News from Nairobi: Wrapping up at MAKWK clinic

Saying goodbye is always so tough, especially when you’re not sure if you’ll ever see people again. I have spent the majority of my time working at/with MAKWK clinic and have met such great people!

I held the last “Young mothers’/Young women’s” group about a week ago. It is amazing how the group grew! When Louise and I first started this meeting 12 weeks ago, we had 7 attendees. The group grew to a constant attendance of 20-25 women! We discussed topics such as: HIV/AIDS: opportunistic infections; family planning; breast and cervical cancer; self-screening practices; pre-natal care of mother and child; STI’s; nutrition; and first aid. Experiencing the women open up and discuss issues was exciting. This comfort to speak openly allowed many questions to be raised and shocking “myths” to be dispelled. A definite step in the right direction!!

I am happy with the other projects I have worked on at the clinic. Although small in comparison to all that the clinic needs, I know that I have at least made their work a bit easier. I have created 6 different forms/spreadsheets that will drastically reduce the workload at the clinic:

1 – I created 4 spreadsheets for quarterly reporting to the Ministry of Health (MoH). Originally, one of the men (Micah) would draw, with pen and ruler, various charts for reporting patient data; disease occurrences; inventory; and financial balance sheets. This would take him about 1-1/2 days to “draw”, plus then inputting the data. Now with the spreadsheets I have created, this quarterly task will take him about 90 minutes.

2 – I also created a daily tracking sheet of all the common diagnoses. With everything detailed on one sheet, their weekly, monthly and quarterly reports to the MoH will be much simpler.

3 – Finally, I developed a Patient Information Form (Louise helped with the original draft). After many meetings/discussions with the staff and several versions, we came up with a form that all employees are satisfied with. This form will be completed by all stages of a patient’s visit (i.e. registration; Nurse assessment; lab testing and results; Nurse diagnosis and medications from the Pharmacy.

Much of the above information was being recorded by 2-3 different individuals. Now, the information will be recorded once (using a checklist) and will move with the patient through the various stages of the clinic visit. These forms will be kept on file and become the patient’s record(s).

NOTE: To my past co-workers…yes, I have continued the LEAN journey here in Africa!!

John and Agri

The employees at the clinic are all Korogocho residents (past and present), and are the example of true human kindness and dedication. They work 6 days a week to help their fellow “slum inhabitants” and earn at most $30 a month. Although lacking in most equipment; medication; and training in some cases, they do their very best to provide whatever service they can to the sick that visit MAKWK clinic. They are led by a man, John Kimani, who is truly an inspiration. I believe he is my new lifetime friend!!