When En-darasha…
…do as the Endarashans do.
Wednesday was a very busy day for the Mashavu team. As a follow-up to a previously scheduled meeting, Katie Briggs, Renee Stepler, Sarah Fucci, and James Bock of the education team met with the former Chief Nursing Council of Kenya, Mrs. Margret Ngure. During this meeting the team was surprised to learn that there are currently a large amount of unemployed nurses in Kenya and many of these nurses are having a difficult time finding employment. This piece of information brought up an interesting discovery, many of these nurses who are qualified and willing to work could serve as Mashavu kiosk operators. After previously meeting with many nurses and doctors who would be assessing the case from the website we have found that the kiosk operators must be qualified and certified nurses, Mashavu could serve as an effective solution that addresses the problem of unemployed nurses in Kenya.
Further discussions with Margret revealed that Mashavu has potential to be used as a public health tool in a number of ways. Currently, the Kenyan government administers free vaccines in hospitals. Margret suggested that a Mashavu station could be used to administer these vaccines because qualified nurses would be working at them. This would save the patient time and money if they do not live near a hospital. Margret stressed the importance of preventative health and if Mashavu were to evolve into a working system a long-term plan must be developed with an emphasis on preventing disease and illness. One suggestion was to host awareness for a specific ailment (e.g. HIV/AIDS) every month to get the community engaged and educated on important health topics.
The portion of the Bio Engineering team that did not attend the visit to the Outspan Hospital worked on formulating new questions to be asked at their respective device stations. These new questions were based off of the past experiences at Mweiga and at CYEC. The questions were rehearsed and discussed later that night for use at the clinic in Endarasha the following day.
Meanwhile, a team consisting of Anthony Zmoda, Khanjan Mehta, our driver Kabu and Sister Purity embarked on a trip to scout out the site for our second Mashavu community testing center in Endarasha. The goal of the trip was to introduce ourselves to the staff members at the clinic where Mashavu was to be held, and explain to them what resources would be required for us to set up. We also needed to go over specific details about what Mashavu offered the community. Luckily, the site was a complete 180 from what we found in Mweiga last Wednesday. It was a site that was both indoors and outdoors, and sufficiently covered if it was to rain. There was adequate seating for a proper queue, even if the number of patrons we encountered exceeded our capacity. We would able to put bioe devices in separate rooms, which would aid the flow of patients quickly and effectively. We were told that it wasn’t going to be a market day when we were to be setting up, so we knew that the crowd would be easy to be controlled. The team left the site feeling confident with the facility.
Lastly, the Web Development team, along with parts of the Bio Engineering and Education teams, was busy this Wednesday traveling to the local private hospital, Outspan. The reason for this trip was to understand and ascertain relevant information regarding healthcare in Kenya, through the local doctor’s eyes. We were able to gather a plethora of information regarding the kiosk system, the doctor interface system (iPath – telemedicine interface), and the pulse rate device. Some relevant data that we collected were: necessary vital statistics needed to diagnose a patient, relationship between the caregiver and the doctor, pertinent steps to gain permission for testing the Mashavu system while avoiding confrontation from the government, and qualifications for the caregivers who are utilizing the kiosk.
We talked to a lot of important people in the Hospital including: Dr. Stephen Ojive – Consolata Misson Hospital (Nyeri), Jack Kihumba – Hospital Administrator, Alex Kuria – IT Director, a doctor, and many others. Some other important information that the doctor suggested was for us to use a top-down approach when implementing our Mashavu system. He suggested that we pick a provincial or ministry establishment, and then provide then with the necessary education to make our system sustainable. They were very excited about our system and said they would use the Mashavu system themselves once implemented. The staff at Outspan was also very amazed by the capabilities of the devices that we are using and the software that’s integrated with our system.
Post Written By: James Mesta, Anthony Zmoda, Jonathan Sauer
