In March 2011, we visited the Bishop Kioko Catholic hospital in Machakos, Kenya. Our objective in Machakos was to formalize a commitment between PULSE and the hospital to develop it's pediatric services to include a newly established Newborn Nursery and Neonatal Unit, as well as a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. These new services will offer advanced medical care for acute and critically-ill children who need emergent treatment. We envision a Neonatal Unit which is capable of caring for well newborns and premature babies who need monitoring, special nursing care, and breathing support to allow their tiny lungs to heal and mature. This mission trip allowed me to reflect on my hometown's history, which is not without setbacks and challenges, and tiny victories.
Machakos District is located in the Eastern province of Kenya, just 68 km (42 mi) southeast of Nairobi. Machakos or Masaku, as it is named after an Akamba Chief, is predominantly home to the Akamba people and was the first administrative capital for the British colony before Kenya’s capital was moved to Nairobi in 1889, because Machakos was bypassed by the Kenya-Uganda railway. The climate is semi-arid and the terrain is hilly, with patches of stark green cliffs
and maize-covered hills that rise everywhere.
The people depend heavily on small scale agriculture for subsistence however, the area has been hard hit by drought and famine for several years. Historically, the Akamba have learned to weather their terrain through utilizing very scanty amounts of rain to farm by small-scale terracing and irrigation techniques learned by Akamba soldiers sent to fight in India during World War II. They successfully turned around the food situation that it came to be known as the “Machakos Miracle”.
Machakos has a rich culture of arts and crafts and is home to Wamunyu, the birthplace of the modern Kamba-carving industry. It is unlikely that a tourist has ever left Kenya without a souvenir carved piece that has come to be synonymous with Kenyan art. At Wamunyu, it is believed that about 3000 workmen and women, and sometimes children, participate in the self-help and cooperative carver’s society that create this world famous art. However the existence of a middleman in selling their products has prevented
the carver societies from establishing sustainable wealth.
Machakos is also home to the longest serving Catholic Bishop, the late Bishop Urbanus Joseph Kioko. Bishop Kioko began a life of service in the Catholic priesthood in 1961,became an ordained bishop in 1973, and passed away on March 2, 2008 leaving behind a rich legacy of service to the Kenyan people. He was known as an activist for peace, and lived a life of simplicity and humility. The naming of the hospital pays tribute to man of God, and a man of service who was affectionately known as the "People's Bishop."
The Hospital is a 125 bed facility which currently operates at 60 % of capacity, offering 24 hr outpatient and inpatient services which includes a pediatric ward, labor and delivery ward, and antenatal services. It warmed our hearts to receive smiles from many pediatric patients who were recovering well from their illnesses and close to discharge. However, there are two sides to any coin and we were struck by the children who required advanced care (in a small burn unit) but could not receive it due to lack of equipment, specialist pediatric consultation and limited finances. The hospital’s modern appeal and pristine maintenance uplifted us. The hospital staff clearly take pride in their facilities and aspire to provide excellent service to the surrounding community.
We listened to candid accounts of their experience with sick, premature infants delivered at the hospital, who often times are transferred without the accompanying mother to not-so-nearby facilities. It may be a short ambulance ride to the more technologically advanced facility, however for the technologically-dependent baby, it is often too far and too late in getting there. There are simple methods to avoid this transfer and we believe through training medical and nursing staff to be Neonatal Resuscitation Providers according to internationally accepted guidelines, and equipping them with patient monitoring and equipment for neonatal resuscitation, and the Bubble CPAP system which is a low tech, cost effective device which provides non invasive respiratory support to premature infants, we could provide babies with otherwise dire circumstances a fighting chance at survival, within close proximity of their mothers for nursing and bonding.
We anticipate the installation of computer equipment to support a telemedicine system which will allow Pediatric Intensivists who are PULSE volunteers within the United States to lend their expertise in real-time consultation with local physicians and nurses on-location in Machakos in managing critically-ill infants and children.
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| PULSE team with Bishop M. Kivuva |
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