In Kenya: A Mission to Serve
By Sister Mary Okumu, Hospital Administrator, Our Lady of Lourdes Mutomo Mission Hospital
Mutomo, located in eastern Kenya, is a semi-arid area. It is rural and very dry. There are more donkeys on the road than cars or motorcycles. Our Lady of Lourdes Mutomo Mission Hospital is the largest employer in the area. While we do have banking and government institutions, most people in Mutomo are not employed. Many rely on farming and raising cattle, including goats and cows. The farmers rely on the arrival of the rainy season, but it is very unpredictable, especially in recent years. When the rains come, the farmers here will have a good harvest, but there are many years when the rain skips Mutomo. This is when an already difficult life becomes even more challenging.
“We know that poverty is associated with ill health.”
Generally, the people here are very poor, and we know that poverty is associated with ill health. Many of the health issues here are related to water, especially waterborne illnesses contracted through the consumption of contaminated water. Our Lady of Lourdes Mutomo Mission Hospital serves the local population as well as the whole sub-county, which includes nearly 200,000 people. The mission hospital is the only hospital in Mutomo District, so we serve as a referral hospital for the smaller district health facilities. That means that virtually any patient that cannot be handled at any of the smaller health facilities in the sub-county will be referred to us for care.
Mutomo Mission Hospital is a partner in CMMB’s Children and Mothers Partnerships (CHAMPS) initiative. The focus of CHAMPS is, of course, women and children. The children we see at the hospital often suffer from malnutrition and upper respiratory diseases. The women may come to see us with hypertension or diabetes. Many of the mothers have reproductive issues and we are lately seeing cervical cancer which is a great health concern. We see many obstetric emergencies because so many of the women live very far from the hospital. When they have emergencies, then to rush them here for care becomes a challenge.
CMMB supports Mutomo Hospital with donated medicines, vitamin supplements, medical equipment, professional development and training, and medical volunteers. The CMMB volunteers are very valuable for the mission hospital. In my experience, you cannot comparevolunteer service to a service that you pay for. It would be impossible for the mission hospital to add additional doctors to the staff if they required a salary. Even if we had the means, it is difficult to bring medical doctors to Mutomo because of the remote location. The volunteer medical staff bring expertise and specialties we may need, like surgery or internal medicine. The volunteers bring knowledge and training that they share with the staff, but I also believe they learn from us as well.
“Community health workers are our ambassadors.”
CMMB is well known in our community because CMMB works in the community. The community health workers reach the women and children who need care. By making local people part of the continuum of care, CMMB is able to penetrate and deliver services that have an impact. Community health workers are leaders, recruited from within the local community, and when you’ve won him or her over, you’ve won over the community. Community health workers are our ambassadors. We support them, and they support the health initiatives and provide important feedback directly from the women, children and families they serve.
The mission hospital has been here a long time, and it is an important part of Mutomo. The difference between a government or private hospital and the mission hospital is our mission to actually serve. Part of the care we can give is spiritual because we are associated with the church. There is more to caring for a patient than giving medicine. When they come to the mission hospital, patients know that a Sister will be merciful. A Sister will have a heart. A Sister will be able to give you medicine when you don’t have money, you can bring it later. A Sister will be able to feed you. They are also assured that they will get quality care. In Mutomo, we believe that the mission hospital has won the hearts of many with a mission to love and serve.
“There is more to caring for a patient than giving medicine.”
Mutomo Mission Hospital has partnered with CMMB for more than ten years and we have really grown during that time. Through our partnership, it has become evident to us that CMMB is an organization that is really willing to bring quality healthcare services and love to the patients we serve. In terms of capacity building, support and wishing that things go well, we know that CMMB is interested hearing from the hospital and the community what our most pressing needs are, and how they can come in and help. By partnering very closely with CMMB and the Kenyan government, we are working together to make sure that quality health services are able to reach mothers and children, wherever they are.
Dr. Amollo and Sister Hellen Clare create a culture of compassion at Mutomo Mission Hospital.
Contributor: Sister Mary Okumu is a Sister of Mercy and the hospital administrator of Our Lady of Lourdes Mutomo Mission Hospital in Kenya where she has worked for ten years. The mission hospital was established in 1964, and currently serves a catchment area of 200,000 with a capacity of 124 beds and more than 100 employees.