Yendi
Our Friends in Yendi
The Yendi hospital is a regional hospital that serves over 250,000 people. Serving this region is one physician, Dr Ayuba. With his small staff of nurses, Dr Ayuba loves and serves the people of Northern Ghana. The hospital itself receives little support from the local government. As you can imagine, having only 1 surgeon serving a population of 250,000 can be a little overwhelming. During malaria season, the hospital can be at 400% capacity. At any given moment, the hospital has hundreds of surgeries backlogged.
That’s where we have been able to come alongside and provide resources.
For over 10 years now, a group of doctors, surgeons, medical professionals, and other passionate professionals have come alongside the hospital, Dr. Ayuba, and the hospital staff to provide resources, training, and relief. Because of other partnerships, we have been able to connect them to medical professionals stateside (Mercy Virtual). We have provided them with hospital equipment (donated by Mercy, BJC, SSM). We have trained hundreds of midwives. We have built the first ICU of the region and given them a proper recovery room. We’ve completed hundreds of health screenings… all because of our love for our partners on the ground.
The Childlife Program
Yendi District Hospital treats approximately 7000 children annually. When children are admitted to the hospital, their average length of stay is 2.4. Unlike the experiences we are used to in the Western world, children in the hospital in Yendi may be taken care of medically, but only medically.
With the support of the MISSION:318 Child Life Launch Team, our Yendi-based child life advocates have been able to provide emotional support and therapeutic play beginning Spring of 2020 to help decrease the stress and anxiety that often accompanies hospital visits for children and families. The program’s purpose is to provide a caring and supportive environment for pediatric patients and their families by encouraging normalization during hospital stays or visits. Through reading, hands-on activities, and developmental play, pediatric patients are able to focus their emotional and mental energy on being a kid, which allows their bodies the room to heal.
Edna Piawuni, our Child Life Supervisor shares: “Most important for me is the impact of these interactions on the childrens’ health. There has been significant improvement in the response to treatment in the children's ward, which has been attributed to the participation of children in the child life program.”
Profiles
Ayuba
Doctor Ayuba Abdulai (commonly known as “Ayuba”) received training at the Yendi District Hospital early in his medical career. During this time he found out that there were no physicians available or willing to care for the people in that region; only a dedicated hospital staff. The hospital serves Yendi and surrounding rural areas, a region that is home to roughly 250,000 people.
Ayuba knew in his heart this was wrong. It wasn’t fair that these people would be forgotten, without access to healthcare. He resolved that he would move to Yendi and act as the region’s sole dedicated physician.
Dr. Ayuba is the sole physician, who is OB/GYN trained trained in gynecologic surgery and had intended for that to be his specialty. However, the needs of an entire region demand he provides other essential forms of care, including pediatrics, infectious diseases, and acute general surgical conditions. There’s no backup physician–only Ayuba.
When you support MISSION:318, you provide substantial help and relief for Dr. Ayuba, hospital staff, and the families they serve.