Chidamoyo Hospital in Zimbabwe

On Monday we received a new visitor  for the next month from Gig Harbor, Washington.  He is Michael Miller.  He is a surgical tech at a hospital in Tacoma that one of our alumni's works, Lindsay Tozier Storby.  She suggested he come here and now he is here.  He is going to University of Washington, working on his pre-requisites to go to Medical School.  We have put him to work with the other visitors.  This morning we were unpacking boxes from our last container and he was able to sort the O.R. equipment for us. While he was sorting instruments, Abbey was taking things I unpacked to the different departments.  She has been enjoying watching surgeries, going to vaccination clinics and helping me with some of my research paperwork.  I have really appreciated her being here. Caleb and Amanda left at 0400 to go to Harare yesterday with our driver to get their visa renewed for another 30 days.  They spent the day running around and doing errands with the driver.  They got some sho

This past week we continued to do a lot of hernia surgeries and also an open removal of a prostate by the urologists. Dr. Palleschi shared with our staff in our Continue Education meeting this week on some urology issues. Their team of 3 nurses helped with out-patient vital signs, went to an ART/Immunization clinic to help us this week. On Sunday evening we welcomed Abbey Carson a senior in High School from Seattle, WA who has been doing her college prep to become a nurse.  She has been following Caleb and Amanda, doing some paper work in our ART clinic and seeing lots of deliveries and surgeries.  She is here for her whole summer--until September. The urology team kept busy all week and enjoyed some hiking around the mission.   Jeff taught some classes at the school (he teaches in Santa Rosa) and James, his son and a medical student who starts this fall kept busy at the hospital and went to outreach clinic with us. My sister, Sylvia, worked doing a lot of vital signs at our ou

On Sunday the 5th of June a team from Santa Rosa, CA (my hometown) arrived.   Dr. Palleschi, Dr. Duckett (urologists), Victoria, Sylvia, Lynn (all nurses) Jeff  (father of James) and James (starting med school in the Fall)  arrive ready to help our urology patients.  They have been doing some surgeries, seeing patients and enjoying their time here.  Dr. Palleschi has been with us 4 times now and Victoria 2 times and Sylvia is my Zimbabwean sister who lives in my hometown with my family as her family. Part of the team went to an Immunization Clinic on Thursday and enjoyed being with the screaming kids, giving injections, and polio and Vitamin A drops to the kids after weighing over 300 kids!  They were very tired when they came home that night. We have been very busy on Tuesday and Thursdays which start with CD4 blood draws.  We have kept Caleb and Amanda busy drawing blood and visitor Lynn drew with them this week. We have been enjoying watching the NBA finals here.  They are o

Check out an article on one of our outreach clinics on: https://www.buzzfeed.com/ joncohen/want-to-end-aids- this-village-in-zimbabwe- knows-how?utm_term=.kcmr9A8Vk# .sgQy5KlPY

Julie left on Wednesday morning ( we miss her!) and Wednesday evening we had a team of 5 from Mashoko Hospital and then another hospital board member arrive for dinner.  We had a start of a 3 day meeting with our AS HE IS board that oversees our 3 hospitals and 3 clinics in Zimbabwe.  It was our time to host the meeting.  Thursday, Makonde hospital joined us for breakfast and then a tour of the hospital and our meeting and lunch.  So we had 17 for breakfast and lunch Thursday.  Then they went to Major and my village  in the afternoon and then back for dinner.  Friday morning we had breakfast and they left after devotions at the hospital.  We got the food on the table in time, and still got our patients seen at the hospital, which was so busy!  Everyone had a great time. This week the company we bought kitchen cabinets from came to install them.  This is for our newly rebuilt kitchen from the fire we had in 2013.  We are going to buy appliances and some wiring we need to finish off