Update from Curran Hospital

A report from ELCA volunteer Edna Johnson, who has been serving at Curran (Zorzor, Lofa County, Liberia) since Fall 2004:

Since the beginning of 2005, clients visiting the Curran clinic in Zorzor have been paying a nominal fee for service and the  more expensive drugs. The clinic has seen a decrease in the number of clients but an increase in the number of acutely ill persons; the demand for short term stay beds has increased.  In order to meet the demand, renovation has started on a building for short stay clients.  A majority of clinic clients come from villages less than a three hour walk away.  The most common disease conditions are malaria, acute respiratory infection, intestinal parasites and sexually transmitted infections.

The community outreach team has visited 18 villages since the first of the year. During the visits two children were identified as being malnourished. Yassah was 15 months old and weighs about what you would expect a 3 month old baby to weigh. The child could not stand or walk. Yassah had become ill and the child’s grandfather advised the mother to stop breast feeding the baby because the breast milk was causing the baby to be ill. We referred the child to a feeding center where she will be cared for and the mother will be taught how to feed Yassah.  The second child was a neonate who had developed diarrhea. The mother has been bringing the baby to the Zorzor clinic for weekly monitoring.  The baby is now gaining weight.  

Generally, most people at this time are well nourished.  However, the rainy season has started early.  In March, farmers normally brush their farms and burn them so they are ready to the planted in April.  This year it has rained almost every day and the farms are unable to burn their fields.  Farmers are concerned that the rice crop this year will be small.  Most families depend on the rice harvested in the fall to feed their families through the year. 

In addition to its regular health care work, the Curran team has been involved in the World Health Organization’s program to eliminate polio from the world.  The campaign is a massive effort to vaccinate every child from birth to five years of age in Liberia with the polio vaccine.  Curran Hospital is a major participant in this project as part of the Lofa County Health Team; four weeks out of the first quarter of the year the focus of the team has been on the polio campaign.  In round one, a team of two health workers went house to house in all of the 47 towns in Zorzor and Saylaea Districts identifying and  vaccinating eligible children.  Round two started April 8^th. Besides administering polio vaccines the team will include a dose of Vitamin A.

As a follow up to our visit to the community of Balaqualuza last December, Curran Health Services and the towns in the Buluymea Clan are working together to build a new clinic.  The people of the clan have produced over four thousand mud bricks, cleared the site, hauled river sand and gravel for the construction of the new clinic. In addition, the clan will be providing all of the labor. Curran has developed an engineered drawing of the building, applied for a self-help grant to cover the cost of the rest of the building materials, and will be monitoring the construction.  Hopefully the new clinic will be constructed by August.

As for the Curran campus itself, a second request for funds to renovate the hospital outpatient department and laboratory has been submitted.  A third proposal has been developed for laboratory equipment and will be submitted in the near future.  Renovation of the hospital is planned in stages.  The first stage will include the outpatient clinic, the medical laboratory and the short-stay building mentioned above.  The cost of renovating these areas is estimated at US$52,205, excluding furniture and equipment.  In addition, a reassessment of the main hospital building will be completed by the end of June 2005.  As soon as that reassessment is completed and dollar costs are assigned to renovation plans, donor commitment will be sought for the maternity unit, operating room, all private rooms and offices.  

In the meantime, Curran is searching for physicians who would be able to volunteer their service for a minimum of three months or longer.  Our most urgent need is for primary care physicians, pediatricians, and obstetrician-gynecologists.  (If you have interest, please contact the ELCA Division for Global Mission, 1-800-638-3522).

Lofa County has now been declared “safe and secure.” Refugees and internally displaced people are moving back to the towns and villages.  One example of the movement can be seen in the attendance at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Zorzor.  In November the weekly attendance was about 30 to 40. Now attendance is over one hundred every Sunday.  Wherever you look you can see the rebirth of towns and villages.

As Curran Lutheran Hospital Health Services looks to the future we envision becoming a center of excellence for primary health care in Liberia.  Building on existing strengths we plan to design programs that will focus on the health care need of mothers and young children. 

Funds being raised to rehabilitate Curran Hospital -- click here for more information.