The Javea Health Post
Health was obviously a fundamental project. Because it was also to be made available to be used by other villages in the area, it was going to take a much longer time to plan and fund-raise.
From October 2002 until November 2005 we raised money, involving many more events and reaching out to very many more supportive people.
By this time we had enough funds to start our preparations for a Health Post. A Nepalese, 2-storied house came available for us to rent. The village work force made alterations to the inside and put a water supply in place. They made as much of the furniture as they could, beds, shelves, nurse's desk and seating.
Armed with a long list from Dr. Gerda Pohl of 'Phase', Jack and I shopped in Kathmandu for the rest.
We bought a treadle sewing machine [reminding me very much of watching my mother sew when I was a child]. With the help of Nepalese ladies we sewed mattress covers, duvet covers, pillow slips and curtains for the Health Post and the nurse's room.
Helping Hands, a Kathmandu based clinic, ordered all our medicines. My work in Nepal for this phase of the project was then over.
Jack had everything transported to the Health Post, part of the way by lorry and then carried by very willing villagers and put in place. The committee with the help of Dr. Pohl appointed a nurse and she moved in with a 'Phase' nurse staying with her for a few days.
Our Health Post was opened on February 16th, 2006
It has a reception room and pharmacy, an examination room, a store room and the 4th room is the nurse's living quarters.
The Health Post now supplies health care and medicines for the common illnesses. Visits to the local school are arranged to check on the children's general health and care of teeth. Simple dentistry can be carried out if necessary. Our dental instruments were supplied by my friend and dentist Mr. Robert Chapman of Kingston Park Dental Practice, Newcastle.
The health care provision includes vaccinations for the children and Family Planning requirements, supplied free of charge by the government.
Post-natal and ante-natal care is also available, and the birth need no longer be left in the hands of non-professionals on the floor of their house. If a difficult birth is forseen, an admission to a hospital in the nearest town can be arranged.
An experienced 'Phase' nurse will visit our Health Post occasionally as support for our nurse, who can attend training courses which Dr.Pohl gives regularly for her nurses when she is in Nepal.
All these things must in some small way decrease the mortality rate from childbirth through adulthood.
We must raise enough money now to invest so that the nurse's wage and any shortfall in the medicine bills can be met for many years to come, hopefully from bank interest.
