UpdateNow!
September 2010
CareNow is pleased to announce that Michael Kazmer (far right), from Thousand Oaks, CA, and two of his fellow bicycling enthusiasts, Tim Thompson (left) of Santa Barbara, CA, and Scott Teter (center) of Carpinteria, CA, will be biking for CareNow from September 25th through the 30th. They will be riding from San Francisco to Thousand Oaks in a fundraiser called BIKE FOR AFRICA 2010!
Michael believes in the work that we do in Africa, and is taking this journey to raise funds for CareNow. Michael tells CareNow, "I am thrilled to be aligned with an organization whose sole purpose is to bring basic (and I mean basic) healthcare to rural areas of impoverished Africa." Michael and his friends will be biking 480 miles. Donating 10 cents per mile ($48) would help treat 10 to as many as 20 patients at a clinic in rural Africa!
If you would like to make a donation in support of Michael and his efforts, please click here or go to our website at www.carenowfoundation.org and click on Get Involved, noting a donation for Michael Kazmer in the tribute area. Checks can also be mailed to CareNow Foundation, PO Box 878, Agoura Hills, CA 91376. Thank you Michael and friends for all of your support to CareNow!
The CareNow Foundation is sad to announce the untimely passing of 22 year old Jason Konings. Jason was an enthusiastic volunteer with Mission Medic Air in Zambia, and was an expert at repairing items used in the bush like Sister Marta's motorcycle at the Chalabesa Mission Hospital. He also liked to travel on trips with Mission Medic Air and serve wherever needed, stopping to play with children or tend to patients. Jason will be sorely missed by the Mission Medic Air team. Condolences to his parents, Mission Medic Air pilot Brian Sice and his wife Renee.
When Ken and Margie Walton (directors of the Lily of the Valley Children's Village and Lily Medical Centre) came to visit the USA in June, we discovered that the children did not have access to any vitamins due to the exorbitant cost of children's vitamins in South Africa. More importantly, even the children who are suffering from AIDS and really need these vitamins cannot afford them. CareNow partnered with Blessings International (www.blessing.org) in order to provide these much needed children's vitamins to Lily in August. Thanks to our wonderful volunteers who helped us to package the vitamins, and to team members from Redeemer Church in New York and Lily of the Valley Endeavor (LOVE) for transporting them to South Africa for us. Here is a note of thanks from Sister Sihle, the nurse at Lily Medical Centre:
"We are very thankful, medication is very expensive to buy, especially the vitamins, and yet we need them to boost the children's immunity. We always encourage mothers to buy them for their children even as a prophylaxis from minor illnesses, however in the community that we serve only very, very few can afford. Your support in everything is very much appreciated not only by us as Lily staff but mostly by the community of Sankotshe, Mophela, Mid Illovo, and the surrounding areas that we serve. Please see the happiness in the faces of the children as they each received their monthly supply of vitamins. Thank you again and God bless you as you continue to bless others."
Dr. Helen Ho, attending Emergency Physician at White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles, and Delaine Perry, RN, traveled to South Africa in April to the Valley of 1000 Hills Clinic. Armed with medicines and supplies donated by Conejo Valley Community Church and the Conejo Valley Free Clinic, they spent five days working with the medical personnel and community caregivers, teaching and assisting them to better serve their patients. Helen writes,
"We accompanied some of the home care workers and the driver on an acute ambulance call for an elderly woman who was short of breath. We found her sitting on a chair on the bottom of the hill that the ambulance actually had trouble reaching due to the rigorous terrain. I cannot see how it would have been possible for her to have reached the hospital without the help of Dawn Leppan and 1000 Hills Clinic, nor what would have happened to her without their help. We picked up three other people on that same transport with 2 other impromptu visits in between with patients that Sister (Nurse) Dlamini recognized. We crammed eight people into the back of that ambulance to the point that we could not fit another person (keep in mind the elderly lady was stretched out on the gurney). Imagine this was just one day, and one transport. There are so many other stories on that same transport; the elderly senile lady who didn't want to be evaluated because she didn't want to be taken away from her home and thus her independence, even though she was clearly unable to take care of herself, and the elderly man with emphysema (undiagnosed) who didn't have an inhaler."
Helen and Delaine also recognized the rampant hypertension that prevails in the region due to poor living conditions. Says Delaine, "Residents of 1000 Hills go to their government run clinic, but the clinic is out of medication. Sometimes my thoughts can be jaded after MANY years in the emergency setting where people disregard instruction on how to care for themselves. But, my heart goes out to people that put forth the effort to improve their health but cannot find help. I talked to many people who walked miles to a government clinic, only to find they had no medication for their high blood pressure." As a result of their experiences, Delaine and Helen started a program called "Sponsor a Hypertensive" to provide support to two patients (initially) with life saving blood pressure medicine. As we gain experience with this program, we hope to expand to many more in need. Special thanks to Helen and Delaine for their effort to travel to South Africa at their own expense to support CareNow and the 1000 Hills Clinic!
