Rotary World Community Service Team Doing Good in Eldoret

From the director of laboratory services at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Florence Tum:

The Siemens Blood Gas Machine was received and will be installed. The Riley Mother and Baby Hospital now serves 20,000 mothers a year, with approximately 65 births a day including 16 Cesarean sections daily. Over 3000 babies are admitted to the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) annually, with a daily census in the NICU of approximately 100 babies. We operate about 20 CPAP machines (providing continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP) via nasal prongs at any given time. This is used to support babies (many of whom are premature) with respiratory distress. Survival rates are dramatically improved with CPAP. Now they will be able to monitor blood gases on tiny blood drops several times a day in each baby with respiratory distress, which will almost certainly improve survival and quality of survival.

Also, donations have been received of five ventilators. These ventilators are ideally suited for use in an under-resourced setting such as in Kenya. With the installation of the blood gas machine in the laboratory at the Mother and Baby Hospital, they will now be able to consider introducing the ventilators into the NICU this coming year. They will need to train the staff to incubate newborn babies with greater efficiency, and to be able to manage the ventilators effectively.

So we extend our sincere heartfelt thanks to everyone at Rotary for making all of this possible. Especially with all of the other news in our world, seeing the good that is done every day by people like yourselves – with Nick Reich and Kendall Millard, among others leading the way – it is reassuring and uplifting for all of our spirits.