SUMMARY OF MEAK ACTIVITIES FOR SIX MONTHS TO END OF JUNE 2013

The first six months of 2013 has proved and interesting period for our charity with some very positive aspects to report as well as a couple of set backs.

MEAK has been working in Kenya since 1994 and has been carrying out medical missions since 2001.  We are now recognized as, arguably, one of the most important charities offering free surgery to the poorer elements of the Kenyan population.  One of the problems that have occupied our thoughts for the past few years has been the issue of succession.  Having founded and then run the charity for the last 19 years both Dee and I have been conscious that at some stage we will need to pass the reins on to a younger generation of like minded people.  Happily, we can now see a solution to this problem and several meetings have taken place that will hopefully ensure that MEAK’s valuable contribution to healthcare in that country will be able to continue.

Although neither Dee nor I have any plans to stop working in the immediate future, we have been delighted to have been able to recruit Alexandra Savis to our team.  Alex is an extremely experienced echocardiograph technician who has travelled on a dozen or so of the MEAK heart missions and is passionate about what we do.  She tells us that she is very excited about being more involved with the charity and relishes the challenge of taking over our projects in future years.

Alongside this development, agreement has been reached with our orthopaedic arm, which hitherto operated under the acronym EGHO (Exploring Global Health Opportunities), that the two organizations will fully amalgamate, with the eventuality that the EGHO name will be replaced by MEAK.  This development brings to MEAK an extraordinary organizational and administrative skill-set that has seen EGHO progress from an embryonic idea a few short years ago to the major player it has become in many aspects of healthcare and health education in Kenya.  EGHO is very proactive in training and trauma care and its surgeons undertake many complex and technically difficult orthopaedic procedures during their missions.

During the first six months of 2013, MEAK completed a paediatric heart mission in Mombasa, an orthopaedic mission in Nanyuki, and four outreach eye missions in the remoter areas of Kenya.  Twenty children received open or closed surgery during the heart mission to Mombasa in February.  Twentyfour orthopaedic procedures were carried out in Nanyuki, again during the February mission to that area.  Also, during our four eye missions we screened 3195 people and carried out 209 surgeries mainly cataracts and tarsal plate rotations.  Extensive teaching and mentoring was also carried out by our GRASP-IT trainers during this period.

The above simplifies the bald achievements of the charity in the form of the total of surgical procedures carried out during this time; however, I find that I have great difficulty, when writing these reports, to enumerate the multiplicity and complexity of all the other involvements that occupy our time and energies.  We find that it is almost impossible to confine our attention to the four primary objectives of MEAK ie ophthalmics, orthopaedics, children’s heart surgery and education as there are always myriad other opportunities to help in other areas, many of which are difficult to ignore. These opportunities may be in the form of helping individuals with their medical problems or subsidizing education costs to supporting organizations and groups that have similar aims and objectives as ours.  ‘The Nanyuki–Torbay Health Link Partnership’ is a good example of this kind of cooperation which has enabled us to gain a substantial Government grant to support this element of our work as well as raising the standards of healthcare in Nanyuki – to the obvious satisfaction and delight of the local medics.

I would seek to reassure the reader that the MEAK teams continues to work tirelessly on all sorts of projects in Kenya that match our aims to support and improve the availability of good and safe medicine to the population as a whole.

Rather disappointingly we have been informed by The Mombasa Hospital that after three successful children’s heart surgery missions by MEAK to their hospital, they have decided not to pursue this branch of medicine and accordingly will not be inviting us back.  We are obviously dismayed by this decision, which is apparently on grounds of cost and alleged disruption to theatres and the intensive care unit.  Significant strides had been made by this fine hospital and their staff in the appreciation of the care and rehabilitation of children following open heart surgery and their decision is a terrible blow to MEAK and the PSG group in Mombasa who are constantly looking for ways to save the lives of local children dying from heart disease.  Meantime, we will continue to work in Nairobi whilst we look for another hospital in Mombasa to pick up the baton of this worthwhile and noble enterprise.

In the latter six months of this year we have planned  further heart and orthopaedic missions.  In July we visit Dadaab on the Somali border and in August we return to Turkana in Northern Kenya for a much delayed eye camp. Three further eye trips will take place towards the end of the year.  Most of our missions have comprehensive reports written by the lead participants on their completion and these are available to our readers if required upon request.

Mike Belliere

Founder / Director

M E A K

Back in 2011 MEAK Orthopedic team identified the need  to improve the ability of medical practitioners to recognize the signs of deterioration  in acutely ill patients in hospitals.  A new initiative/ course was put together called GRASPIT ( Global Recognition of Acutely Sick patient and Initial Treatment) and taught at several hospitals in Mombasa, Nairobi, and Nanyuki.

The recent report by Dr. Kerri Jones from the South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust on the success of the latest GRASPIT Course at Nanyuki hospital confirms the importance and effectiveness of the initiative.

“We are just at the end of a really successful week in Nanyuki with the Emergency Department team, paramedics, GRASPIT and Community work teams.  It’s been wonderful seeing the paramedics training Police, boda boda drivers and nonclinical hospital staff in first aid!  No one thought it would happen but it’s been brilliant!  The new ED is open and our ED nurses and doctors have been demonstrating new ways of working and teaching scenarios.  Also we have established a Patient Safety Programme here – this work is really major now in all countries but is as yet relatively unknown in developing world countries despite a big WHO push.  We were also scoping paediatric training needs on the wards for the GRASPIT Paeds and maternity extension courses.  It’s been great and we all feel that we are getting much more effective each time we come out.  We had trainers up from Kenyatta to observe and take part in our work and they will go off and deliver GRASPIT now elsewhere!

I will be back in Nanyuki in November (going on possibly to Kitale) and also in late Jan/Feb – cant wait!”

I am very enthusiastic about this initiative as it complements MEAK’s medical mission work. The missions save lives in the present  and the medical training and education save future lives and effect deep change. It obviously improves the level of care but also offers significant benefits to the practitioners professional lives. It is a very empowering initiative!