Happy Monday everyone! I just wanted to provide a quick update. Bramuel met with the official today from the Japanese Embassy. He was able to give a tour of the hospital and discuss everything that they've accomplished to date, as well as where they would like to be in the future. The official told Bramuel that they had visited a lot of different projects around Nairobi, but his was one of the most organized. They also extended an invitation to submit a letter of intent regarding the building project. If this goes well, they may request a full blown proposal later on, but so far so good! Bramuel did take some pictures and will be emailing those to me, so I'll post here as soon as I get them from him.

All the best-

Jennifer

UPDATE: Here's a picture

It is a great step forward.We are moving well,keep it up!

Sincerely
Raphael

All the best.
--
Framar School of Excellence, Kasama, Zambia

Hi everyone-I hope you are all having a good weekend. Bramuel and I spoke this morning, so I wanted to update regarding a few things:

Bramuel's computer at the hospital has apparently been infected by a virus. He has taken it to be repaired and his data is backed up, but he was told they may not be able to fix it. He should know more about that tomorrow. Hopefully they will be able to remove the virus and get it up and running again very soon. He had to go to the Internet Cafe to speak with me this morning.

The hospital blog is gaining more attention, and our Twitter account is up to 80 followers now. For those of you who may not have seen the blog yet, it is located here:

www.arrowwebhospital.blogspot.com

Our Twitter account is @arrowwebhosp

Friday was another big day for the hospital. NHIF was supposed to be there on 3/19/09 to reinspect, but this had been moved to Monday, 3/23. Bramuel was away at a meeting and got called by one of the doctors at the hospital on Friday to let him know that NHIF had actually decided to come out on Friday instead of waiting until next week. The hospital was ready and happily we are able to report that they passed reinspection and were recommended for their level B accreditation status. NHIF has 3 levels of accreditation; A, B and C. Level A is the highest level. In order to achieve this level, the hospital will need to add a X-ray machine and ultrasound equipment. Achieving level B status accreditation will allow the hospital to:

1. Be listed on the NHIF website as a recommended facility.
2. Increase the amount of reimbursement for medical care provided to patients with NHIF cards from 800 KES to 1200 KES per patient.

As you can see, this is a significant increase and will really help them be in a better position to invest in continued improvements to the facility. Again, this largely depends on the amount of card-carrying members that they treat, but now that they have the medical laboratory equipment, they can also accept outside referrals which will help as well.

To give you some idea of the reimbursements to date, this is the information Bramuel has reported to me (in USD according to my notes):

Oct 08 $545
Nov $700
Dec $472
Jan $1200
Feb $1320

As you can see, reimbursements have increased each month but December, since the initial accreditation in October 2008.

So, this being said, there are two main priorities at the hospital at the present time:

1. Obtain the X-ray machine and ultrasound equipment.
2. Secure funding to begin building their own facility so that the money now being spent toward rent can be reinvested into equipment, medications and things to improve the overall quality of care to the local community.

If anyone is interested in helping Bramuel write a letter of intent to the Japanese Embassy in Kenya, please let me know. Alison has contacted an organization in the UK to see if they might have the equipment needed. Once we know, we may need to work on organizing shipping, but so far I personally have not heard anything back from them yet.

Bramuel is thinking about other possible tasks for the village here at Nabuur. As soon as we discuss those I will update anything new here.

April 19th, Bramuel is expecting a visit from Monica from Friends of Kenya, so we're pretty excited about that. Wes, the film maker that I've mentioned before, plans to visit in September.

All the best-

Jennifer

Hi everyone-

I heard yesterday from Bramuel. They have had the burial for his brother and he is now making his way back to Nairobi. Monica from Friends of Kenya is expected this weekend for a visit/tour of the hospital. I hope to have more updates once Bramuel returns.

Have a great end of the week!

Jennifer

Hope he will have settled to meet with Monica.All will be well and we expect the assistance from the Friends of Kenya.

Raphael

Hi everyone-

Just a quick note to let you know that I'm back as facilitator after a short leave. Unfortunately, things did not work out as planned with my relocation. I appreciate all well wishes and support while I was gone.

Bramuel has been in Tanzania for a conference and we haven't had a chance to talk yet, but I am sure that we will in the days to come. For the most part-our priorities remain the same as are posted in the current tasks, although we may update a few things after additional discussion.

I'm happy to be back and look forward to working with you all again.

Kind regards-

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer
Let me take ths oppurtunity to welcome you back to our village as a facilitator
Am so happy to work with you again.
am bac to kenya now.
Warm regard
Bram

Jackie O'Neal wrote a fabulous article for www.groundreport.com on Dr. John Gilbert's work with Arrow Web Hospital over the past several weeks. Bramuel shared a link to the article with me today. It is located here:

http://www.groundreport.com/Health_and_Science/UK-Volunteer-Doctor-Share...

Thank you so much Jackie for your work on this! It's wonderful to see that so many people have viewed it in such a short time.

Kind regards-

Jennifer

Hi Bram and Jennifer

I know there is no specific task for health education materials at the moment, but if there are things you need, this may be helpful. I remember finding this last year, but we were too late to put in an application. They are now accepting applications for 2009.

BMA Information Fund
http://www.bma.org.uk/health_promotion_ethics/health_developing_world/in...

"Information Fund 2009
02 August 2009

The BMA International Department runs the BMA Information Fund which helps to provide health information to organisations in developing countries. The fund donates educational materials, such as books and DVDs, and is run in association with Teaching Aids at Low Cost (TALC).

We are currently inviting applications for 2009 from health care institutions, health NGOs, medical school libraries and other related organisations. Please note that we are unable to consider requests from individuals.

To submit an application, download the two documents on the right hand side of this page"

The closing date is 14 September 2009, and successful applicants will be notified by 21st October.

Note that the Price List only gives limited information on each title. More detailed information on each book can be found at http://www.talcuk.org/shop.htm

Jennifer, this may be helpful to some of your other villages too - lots of books about community health education and also some about disability

Mary

Mary this is an awesome resource! Thank you so much for sharing it. Bramuel, please make sure you take a look at this because there are many resources here that look beneficial.

Thanks again Mary!

Jennifer

Dear Jennifer

I leave in Botswana and I have just NABUUR.COM AND THERE ARE iNTERESTING ARTICLES FROM DIFFERENT NEIGHBOURS. i AM INTERESTED IN VOLONTIERING ANYWAY IN THE WORLD MY FIELD IS IN TOURISM I HAVE 10 YEARS EXPERIENCE AND I HAVE 2 CHILDREN AGES 9 AND 18MONTHS SO WHERE EVER I GO I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE THEM. PLEASE FIND ME WHERE I CAN BE.

--
Boitshwarelo Dzingai Botswana

Hi Bram

Did you have a chance to look at the BMA site?

If you want to apply for books, the closing date for applications is 14th September, so you need to do it soon!

Mary

Hi Mary
Yes I looked at it and asked doctors in the hospital to give me the books they want.I will check with them see how they think about it.
thank you
Bram

Hi All

It is my wish to update you about the Japanese embassy in kenya i made with Resper and she tald me that our request letter is in final stage and soon will receive the communication from them.
we hope that the reply come out positively.
i will update you soon as i receive the communication
thank you all for your support
Bram