Equipping John Phiri’s new hospital

At the end of last month we told you about an email that we had received from our old friend Dr Phiri, asking for equipment for his new hospital. Top of the list were defibrillators, nebulisers and a CPAP machine. For those of you (like most of us) who don’t know what CPAP is, it’s a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure ventilator, which applies a mild but constant air pressure to keep the airways continuously open in people who are able to breathe spontaneously on their own, but need help keeping the airway open.

Well, our supporters have come up trumps yet again! One supporter asked for donations to HHI instead of wedding presents, and has raised enough for one defibrillator. Our friends in Scotland at SFHHI held one of their regular bridge drives, and raised enough money for another. And another supporter has given us enough money to buy two different sorts of nebulisers and the CPAP machine. We’ve bought the equipment, and Jute will take it all out to Zambia when she goes later this month. She is planning to spend a few days at Chipata, seeing the hospital for herself, and finding out how we might be able to help in the future.

The picture shows some of the HHI Management Committee showing off the new equipment.

So thank you, our loyal supporters. We know that we can always rely on you!