Health Program Update: New Equipment and Education Enhancement

The Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust Health Team has had a busy and successful 2015 thus far!

Health outreaches to remote areas of Kuku Group Ranch are of key importance to ensure continued adequate and accessible health services to community members. Since January, a total of three outreaches have been conducted, two in-facility outreaches to Langata Dispensary, and one to the commnity of Moilo. A total of 80 patients were tended to in these outreaches, and a total of 35 mobile laboratory tests were completed.

MWCT is proud to announce, that with support from the Ian-Hicks Foundation, the installation of a semi-automatic biochemistry analyzer in Iltilal Health Centre has been completed. This new machine will enable the clinicians at the facility to conduct a wide range of kidney and liver function tests. This is a massive milestone in MWCT's goal of providing access to quality health care to the local community. This machine will be crucial in the follow-up of patients on chronic medication as those on treatment for Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS.

MWCT Lab Technician, Felix, with the new biochemistry analyzer

Felix and Eric (MoH Nurse) very happy with the new technology!

MWCT Health Team organized the first women health seminar at Kuku Village. Dr. Gabriel and the resident nursing officer educated 18 community women on breast and cervical cancer. Topics discussed during the seminar included: what is cancer, signs and symptoms, and preventative strategies!

Women in Kuku gather to learn about breast and cervical cancer

Health Update - New Village Outreach Program!

Sam giving a talk on cervical cancer during an Oltiasika outreach.

MWCT's Health Program has stayed busy since we last posted -- lots of exciting work going on all over Kuku Group Ranch!  In the months after the rainy season we've made great progress with our village outreaches, having successful ones each month and starting a new 3-day outreach program in which our nurse Sam and lab technician Felix spend 3 days each month at our 2 primary clinics around Kuku Group Ranch that don't have regular MWCT staffing.

Sam explains a self-breast exam to women in Oltiasika while government nurse Peter demonstrates.

During their 3 days at each clinic they provide cancer screenings for women in the area, family planning sessions, immunizations for children, lab work and testing, and shorter outreaches to smaller surrounding villages with no health facilities at all.  They also give talks to the community on the importance of testing, hygiene, deworming for children, and many other topics.  Finally, they work with the local Community Health Workers to ensure the care provided during the rest of the month is as good as possible.

Sam and Felix with Olorika Community Health Worker Daniel.

We initiated this program in June by sending Sam and Felix to both Olorika and Oltiasika for 3 days each; it was very well received by the communities.  In addition to performing operations and testing, Sam made a point to teach the government nurses how to perform the tasks and they did very well.

Olorika CHW Daniel checking in on the chickens.

In Olorika we also helped with the Community Health Workers' income-generating project, raising chickens.  The money generated by selling the chickens will help purchase small supplies to allow the CHWs to be as useful as possible. Every day we're working to make MWCT more useful to the surrounding Maasai community!

Health Update - Cancer Screenings

MWCT's Health Program recently hired a new Clinical Officer for Langata village named Emmanuel Wanyama, allowing us to greatly expand our services and keep the clinic open on weekends.  Since his arrival clinic visits have increased more than 30%, allowing us to help many more patients.  Thanks to this new flexibility, we recently offered cancer screenings in Langata for the first time to good success.

The district reproductive health officer discusses cancer screenings.

The District Reproductive Health Officer began the day by facilitating a community conservation about women's cancers, after which Sam (MWCT nurse) and Wanyama worked with the Ministry nurse to administer breast and cervical cancer screenings.  During this initial visit ten women were screened with no referrals, and the community was very thankful for this new service.

Women wait for cancer screenings in Kuku village.

Following this we held a second screening two weeks later in Kuku village, this time using our experience to plan more comprehensively for the event.  We brought our ambulance fully outfitted for the day, with supplies including a hospital bed and disinfecting bucket, and set up operations in the local Child Care Fund center.

Sam and the female government explain basic facts about types of cancer.

Because some women are uncomfortable with a male nurse performing the screenings, we arranged for a female government nurse from Loitokitok to accompany us and help for the day.  We again had a community discussion regarding cancers, then screened ten women for breast and cervical cancer, one of whom was referred for further testing.

MWCT ambulance loaded with supplies for our Kuku village screening.