01 May 2016

HEALTH COMMITTEE ST. PATRICK DISPENSARY

FAREWELL

       At the center of this picture is Judy Walter.  I attended the Committee meeting for St. Patrick Dispensary with Fr. Gabriel Dolan and the Kenyan members in March.  Judy helped to open this clinic in June 2011 in Bangaladesh, the poorest informal settlement (slum) in Mombasa.  She has just moved to Tanzania and will continue as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner.  She has retired from nursing and will be helping to open a House of Prayer.  We already miss her greatly but are thrilled that she will continue to serve by opening new doors in this year of Mercy!

     Last year I had a 17 year old girl with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.  She was attending a clinic about an hour away from Mombasa and she always came with her father...both very simple quiet people.  I had never seen Lucy smile.  She was extremely thin and although we provided all of her care free she never gained an ounce over 9 months.  I would take them in my car on the way home and drop them them off to walk a long distance to their remote village.  It was just before Christmas and her dress was so thread bare and tattered I wanted to buy a new one for Christmas. But I knew that the whole family would need clothes and this just wasn't feasible.  I had been given two big papaya fruits and as she got out of the car I gave them to her...the only thing I had at the moment. It was the first time I saw her smile.  What she, and the whole family, needed was food.  

     We transferred her care to St. Patrick Dispensary where they had a feeding program.  Even though she and her father had to get in a boat to go there it was actually closer to their village!  She was put on the feeding program and linked up with Nora, the social worker.  Nora is young, vivacious and could get her to talk. Lucy has now gained 12 pounds and looks beautiful.  Her diabetes is better controlled and she has a support group of people her own age to meet with.

     Who would think that a clinic in a slum would be helpful to someone as poor and sick as Lucy.  The group of people in this picture is testament to what can be done when we care about the health care of others, especially those most in need, work together and spend money for the purpose for which it is intended.   

      I give a great deal of credit to Judy Walter.  Everyday she got on public transportation which is hot, noisy and reckless to go to work.  She battled with the local government to get support for medicines and supplies.  She never succeeded despite the fact that her clinic provided the only health care for 50,000 people.  The government has no health facility in Bangaladesh.  She built up a staff of caring competent health workers who put the patient first and go look for those most in need.  My role was to support and advise them when I would come once a month for a clinic.  It is one of the best run clinics in the Archdiocese of Mombasa and I looked forward to working with them every month.

HAPPY FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER

MAY WE NOT ONLY PRAY BUT WORK FOR PEACE