Lifesaving healthcare for remote farming villages

As we write this report, much of the world is celebrating Mother’s Day. We noticed more fathers with children in the stores today, toting bouquets of flowers and boxes of chocolates. Civic park was alive with mothers and grandmothers being celebrated by those they had nurtured and watched grow into adulthood.  A festive mood!  But also on our minds are the too many mothers in places far and near for whom today is a day of sad remembrance; mothers whose son’s life was cut short by a bullet, whose baby suffocated in utero for lack of proper medical care, whose infant died from a preventable childhood disease, whose daughter was given up into service to guarantee a better life for her, and who ended up a child prostitute. 

Nepal, our project country, sees its share of all these traumatic events.  The small community hospital the DCWC (Development of Children and Women Center) built in 2008 in the remote community of Rajbash is just one of the many ways we are trying to improve and secure the lives of the poor in Nepal. Thanks to our medical staff women in this region can now enjoy safe births, children are being immunized against common childhood diseases and many injuries like broken bones and cuts are taken care of at the local level at minimal cost.

Recognizing how knowledge brings about behavior change, Mr. Min Prasad Gautam, our newly hired health educator has started to hold health awareness classes at various schools and at community events. The Rajbash hospital also serves as a teaching center where teachers, community leaders and the many people that are involved in the every day functioning of the hospital, gather to receive the latest in health maintenance and disease prevention information. 

The last quarter has seen a slight drop in patients treated, however the number of lab tests has risen considerably.  Having these test results available allows our medical staff to find the most effective treatment for each patient.  As previously reported, orthopedic cases continue to be the leading injuries treated.  In this area of subsistence farming these injuries are a fact of daily life. Before the hospital started to provide treatment, a deep cut left untreated might become infected and turn gangrenous. One of our patients, a 66 year old laborer from Lakhanpur, thought that exactly that was going to happen to him. Sustaining a deep laceration while cutting wood he feared he might have lost the use of his hand for life. In his words: ‘I was afraid seeing the deep wound and knowing I had no money savings at home. I did not think that the local hospital could help me and that I would have to go to the city hospital which costs a lot of money. Without my hand I cannot work.’  He did come in for treatment and his terrible cut was stitched up and bandaged. The patient left confident that he will be able to use his hand again and expressed his deep gratitude for the skillful care he received from our hospital staff.

This concludes our May update from Rajbash. The monsoon rains have eroded parts of the road and access to the hospital is difficult right now. We have to rely on a fikkle phone connection to get our information.

While we are still only at the beginning of summer we want to remind you that we are planning the following events for the month of October 2014 for the benefit of the Rajbash hospital:

• a three week trek into the Annapurna Sanctuary 
• a three week trek into Langtang National Park and Goseinkund Lake
• a two week sightseeing tour to Nepal with an option to go to Bhutan

Those who have participated before found these treks true peak experiences. If you are interested in joining us on a trek or the tour please contact the project leader.