Dankwoord voor de donateurs van Aandacht voor Aids, van Naa Ashiley Vanderpuye, de oprichtster en arts van de kliniek

[woensdag 11 augustus 2005]

Since Cindy returned back to Holland everyone at the clinic has been missing her. Initially I knew Cindy, after staying away from Holland for almost 2 years and looking at how intensive she was involved in so many things in Ghana, I knew it was going to be difficult adjusting to life in Holland again. I therefore decided not to get in touch with her too quickly just to give her the time to settle down.
Even that was not successful.
I kept on getting calls from all sorts of people from all over Ghana about Cindy. Some were in connection with work she had done in the Northern regions of the country, some were in connection with her nutritional booklets, some were just out of concern of people who suddenly had lost track of Cindy. They wanted to make sure she was fine. Some were sad to hear she had returned but were relieved when assured that Cindy will be visiting every now and then.
At the clinic, we have also had to adjust to not having Cindy around.
Cindy left us with some assignments which she had initiated and that was something we were all happy about and I want to update you on all that we have done so far.

Laboratory:

With financial assistance from Cindy, our laboratory got a microscope and a humalizer which we are very proud of. The laboratory however was not in a good shape as it was not in use. One day we all got up and decided to give it a clean up so we could display the very expensive equipments we had received and start using the place. We spent a whole day cleaning and are proud to say that we are all glad with the way the lab looks like and that we have already started using it for certain services. We still need to get a few things to make it complete. Cindy left us with some money to assist in getting some of the things but over time we have realized that there is still more we will be needing. This is however not a reason to stop us from getting the place more and more in better shape.
The only big thing we still need to get is a Full Blood count machine. Then along the line different and more reagents will be acquired.
Currently the following tests are done: HIV, Hep B,C, Malaria, Urine Routine Examination, Pregnancy Test, some basic chemistry tests, widal tests.

Beads Project:

The group of ladies and currently 2 gentlemen doing the beads is going on very well. Many of their products have been bought and are still being bought by visitors of WAAF and IHCC, in many cases foreigners. Many people have also made orders and currently their beads are all over the world.
We have also good news that Marijke Visser who initiated the project of course with assistance from Cindy is willing to intensify her assistance by becoming the main importer of the beads to Holland. The group of course is thrilled about this and it is a very good motivation for them.
I was surprised to see that they now have a wider variety of beads and are coming up with more different shapes, sizes and colours. Two new members have joined, a man and a woman bringing the total group size to 8 and they all work seriously and harmoniously. I am very proud of them and very thankful to Marijke Visser and Cindy for making this possible.

Nutritional Booklets:

I have received calls from various organization, institutions, clinics, hospitals, groups ever since Cindy left requesting for the booklets which shows the great interest. At the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the nutritional booklet is used by the counselors especially for those who turn out not yet indicated to go on ARV's. The booklet is helped to educate them on good food and what to do when problems occur. In some cases the booklets are given out to the patient so they can refer to things. I was very proud to see a patient I had referred to Korle Bu for CD4 count who came back with a still good enough amount of CD4 cells and with the nutritional booklet. It gave me a good feeling.
Hospitals from other regions have also called and said they are very interested in the booklets and will like to have copies.
Clients themselves who go through them always come for further information.

WAAF with assistance from HACI (Hope for African Children Initiative) will be starting a project in the Upper West region of the country. This is aimed at Orphans and Vulnerable Children and HIV positive people especially women. The Nutritional booklets are going to be a very important tool used in the education programmes. We will be updating you on how things are going.
Since Cindy left, lots of the booklets have been collected and the few she left with us are almost exhausted. It clearly shows that there is certainly a need for reprinting. Also taking into consideration the expansion of the programmes to the other regions of the country. If any one has ideas of how to assist us do this we will be very grateful.

The clinic:

We have also made some progress. A nurse has been hired for 3 days in the week. This makes my work a little less busy. The nurse sees to the intake of all patients, the registration, documentation etc. She also sits in all the meetings which makes the care of plan more complete.
We all wear our uniforms now and so have given the clinic the image of indeed being a clinic although we still maintain the patient friendly environment.

We have admitted quite a number of new patients. Many have been patients from other regions who have managed to come to Accra to try and access ARV's since this servive is only available in the Greater Accra region and the Ashanti region. The clinic still faces lots of constraints trying to help such people.

Then of course the taking care of people that have been totally abandoned by their family. In such cases the patients end up on the streets and fall very ill. When brought to us we manage to get them back on their feet but then face the challenges of what to do with them from there.
The numbers of out patient visiting the facility is growing. By the middle of the year we had seen almost double the amount we saw last year. Many are coming from far and have heard about IHCC through friends, relatives, media etc.

The numbers of children is also growing. Fortunately since a few months it is also possible for children to access ARV's at the ART centers. The children that need to go on ART are referred there which gives me a good feeling as I feel much better being able to do more for them.
Every now and then the clinic is faced with touchy stories of some of its patients and then it becomes extra difficult when we have to help such people. I engage myself in individual fundraising and through our support group Health Equity Project HEP we are always fortunate to get some money to assist these very needy people. HEP has partnered with WAAF and IHCC and supports the work of IHCC through various ways.
Financial support to individuals in need through small individual fundraising, advertising for the beads made by the Positive Living Association beads group. This can be found on their website www.healthequityproject.org, referrals of Gays, Lesbians and Sex Workers to IHCC for medical care and treatment. We are proud to be partnering with HEP.

Currently WAAF and IHCC are getting things in shape for a partnership with Stanford University which will enable especially IHCC do lots of research work in various areas of HIV and AIDS. We are looking forward to that and will keep everyone updated on the developments.

We also just heard from Cindy that an organization in the Netherlands has put together some amount of money which they want to donate to the clinic in the form of an ambulance, something that the clinic is badly in need of. The ambulance will take a lot of burden off our clients that have to rely on expensive taxis when they need to go to other hospitals. Also when unfortunately a patient dies, we have had to go through a lot from hiring of taxis at tremendously high prices to using of private cars in transporting corpses. The ambulance will take that burden of the staff.

So like you can all read, IHCC is moving ahead and really wants to expand its services so more derpived people can also have access to some basic medical care. We still face a lot of constraints and the little YOU can do to help will be very much appreciated. As little as 5 euro a month, can save a life of a child or for that matter even an adult. We look forward to your continuous support.

Naa Ashiley Vanderpuye.