Chidamoyo Hospital in Zimbabwe

It has been a busy 2 weeks at the hospital with lots of patients coming from all over the country to be seen.
On October 1st the Zimbabwe government announced new rules for the economy.Suddenly all bank accounts that were in US dollars were wiped out and put in Bond (local currency).Also, to make more money for the government you are taxed 2 cents for every dollar used on your debit card or transfer to pay a company.This has led to an economic meltdown where suddenly $1 US went up to $5 bond.
Immediately basic groceries disappeared or increased by 500%.There are no basic items like bread, cooking oil, sugar and fuel.It has been hard to transfer our ambulance patients because we can’t get fuel when we go to town.
Oil went from $3.50 for 2 liters to $15 overnight at our township!The most terrible thing is that Pharmacies closed throughout the country.Our hospital could not buy drugs and suddenly we had no IV fluids, Anti-hypertension meds, pain medications of any kind so we had to cancel t…

Well on Wednesday I left Chidamoyo in the morning with Major and Emily, our visitor who needed to come to Harare to renew her visitor's permit.  I had been feeling bad on and off since the 3rd of September. I had gone on  IV meds at Chidamoyo and felt better for a few days and then fevers on and off.  Finally my urologist said to come to see him in Harare because maybe I was resistant to all the meds I was taking.  By the time we got to Harare and got Emily her visitor's permit and went to lunch my fevers started.  It was a hot day in Harare and I ended up putting 2 jerseys on and still feeling so cold.  We went for my  doctor's appointment at 3 and I stayed laying down in the car.  Major checked me in and the nurse came to the car and called the doctor still doing surgeries and he said go get blood, urine done and an ultrasound and come to meet him at the hospital for admission. We got everything done but the ultrasound which they scheduled for the next morning! Major he…

It has been a few weeks of very busy time for us at Chidamoyo.On August 20 we welcomed a team of Physical Therapy students from University of Washington.We welcomed Ben, Brian,Ellee, Nicole, Elisa, Sam and 3 teachers Sara, Kendra and Lisa.Kendra has been here 3 times and Sara twice, so it was great to have them back again.
The students kept busy with our Rehab Tech, Brighton Kamhuka. They did several teaching sessions with Village Health workers, a workshop for parents with kids who have Cerebral Palsy and went out to some outreach clinics in the area.They saw a lot of patients and helped our Village Health Care Workers to identify people with disabilities.
They also helped with a couple of Well Baby Clinics and did some in-services for the nurses.They kept very busy and enjoyed their time here.
They spent a weekend at Major’s village and ended their time here with a trip to Rhino Camp with Major and then they flew on to Victoria Falls for a few days before leaving.
While they were here K…

We were happy to hear that Carolyn Mereki arrived in the USA safe and sound on Monday the 13th.She had a 5 hour lay over in Chicago which turned into a 9 ½ hour layover as the plane was delayed—but she arrived in Indianapolis in the waiting arms of Ben and Karen Pennington and slept all the 2 hours to their home in Southern Indiana.They took her shopping and out to eat and she was so excited!On Wednesday the 15th they drove her to Grayson, KY where she spent a night with Al and Patty Serhal before moving to the dorm the next day and beginning orientation.She got her room all set up and we talked to her on What’s App several times.She is eating in the cafeteria and enjoying the food.Thank you for all who made it possible for her to go to University in the USA.It took her awhile to get used to sleeping through the night—but we enjoyed it when she was writing us emails at 2 or 3 am her time as we were just starting work here!
This week began our National Conference on Tuesday the 14th, wh…