The
Hospital
What it looks like these days!
The Glen C. Olsen hospital opened for business during my last visit in October, 2004. It wasn't really READY to open, but it's first patient, Abenezer, was presented and it was decided that he would not survive the night or the trip to another hospital. After prayer and the quick sterilization of instruments, the surgery was done and his life was saved. Abenezer lives at Project Mercy now and is one of the shining stars among the House Kids.
BUT, I DIGRESS.....even before showing you the HOSPITAL! It was dedicated to the community early in 2006 with a very impressive array of African and American dignitaries. Before the ceremony a great deal of landscaping was done and the grounds are SO beautiful!
The front of the hospital is where the patients gather each morning.
The building is actually quite large and surrounds a wonderful courtyard in the center of the complex.
See more pictures of the inside from 2004
From the porch of the hospital, one can see
the driveway into the property and beautiful iron gates
(made in the iron shop, of course).
The plants and flowers
alone should make a sick person feel better!
For proper drainage, this system was built.
Who would have thought a
ditch" could be made so beautiful!
The mountains look different every day and everywhere you look the view is SPECTACULAR.
Since my last visit industrial washing machines, dryers, and ironing machines have been installed at the hospital. Since AIDS is such a prevalent worry, Marta and Deme have also imported a crematory for the disposal of medical waste. I believe this is the only device of it's kind in Ethiopia, if not all of Africa.
We learned that the country people are generally NOT willing to donate blood, even for a spouse, child or parent! When we learned that it was up to the family to find donors before a surgery could take place, several of our group donated blood for patients already waiting.
THANKS,
Debbie & Tammy!
Both of these brave ladies gave blood that was used to save lives THAT VERY WEEK!
I didn't get many pictures this year of the inside of the hospital. I loved the cute decor of the Children's Ward, tho!
Very near the hospital are several small apartments for doctors and other hospital employees. Very soon after the hospital opened, the quarters were filled to overflowing and apartments meant to house one couple are now occupied by up to FOUR employees! Ground was recently broken to build more apartments....
The original quarters appear on the left side of this picture. The new apartments will be double-decker duplexes.
The first time I visited the building site, I THOUGHT they were ready to start pouring the foundation.
Little did I know that there was much more excavation to be done and that there was such a HUGE number of enormous rocks to be removed! No access to heavy equipment, either. Each rock much be removed by "stretcher"....many have to be broken first into small enough pieces so they can be lifted from the hole.
BACK-BREAKING
WORK!