Clinic looks Good
In April 2018 when I visited the Clinic at the St. Matthews United Methodist High School in Logan Town, Liberia a suburb of Monrovia, it was complete and fully functioning. It has been receiving electric power from the City, but fresh water is still coming from a well because they have not been permitted to hook up to City water. It was fully staffed with medical personnel and had a stocked Pharmacy. It was operating 24 hours a day-seven day a week. In my three visits there over the week I was in Liberia there were clients at the clinic and their needs satisfied. This was a glorious sight to behold.
Why and When
In 2006, just after the end of the Civil War in Liberia, our Church began to support the High School at St. Matthews. They needed new tin for leaky roofs, a portable generator for electric lights, and some scholarship support for students returning to school after years of warfare. This established a bond and additional needs became apparent. More classrooms were required and we provide funds to build them. Books were needed for a library and we provided them. Moral support and a friendly hand were required and we provided them. Eventually, the need for a Clinic for the School and the community was identified. We prayed over this request for support because it would be a significant increase in our level of support.
What did we do
The plans for this clinic eventually were provided. It was to be built on an empty lot adjacent to the school and the estimated cost was $25,000. This was more than we could provide in one shot but we did agree to support this effort in the amount of $10,000.
A VIM Team was assembled at St. Matthew’s in Bowie with the purpose of providing support for the construction of this Clinic and also to provide support to the school. We organized seminars for teachers, VBS experience for the lower grades at the school, and some career guidance and motivational opportunities for the high school students.
We traveled to Liberia for one week in March 2012 and worked hard.
We help raise the walls for the Clinic to the height of the windows by mixing mortar and carrying cinder blocks.
We showed students how to paint their classrooms and conducted all the motivational programs we had planned. It was a very active week. At the end of the week, we were challenged by the School Principal to raise the remaining $15,000 t0 complete the Clinic. In January 2014 we returned to Liberia with a second VIM Team having raised the additional funds for the construction of the clinic and prepared to work more with the teachers and students.
Because we had sent our funds ahead of us when we arrived we found that the exterior walls of the clinic were completed and the roof installed.
As it turned out the roof was actually funded by local people approving of the construction of a clinic in an area of the city poorly served by professional medical staffs. Our work on the clinic construction consisted of applying stucco to the cinder block walls both inside and out, building frames for the interior doorways and placing sand for
the floor. A wide variety of activities were conducted with the school students and they, in turn, entertained us with their singing. It was a great week of hard work and happy memories
How is it functioning
When we left you could see how the Clinic had been designed and imagine how it would function. Unfortunately the month after we left the Ebola Virus crossed over the Liberian border and in short time the entire country was shut down and all schools were closed. The community around the school, although very poor and living in substandard housing, was not seriously affected. With funds provided by our congregation, specifically trained senior high students from the High School were sent into this neighborhood training people in the sanitation procedures to prevent the spread of Ebola and providing them with the needed equipment for personal sanitation.
The High School has continued to flourish since schools were reopened in 2015. We have continued to provide Scholarship funds each year. We have provided some construction funds for several additional needed classrooms. We also provided start-
up funds for Pharmaceuticals needed to open the clinic. But we have not sent a VIM Team or visitor until this year. Jerry Sumo, the school Principal, did visit our church in Bowie in 2015. In 2016 the Clinic was officially opened by Bishop Innis and approved to operate as a Medical facility by the appropriate Medical Boards.
When you visit now you will be impressed by its cleanliness (Figure14). All the walls are painted in a high-gloss paint, the floors are covered by ceramic tile, and all the trim was painted.
Rooms are clearly marked as to function and equipped and staffed by people to perform those functions. The Nurse in Charge has her own office and serves as the overall supervisor. There are medicines in the pharmacy and lab equipment in the lab for analyzing sickness.
There are separate Wards for Males and Females.
The delivery room is equipped for a Mid-wife to perform her duties and recovery beds for the new Mothers.
What is the future
It is not clear to me what our congregation should or could do next at this school and clinic. There may be some support needed to purchase some additional laboratory equipment and a small refrigerator. It is possible that some support may be needed in the purchasing of pharmacy supplies. But when questioned on this the staff did not raise this as a concern. When the clinic gets running water there may be a need for some plumbing equipment or supplies, but this has not been stated. There is also the possibility that this clinic has been sufficiently provided for by their own operation and the local community and it is time for us to look for a new Mission effort.
Prepared by Peter SaderholmMay 2018