Impact

Serving at Tenwek hospital in Kenya

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Impact

Impact

Greetings from Tenwek,

A few weeks ago we got the news that the Tenwek College of Health Sciences has been approved to offer critical care nurses training. This year-long program will accept about 20 students. My life will look very different this September/October as I will be spending a few hours each day in the classroom teaching the respiratory module. I am looking forward to putting my Bachelors of Adult Education to use in a formal setting. I am hoping in the next few years I will also be able to train nurses in Respiratory Therapy, so getting my feet wet this fall will be beneficial to both the critical care nursing students and me as I look at more teaching in the future. I am also excited about the impact these nurses will have after their training.

Over the years I have enjoyed seeing the influence the training programs at Tenewk have throughout Kenya. A few weeks ago I ran into one of the graduates of our surgery residency. I worked with this individual for 5 years during his training and he is now working at a Catholic hospital close to Mount Kenya. He invited me to come up to do some ICU & Ventilator teaching. The busy week was filled with figuring out the ventilators there and teaching interns, medical officers and nurses. I also really enjoyed watching this recent graduate working as a consultant surgeon, serving a variety of patients. A highlight for me was helping him with the resucitation of a new born baby – this was not part of his surgical training, but being willing to serve, he pitched in and called me up at 6am to help. We were able to get the baby stabilized and I pray she made a full recovery.

Often we have challenging cases at Tenwek and we see a lot of loss, but I have learned to also cling to the joys. We had a lady who was run over by a motorbike – twice. With lots of lung damage we struggled to get her off the ventilator. After a few weeks of tough perseverance we were able to get her off the machine. I am thankful for these wins, and praise God for his work in the patients’ lives. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

God Bless,

Annette Lievaart

Kenya is preparing for Presidentail elections August 9. Please pray for a peaceful process.
A favourite patient of mine with her mom.
Another story of Tenwek's impact. Dr Terer worked and trained at Tenwek for many years and now is the CEO of Litein Mission Hospital. Here we are in front of Litein's new and desperately needed Mental Health Clinic.
Doing simulations with the nurses at Nkubu Catholic hospital.