KMH continues to be busy and patient satisfaction continues to attract sick people from many surrounding villages. KMH is seeing around 200 patients per week! Dr. Scott and Heidi Smith are heading back over to Kenya at the end of this month (September 22- October 7). They will be joining a team of Chiropractors led by Dr. Dav Neubauer who will be providing care at the clinic as well as outreach to rural villages. In January 2022 we are looking forward to welcoming a group of approximately 30 participants consisting of volunteer students from Colorado and Utah's Rocky Vista University (RVUCOM) campuses, along with Licensed Healthcare Providers and Community Volunteers represented by the Hands for Health Foundation and RVUCOM. This will be the 7th trip, since 2013. The trip is sponsored by the Hands for Health Foundation in Colorado, in conjunction with Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine. We have greatly enjoyed having this partnership with RVUCOM and Hands for Health over the years and look forward to many more years of joint effort in providing care to the people of Kenya.
"What Just Happened?!"
By Heidi Smith
In May Scott and I had plans to go over to Kenya to bring supplies for KMH. We had a lot of luggage and some large items that needed to go into the country. I had been praying that the Lord would get us through the customs area without any trouble. Just a few weeks before our flight we got a notice that our flight had been rescheduled which would result in us having to spend 24hrs in the Paris airport with all of our luggage. This would have been impossible for us to manage! On top of this flight change, we were also waiting on an x-ray stand that was due to arrive a day after we left. But God smiled down on us. I had to fill out an attestation form for our arrival into Nairobi, Kenya, but I didn’t have all of the information on the flights and seats. So I called the airline for the information I needed and once the attendant had answered my questions she asked me, “Is there any thing else I can help you with"? I mentioned to her that we had a rescheduled flight through Paris with a 24hr By Heidi Smith layover. I mentioned I had heard that we would have to collect all of our bags and recheck them the following day. I told her that there was no way we could do that with the amount of luggage we had. So she said, “ Why don’t you reschedule to leave the next day. You will still arrive into Nairobi on your original time.” “REALLY?” I exclaimed. So she made the changes and we were good to go. Because of the flight change our x-ray stand would now arrive in time. God is in control! When we arrived in Paris we saw a couple in the security line ahead of us with the light of Jesus shining from their faces. As we zigzagged back and forth through the line we got to talking with them about the Lord and what we were doing in Kenya. As it turned out, they also were going to Kenya for mission work and had a lot of luggage themselves. When we arrived in Nairobi and got to the baggage claim area I saw them again. I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to go ask if they would allow us to come in under their paper work for their mission (as we didn’t have any papers). They said, "Absolutely! Just follow us.” When we came to the custom agent we were stopped and questioned. “What is in all those bags?” They started to list what we had and they had. Then came the question, ”What is the value?” We had no value to give. The customs agent took the gentleman back to the office (aka the Bribe Room) to discuss the value. Thirty minutes later he came out with a note of how much he had to pay to the bank for the value of the luggage. I walked up to the gentleman and asked how much we needed to pay and he responded, "I got this.” What Just Happened?! All of my prayers were answered. Praise God! I then thanked the couple and told them that they would be part of my testimony.
Employee Spotlight
By Dr. Scott Smith
Teresiah “Tess” Muthoni is the nursing officer at KMH. She has been with us since our doors opened in March, 2021. Volunteering to help out on weekends, Tess is a dedicated, motivated, enthusiastic and empathetic person, just to mention a few of her attributes. Tess was motivated to become a nurse after watching a close relative suffer from a long term illness and her observations of poor care and mismanagement by the staff at a certain hospital. The experience gave her the desire to alleviate suffering in patients.
“Every nurse was drawn to nursing because of the desire to care, to serve or to help. For the desire to be fulfilled we have to find an opportunity to heal the mind, soul, heart and body of our patients. They may forget our names but they will never forget how we made them feel. My best part about being a nurse is getting to see a patient walking out of my place of work in better shape than when they arrived.” - Tess
I am proud to say that as an organization we have stepped up in a big way and we are delivering a high level of quality care with safety as our top focus. The Maasai community depend on us to provide outstanding health services and are praying for us to grow to a bigger facility for all their health concerns to be attended to without need for referral. I am also proud of the board of directors and everyone working day and night to make sure Kilimanjaro Mission Hospital runs without challenges. It’s because of your support that we are able to be productive and deliver services as per our hospital affirmation.
CHAI TIME STORIES
by Beret Meyers
Everyone who has ever been on one of the medical trips with KMH will have a particular moment that sticks in the memory for a long time, but those memories are not always the same for everyone. I would like to take you back quite a few years to a day, and well long night, that we had during one of our medical missions, where if you were on that particular trip it is definitely a memory that has stuck with you and I'm sure you have enjoyed telling to someone! In 2013 our group took a trip out to a very remote village called Meshanani. We had taken the long way out to avoid going through Amboseli National Park. The trip took us 3 hours to get out to the village due to rough terrain. We spent the day seeing patients as normal, but we had so many people to see that day that the day ended up being very long and we weren't able to close up clinic until just before sunset. We knew we would be getting home late for dinner, but what we didn't anticipate was an incoming storm! Now if you have ever travelled on dirt roads you know what happens when they get wet, really wet! Our caravan consisted of a few four-wheeled vehicles, a large box truck we lovingly refer to as the "Tata", and Dr. Smith's personal vehicle a small little Suzuki car. The Tata holds 23 people and is capable of going over any terrain wet or dry with careful driving, the Suzuki is fun to drive over dry terrain, but almost always needing a push out of the mud, and of course the 4x4's should be good in most cases. As dusk settled over us the first of the rains began. It wasn't long before it was pitch dark and the roads (for lack of a better word) began to become sloppy mud pits. This particular night also happened to a be moonless one. So imagine you are trying to navigate through the savannah, where there are lots of lions, and hyenas, and leopards (Oh my!), and then your vehicle gets stuck. Yep, stuck! So not such a big deal for a small vehicle when you have some 4x4s to help pull you out, except for the whole part of having to get out of your vehicle with the unknown around you. And then imagine that you are on the tata and you have to get out in order to make the tata light enough to get though the treacherous path, because of course there would definitely not be any "pushing it out"! I don't recall for sure how long we had to be outside the safety of our vehicles, but I will tell you it wasn't just a quick hop out and get back in. There was some walking through the tall grasses (to avoid sliding in the mud on the "road"), some tears, and lots of anxiety before we had gotten all the vehicles through this particularly muddy section and we were able to continue home. Our return trip ended up taking us 6 hours to get back to our accommodations, arriving around midnight. We were so very grateful to the staff who had dinner waiting for us at the late hour. Thankfully this was a unique experience and not our normal day to day! It just so happens that we have a video from that evening. You can watch it on YouTube at https://youtu.be/E3SWP112UeA
Wellness Tips
Healthy Habits
Replace "bad" habits with healthy habits for a healthier you! Stopping a "bad" habit can be hard or short lived for many reasons, so here are some tips to help you succeed after you have identified the habit that needs to change.
Have a good reason for why the habit needs to stop.
Make sure the desire for change is personal and not someone else's desire.
Choose a good habit to replace the bad habit.
Remove the triggers associated with the bad habit.
Find support! Find a friend, family member, or group who can be a positive supporter.
Give yourself time and take those baby steps.
Habits don't change overnight!
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