Hospitals are complex.
The image of patients on gurneys, swiftly pushed through corridors by doctors in scrubs and pulled by nurses, do not tell the full story. There is a backstage.
Behind the drama of life-saving teams at work are critical resources hidden from the public eye. These are built and managed by workers with specialized training, without them and what they supply, patients’ chances for survival are greatly reduced.
Our work in rural Zimbabwe illustrates the need for essential backstage experts, efficient systems, and critical resources.
Three familiar resources we can easily take for granted are water, oxygen, and communications, all need competent personnel to run well.
Sufficient water is basic to hospital cleanliness and therefore patient safety.
Hospitals need more than clean water; some equipment requires distilled water. Medical oxygen must flow at controlled pressure in all levels of a hospital before it is further finely regulated for any one patient.
Failure of water and medical gases supply anywhere in the world endangers lives, or worse, paralyzes hospital operations.
Secure intranet and high-speed internet give the modern hospital instant consultations and reports from investigations; patients receive help from near instantaneous data flow.
Well-resourced hospitals employ specially trained engineers to service and support these core utilities including refrigeration and air conditioning. Telecommunication engineers are on call from service providers.
In under-resourced parts of the world, church owned hospitals depend on volunteers or hire expensive contract-based outside help. When this help is not available; patients suffer on account of late diagnoses, hospital-acquired infections, or delayed treatment for lack of operating room oxygen.
We are looking for volunteer specialists in telecommunications, electronic engineering, solar power systems, and water engineering to come alongside church owned hospitals. We want to improve telecommunication infrastructure and to improve existing backup electrical power supply. Our partners in Zimbabwe are limited in what they can do for patients because they do not have reliable power supply, they lack dependable internet connectivity, and at one location, inadequate water supply is limiting infection control. It is essential that we do what we can to remedy this situation. Thank you for partnering with us.
You can learn more about service opportunities in Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso by email.
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1.Hosea 2:14-16
2. Isaiah 39 & 40
3. Isaiah 40:27
4. Hosea 14:8-9
All Scripture references are taken from the New International Version (NIV)
Feature image: photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash
A physician and surgeon in his native Kenya, Peter has a passion for Christ-centred healthcare and has a wealth of experience both hosting and sending short-term mission teams.
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