First Sea Container Sent
Saturday, July 23rd was a very hot day In
Independence, Missouri. It was also the
day when about 25 people from all over the metropolitan area gathered at the
Independence Regional Health Center to help us move and pack used
medical equipment and supplies to the shipping dock at the South Tower. That meant putting heavy hospital beds and
dollies full of equipment from the 6th, 7th, and 8th
floors from the North Tower into elevators down to the first floor. Then it was necessary to push, pull or lug
the items almost a city block to another set of elevators in the South Tower
and go down one additional level. Then
we had to conquer a maze that would have driven any lab rat totally crazy to
find the actual loading platform.
Once there, the items were checked off one by one and
placed in a 40 foot high cube sea container in temperatures reaching well into
the 100s. There is no way that the
Foundation, or anyone else, could afford to pay people to do that kind of
work. Yet I heard not one single word of
complaint during or after about 6 hours of hard labor. That is what I call true dedication! Their only pay will be the satisfaction they
can enjoy in knowing that the shipment of medical equipment and supplies will
make a very important and positive contribution to improving health care to our
brothers and sisters in the human family who
happen to live in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Our best estimate of market value of the contents
amounted to $188,205.00!
The shipment departed on Monday, July 25th
with an ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) in Addis Ababa about 60 days
later.
However, as fate would have it, every ocean transfer point went like clockwork and the
container is expected to arrive the first week of September.
I anticipate flying to Addis Ababa on September 17th
in order to be present when the container clears customs and is trucked to
Saint Yared Clinic. Saint Yared Clinic
is the name chosen for the comprehensive
health facility which we anticipate will be up and running before the end of
the year. It will have only 12 patient
rooms but, as mentioned in our previous newsletter, will have a laboratory, six
examination rooms, six (or more) restrooms and showers, a conference room,
record storage area, reception area, nurses’ lounge and a doctors’ lounge.
It represents Phase I of our hopes of building a new 100
- 200 bed hospital in the near future to be known as Saint Yared General
Hospital.
We estimate the contents our first container will provide
approximately 85% of the total equipment requirements for the new clinic, i.e.
beds, night stands, dressers, mattresses, pictures, cabinets, chairs, rockers,
examination tables, etc.
However, it should be noted that the source of cash
required to lease the space and construct the necessary build-out work for a
full floor of a building still under construction has fallen totally on the
shoulders of two individuals: Dr. Akeza Teame and Mr. Sisay Shimelis, both
Ethiopian born naturalized American citizens.
Their sustained and unwavering
dedication to help improve the health care of people in their land of
birth is truly exemplary. Frankly, they
have just about exhausted their total
present financial resources to this project.
While it is not the responsibility, nor the intent, of the Foundation to invest in
bricks and mortar or to cover the operating costs of the Clinic or the future Saint Yared General Hospital,
I am sure that enquiries, particularly from members the Ethiopian diaspora in
the United States, who may have interest in becoming co-investors in this
worthwhile project would be welcomed.
You will be interested in knowing that another member and
Secretary of the Foundation’s Board, Ms. Nancy Shields, will be on her way to
Addis Ababa for a four month stay leaving Independence on the 13th
of September. While her reason for
spending time in Ethiopia is not directly related to the Foundation, her
presence in Addis Ababa at the publicity activities associated with the arrival
of our first shipment will be very helpful.
When she returns to the States her increased depth of knowledge gained
from such an extended time in the country will also strengthen the
Foundation.
Gift From IRHC Auxiliary
Not be outdone by the generosity of HCA, the
owner/operator organization behind the Independence Regional Health Center
(IRHC), their Auxiliary organization has voted to give the Foundation
$5,000!
That is a huge amount which represents hundreds of
volunteer hours at the Gift Shop and other fund raising Auxiliary
activities. We wish to thank all of
their members with particular appreciation to their President JoAnn White, Charitable
Gifts Committee Chair Doris Humphrey and Volunteer Coordinator Lisa Dye.
The roots of the
Auxiliary stretch back many decades to the time when IRHC was known as “The
San” and was the first hospital built in Jackson County, Missouri. In 1996 it was the recipient of the
prestigious Auxiliary of the Year Award granted by the Missouri Hospital
Association.
Again, there are no words adequate to properly express
the depth of our appreciation and thanks for their wonderful support. However, they, possibly more than many
others, will appreciate the depth of meaning in the Foundation’s slogan,
“Recycling for life.”
Health doesn’t insure happiness, but there’s not much
happiness without it.
Ethiopia Health Concerns
Ethiopia is girding for its greatest fight ever against a
looming epidemic of malaria. Several
regions throughout the country are reporting 4 to 10 times more cases of
malaria as the average for the past two years.
Cerebral Malaria can kill a person in 3 or 4 days if it goes
untreated.
Emergency drugs for 2.5 million, in a population of 70
million, have been imported to help stave off the anticipated outbreak which is
expected to start as early as September, i.e. this month. The cash stripped Government has budgeted
U.S.$10 million to mount defensive health measures, but it is dependent on
foreign aid for 90% of that amount.
American citizens, as they should be, are very sensitive
at this time to the human suffering caused by the recent hurricane
Katrina. For comparison purposes one
should note that Ethiopia continues to face massive food shortages with an
estimated 9 million people facing starvation.
Political Situation
Ethiopia, as a developing nation, has had an exemplary
record of honest and open elections. Former
U.S. President Carter was an official observer, as was Amnesty International,
at the national election held a few months ago and gave it a clean bill of
health.
Elections in Addis Ababa a few weeks ago resulted in a
new mayor and several new city officials.
This election generated a very critical analysis, including charges of
widespread fraud, by the European Union.
These charges have been vociferously refuted by officials in
Ethiopia. In fact, the tensions have
become so severe that some fear it may strain the otherwise good
Ethiopian-European relations that have reigned for years.
Sisay and I, possibly accompanied by our local legal
counsel, will do our best to meet with the new mayor and other newly elected
city officials during my stay in Addis Ababa in order to cement the good
relations that have been developed in the past with their predecessors.
The health of a democratic society may be measured by
the quality of functions performed by private citizens. – Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)
