 support groups. Inside the hospital, HIV patients are mainstreamed with other types of patients with confidentiality on HIV status. Hospital registered patients with HIV are alloted food on a monthly basis. This included 2 Kg of rice, 2 Kg of maize flour, 8 Kg of beans, and 1 liter of vegetable oil.
Dr. Stephen Gitonga, one of the hospital's physicians, spoke with us on the Maua Methodist Hospital philosophy on HIV. Maua has inspired an ecumenical movement to treat AIDS, to treat the sick and suffering, and offering them a smile for tomorrow. The church's role is to offer a message of hope and extend the love of Jesus Christ to those with HIV. Even in the church, he said, we are sick with HIV. HIV is within its members and we should be accepting, responding and doing something. If we wait, he continued, no one will be left. Jesus was found among the sick and suffering and He was open minded. Dr. Gitonga sees the ZOE mission and workers as the feet and hands of Jesus. Prayer inspires the children and workers. Donated money gets put to work. But when people come here to help us work, they become a part of the ZOE mission.Tomorrow we will share about the Giving Hope Project and what we learned. Alice Finnell and Jean Hedrick