The CareNow Foundation was established in late 2005 by Ed and Wendy Bjurstrom after they visited a number of rural villages in Africa during trips there in 2002 and 2004. During their visits, they found many people not only suffering from HIV/AIDs, but many who were in great need of the most basic healthcare services.
Their trip to Africa in 2002 had a profound effect on both and Ed and Wendy, and stirred their desire to do something about the need they witnessed. In 2004, Ed recognized the need for a career change and decided to leave his position at Amgen to begin the next stage of his professional life. In some way, he wanted to help address the African HIV/AIDS crisis. Based on his years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, he explored various approaches to providing access to treatment for AIDS patients in Africa. After a frustrating year of effort, he shifted his focus to working with existing medical clinics in Africa to help them be more effective in their work and began to seek ways to help communities start new clinics where none existed. CareNow was born out of an urgent desire to make a difference NOW, not talk about how we might make a difference in the future.
Ed and Wendy’s trip to Africa in 2004 was particularly important for them to understand the healthcare crisis in Africa at a hands-on level. During this trip they visited Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. They met with doctors who treat AIDS patients, visited hospices, AIDS clinics, rural clinics, pharmaceutical manufacturers, hospitals and people dying of AIDS in their mud huts with no access to medical treatment.
In many places, people had very limited access or no access to any kind of medical care, much less access to AIDS treatment. However, in every community and village they visited, they found people who were doing their best to help their neighbors. Often this was the poor helping the destitute and dying. A typical example of this was Dawn Leppan, a nurse in the South African community of Valley of 1000 Hills. This area has been particularly hard hit by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Dawn was working in a tourist gift shop 4 days a week to make the money to run a clinic one day a week in order to serve her dying neighbors.
The CareNow Foundation was born out of a desire to help community heroes like Dawn Leppan be more effective in providing healthcare services to those in need as well as support the establishment of new clinics where none currently exist.
Timeline of the CareNow Foundation
August 2005 - CareNow was incorporated in the State of California as a non-profit organization
December 2005 – CareNow files with the IRS for 501 (c) (3) status as a public charity
February 2006 – CareNow receives 501 (c) (3) status approval from the IRS
April 2006 – CareNow announced its initial African projects as follows:
- Establish healthcare programs in the remote community of Kipushi in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a partnership with World Vision.
- In partnership with the U.S. based Lily of the Valley Endeavor and the African organization, Lily of the Valley AIDS Orphanage, CareNow will helps to establish a new medical clinic in the Kwa Zulu Natal region of South Africa which will serve the orphanage as well as the surrounding community.
- Support the establishment of a new mobile in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, as a partnership with medical personal from Action Zambia.
November 2006 – CareNow moves its official headquarters to new offices located at 5706 Corsa Avenue, Suite 200M, Westlake Village, CA 91362. Representatives of CareNow travel to South Africa and Zambia to visit on-going projects.
June 2007 – SafariNow Fundraising event hosts 150 people at the Moorpark Country Club and raises awareness of the medical needs of rural communities in Africa.
July 2007 – CareNow initiates support to the 1000 Hills Community Clinic as our second project in the Kwa Zulu Natal region of South Africa.
August 2007 – The Zambia Mobile clinic relocates from Lusaka to the rural region of Sinazongwe, Zambia, and begins to provide care to the Tonga people of the Zambezi Valley. The mobile clinic will operate out of a mission base as a partnership with Missionary Ventures International.
October 2007 – CareNow announces an expansion of the Board of Directors with the appointment of Dr. Peggy Pence and Ms. Paula Williams.
November 2007 – In partnership with Giving Children Hope, CareNow shipped $750,000 worth of equipment, supplies and medicines to South Africa to help establish the Lily Medical Centre in the rural KwaZulu-Natal region.
December 2007 - CareNow announces an expansion of the Board of Directors with the appointment of Ms. Cassandra Williams.
May 2008 - CareNow hosts its second annual SafariNow fundraising gala at the Moorpark Country Club with the theme “SafariNow: A Passport To Hope.” Nick Vujicic was the keynote speaker for the evening.
May 2008 – CareNow sponsors a “Walk for Africa” event where 50 walkers in Santa Monica raised $5,000 as well as awareness of the desperate need for medical care in Zambia. Later this month, medicines valued at over $40,000 were shipped to the mobile clinic in Sinazongwe, Zambia.
June 2008 – CareNow announces the expansion of the Board of Directors with the appointment of Chris Faherty, RN and Mrs. Anne Kennedy. Medicines valued at over $40,000 were shipped to 1000 Hills Clinic in South Africa.
July 2008 - The grand opening of the Lily Medical Centre was held on July 29th in the township of Mophela in South Africa. The CareNow Foundation provided equipment, instruments, supplies and medicines to completely outfit this new clinic. Several CareNow volunters attended the grand opening.
August 2008 – Two members of the CareNow Board of directors, Chris Faherty and Anne Kennedy, traveled to South Africa and Zambia to visit our projects and volunteer their services at these clinics while visiting.
November 2008 – CareNow announces a new partnership with Mission Medic Air in Zambia to serve the healthcare needs of people living in remote areas of Zambia.
December 2008 – CareNow announces an expansion of the Board of Directors with the appointment of Dr. Edward Maliski and Sally Maliski, PhD, RN.
January 2009 – Equipment and supplies from the Zambia Mobile Clinic are transferred to Mission Medic Air to continue to provide medical care to people living in remote areas of Zambia. The Sinazongwe medical clinic will cease operations. Susan Hundshamer, RN, plans to return to the United States to obtain an advanced degree while Stephanie Brink, midwife, plans to continue to serve the healthcare needs of women in Africa after a sabbatical in the United States.
February 2009 – CareNow announces an expansion of the Board of Directors with the appointment of Susan Hundshamer, RN.
March 2009 – CareNow announces a new project to assist the Tanzania Christian Clinic in Ngaresh Juu, Tanzania, in establishing a new clinic to serve the needs of this rural area of Tanzania.