When we went to visit Rhonda Maternity Clinic, we were welcomed by the head nurse Zipporah, Christine the team leader and Grace the Clinical Officer. Unfortunately, Wendy Chem, the Chief Nurse Officer of Nakuru Ministry of Health couldn’t make it when we were visiting. She is normally the main contact I liaise with as she helped us select this facility to support based on their needs in comparison to other competing health facilities in the county. Even still, it was great to be back in person and see the impact Gennarosity Abroad has had.
This time when walking into the ward I saw bed sheets and blankets we had provided. We were shown the blood pressure machines, baby scales, oxygen tanks and so much more of what we have purchased for them. More than anything, it was hearing the appreciation they had for our donors who helped them stay open during Covid. Rhonda was the only facility that continued to operate during Covid as we had provided PPE (personal protective equipment) for them. This fostered a sense of trust, safety and security among the women coming to the clinic.
When we were there we saw two mothers who had given birth the day before. It was a really special moment to have seen them and hear that they were provided with very good care and felt comfortable during their stay.
Gennarosity Abroad has provided an immense improvement on the health service delivery in the facility and community with reduced poor outcomes and reduction on referrals. This impact has gone a long way in the realisation of universal health coverage and care which is the core mandate in providing affordable and accessible health for all. With this support the facility has seen:
An increase of 150% in the number of deliveries rise from 30 per month to 75 deliveries a month.
A reduction of over 75% in external referral cases per month, from 26 to 6, where the ward would have to refer on cases to other hospitals for patients they were unable to care for.
Antenatal care attendance of 290 mothers, up from less than 100 before Gennarosity Abroad became involved.
And, most importantly, there have been no neonatal mortality reported for the same period which is a big achievement. This was previously reported at two cases of neonatal mortalities per month.
During our visit we noticed there were additional needs the facility could benefit from. They have provided us with an extensive list including, a wheelchair, Omron BP machine, digital thermometer for adults and children, 18L autoclave, heaters, patient stretchers, major delivery packs, resuscitator machine, oxygen cylinder, foetal doppler, glucometer machine and strips, bed sheets, draw sheets, blankets, oxygen regulators, macintosh sheets and a cardiotocography (fetal monitors) CGT. This roughly comes to about AU$18,5000. We will be focusing on helping them meet their needs. And if you'd like to help as well, all donations are welcome and greatly appreciated, just follow the link here.
It was nearly time for us to finish our trip to Kenya, but not before finally getting to meet the two amazing brothers, Stephen and Francis Otawa for the first time. Stephen travelled by himself for 14km by foot to ask a high school if they'd allow him to attend. Here's how our introductions went.
In case you missed it, before our visit to Rhonda, we stopped past New Hope Children's Centre where we visited the amazing Anne Chege and realised some huge opportunities for the future of Gennarosity Abroad. You can read all about it here.
Thank you Generosity abroad for continued support to Ronda maternity.