January 8, 2016

Dear Ministry Partners,

Warmest greetings and best wishes from the administrative team and staff of the Ganta Hospital family. We are genuinely pleased to give account of our stewardship at the Ganta United Methodist Hospital and to present our plans for 2016.  The year under review began with series of administrative transitions coupled with the burdens of repositioning the hospital within the post Ebola restoration plans and the hospital’s own inherited challenges.  We thank God Almighty for giving us strength and wisdom to be able to report the progress made thus far. While remaining committed to the ongoing renovation, service improvement and restoration works, our focus for 2016 is to promote and improve customer service at the hospital under the theme- “Compassionate Caregiving”.  With this plan, we are partnering with the Faith and Deeds Ministry to provide a wonderful, compassionate, Christ-centered Customer Service Training for our staff.

Emmanuel’s Story

My name is Emmanuel Kpon Saye, a registered Nurse. I was hired in September 2015 and I am honored to serve as Supervisor of the Diabetes Clinic of Ganta United Methodist Hospital. During the Ebola Crisis, our diabetes services were very limited.  We had to shut down our education, counseling, and follow-up services.  This situation caused many of our patients to develop complications.  My first day on job, I received 5 diabetes emergencies with all of them (patients) in diabetes ketone acidosis (DKA). Before admitting these five, we already had three (3) patients admitted with this same condition.

There are lots of myths about diabetes in Liberia. One myth is that diabetes is contagious.  Another is shrouded in superstition with the belief that diabetes is a curse on the individual.   Education about diabetes is important because many aren’t aware that it is a manageable illness.  We have resumes our daily counseling sessions, screening, and vigorous diabetes health education both in the clinic and during weekly chapel teaching time. We also invite patients’ relatives and primary care givers for clinic health awareness.

Mr. Louis Wehyee is one of my patients.  Afraid of “catching diabetes”, his wife left their home when he was diagnosed with diabetes in January 2015.  At his request, I invited Mrs. Wehyee to listen in on our health talks and take part in our awareness sessions at the clinic.  Gradually she began to understand diabetes and she returned home to her husband and children.  I felt very fulfilled and humbled!  What came to my mind is that compassionate care brings holistic fulfillment to the healthcare giver and the patients being served.

Services Provided:

The following treatment areas/services are provided: Out Patient/Ambulatory Care Clinic, Dental Clinic, Diabetes Clinic, HIV/Aids Clinic, Mental Health Services, Community-Based Primary Health Care, Orthopedic Clinic, Surgical Services, X-ray and Ultrasonography services, Emergency/ Triage, Laboratory, Prenatal Clinic, Labor and Delivery and In-patient Wards.

Progress / Achievements, 2015:

• Salary arears inherited from 2014 for 2 months were paid. Salary payment is current as of December, 2015;
• Revamped the sanitary condition and general facelift of the hospital. IPC (Infection Prevention and Control) assessment teams from Ministry of Health and other organizations/agencies graded us in poor IPC compliance during the first half of 2015.  Revisits of the various IPC teams gave us very favorable marks;
• The renovation work on the physical structures of the hospital is very improved. We have replaced the window screens, patched roof leakages, painted most of the walls, retiled most of the ward floors, renovated the bathrooms and created some bathrooms where they were non-existent, repaired and/or replaced ceiling tiles, and improved the deplorable plumbing conditions;
• Improved fiscal and material management by hiring an experienced Chief Accountant in November 2015. The Chief Accountant is effectively implementing a Board approved fiscal management plan;
• Drug Revolving Fund Scheme established and functioning well, thanks to Imagine No Malaria grant funding;
• We are in compliance with our 2015 Operational Plan and have begun work on our 2016 Operational Plan;
• Our staff redundancy plan is on course, we were able to lay off 12 of the 35 staff in August. Total follow through with this plan is dependent upon fund availability to pay the targeted staff their redundancy benefits;
• We are in the ongoing process of identifying cost effective ways to cut costs in the face of limited budget. To this, we are utilizing our land resources by identifying trees that can be sawed into lumber to make furniture.
• We are in the process of renovating and expanding our Record Room to enable electronic record keeping;
• We created a website (gantahospital.com);
• We have decreased our outstanding debt burden (accumulated prior to 2015) by $18,500.00 USD;
• Imagine No Malaria funds helped us achieve our goal of establishing a Drug Revolving Fund and upgrade our laboratory diagnostic capabilities;
• Christian Dental College supported our dental services by sending a dental surgeon;
• We have strengthened our internal and external partnership support connections.

Partners contributions:

All these achievements outlined above could not have been possible without the support of our partners:

Local Partners:

• Gompa District Churches provided local food items throughout the year to the hospital to feed our patients;
• Nimba County Administration donated $20,000.00USD from the County Social Development Fund to help with our renovation efforts. This was used to expand our Record Room;
• Ministry of Health (MOH) supported with post-Ebola restoration fund ($300,000.00 USD), 1 ambulance, and 1 standby generator. Through its County Health office, MOH provides support for training, vaccines, HIV Aids supplies; and malaria medicines/supplies;
• The Government of Liberia (through pronouncement from the Law Makers) allotted $250,000.00 USD as subsidy to the hospital for the 2015 – 2016 fiscal year;
• District #1 Representative, Hon. Jeremiah Kpain Khong, personally donated a used ambulance to the hospital
• The Chief Justice of Liberia, Hon. Francis Korkpor, continues to provide 100 gallons of diesel fuel monthly. This is a blessing because our fuel consumption is so huge such that our operational fund cannot absorb all;
• Christian Health Assoc. of Liberia (CHAL) contributed cash, training support, commitment to construct a fence, construction of a permanent triage and incinerator, renovation of post-partum unit, and drugs contributions ;
• International Medical Corps (IMC) provided training for our midwives and essential medicines and equipment;
• Africare provided financial support for our community based primary healthcare program;
• Project Concern International (PCI) provided materials and labor to paint and sanitize our Eye Center and electrical wiring to extend our electrical access throughout our compound;
• Plan Liberia provided mattresses for our hospital beds;
• Faith and Deeds Ministry provided Customer Service assessment and support with the goal of conducting intensive customer service training in 2016.

External Partners:

We are humbled by our church’s mandate to provide Christ-centered, quality (but affordable) health care for a population of over 450,000.  As a not-for-profit organization, Ganta Hospital cannot afford to solely rely on the local intake that are not regular.  Further, the hospital’s “affordable” fee-for-service falls far below the costs of services provided.  Even with the minimum charges, some of the struggling rural subsistence farming families cannot afford to pay the full amount. Therefore, the management is mostly left with no alternative but to waive those fees. This situation requires that the hospital seek external supports to mitigate this gap in revenue generation while also realizing management must be creative in identifying self-sustaining services in the hospital to minimize reliance on outside supports. We are therefore pleased to report that contributions (of funds, supplies, equipment, etc.) from our partners helped keep the hospital stable and fully operational for the reporting period:

• Global Health/Imagine No Malaria
• General Board of Global Ministries Advance Special and all local churches and individuals supporting our Advance Special (#15080N)
• East Ohio Conference
• North Carolina Conference
• Illinois Great River Conference
• Rocky Mountain Conference
• Stop Hunger Now
• Curamericas Global
• Germany and other European Partners (led by Mr. Siegfried Ziegler)
• Virginia Conference
• Baltimore Washington Conference
• Indiana Conference/Operation Classroom
• Detroit Conference
• World Diabetes Foundation
• Life For A Child (diabetes treatment support)
• Christian Dental College- Ludihana
• Plan International

Sustainability strategies for 2016:

• Strengthen our fiscal and material management protocols;
• Strengthen our pharmacy management through the ongoing improvement of our Drug Revolving Fund Scheme;
• Upgrading our diagnostic capabilities in the laboratory and radiology departments;
• Recruiting an experienced OB/GYN specialist to head the Maternal and Child Health Unit;
• Continuing our building improvement (renovation and grounds).

Challenges/Opportunities to support us:

• The systemic deplorable plumbing condition of the hospital requires urgent attention. The 1926 plumbing has outlived its usefulness and needs present-day plumbing materials. Even though we have improved the bathrooms by replacing fixtures, tiling and flooring, most of the departments and bathrooms are still without water running through the sinks and commodes;
• The hospital has 8 separate buildings, some of which still maintain the roofing done in 1945. Every year we do patching repairs on the roofs and replace the ceiling tiles damaged by the leakages. This approach is not cost effective. With the pending rainy season (April through October), replacing the clay tile roofs has become urgent and necessary;
• There is a need for a volunteer bio-medical engineer to come and repair our malfunctioning bio medical equipment and install other donated equipment that we have not been able to get a technician to do. A staff person will work alongside the volunteer so he/she can learn how to maintain the repairs/installations;
• To support our ongoing electronic reporting and tracking systems, there is need for a volunteer IT specialist to come and help us establish maintenance protocols for our computerized equipment;
• Our outstanding debt burden ($233,000.00 USD) accumulated prior to 2015 is an ongoing concern.

 2015  Statistics

2015 Financial Overview (Stated in USD)

NOTES:  *  Includes a one-time Ministry of Health (government) grant of $300,000.00 USD

               **  Balance carried forward to 2016: USD $70,961.05  (36% is general funds and 64% is designated funds)

SUPPORT OUR WORK

We invite you to support our Ganta Hospital Advance Special #15080N. 

Please consider coming as a volunteer and share your presence and expertise which strengthens our health care delivery. We love hosting you and building long lasting relationships.  We are thankful to all our partners and to our dear Bishop, Rev. Dr. John G. Innis, our UMC leadership staff, and our UMC Health Board leadership for all the support and guidance. Together, our mission can be fulfilled.  Please keep us in prayers and may the good Lord bless and guide all of us!!

Sincerely,

Patrick M. Mantor

pmantorm@gmail.com

Advance Number 15080N  (www.umcmissio

A little over a week ago, we received an ocean freight container comprising very essential hospital equipment and supplies from our partners in Germany.  One of the most critically needed items was the incinerator.   Waste disposal has been an ongoing challenge for us.  With our own resources, we were able to only construct crude, temporary ground based waste disposal pits.  These pits are not environmentally friendly nor are they consistent with national and international sanitation standards.  But, it was the best we could do.

In recent years, local organizations like Christian Health Association of Liberia (CHAL) and the government of Liberia through its Ministry of Health stepped in to strengthen our efforts by providing funding to improve our waste disposal system.  However, even these improved methods aren’t sufficient to accommodate the volume of waste produced on a daily basis in our struggle to provide health care in a resource poor setting among a rapidly increasing population.  Given our financial constraints, we found ourselves again using crude, temporary measures by creating additional ground dug pits. The provision of the modern incinerator from our German partners assures us that together, with the help and support of partners, resource challenged facilities like Ganta Hospital can meet international safety and sanitation standards!

      We have a moral and ethical mandate to provide Christ-centered, quality (but affordable) health care for a population of over 450,000; mostly consisting of subsistence farming families in rural, northeastern Liberia and along the borders of Guinea and Ivory Coast.  We are a regional referral hospital.  Access to health care in Liberia is challenged by poverty, poor or non-existent roads, low levels of literacy, and dramatically insufficient numbers of health facilities to meet the needs of a growing population.  Discerning creative and resourceful methods to address ongoing healthcare needs in a resource challenged setting can be stressful and daunting.  Our strength is this:  We know our efforts are guided by Christ and with the prayers of the faithful, and support from all our partners, we will humbly fulfill our mandate.  We believe this.

During the past four months, we have focused on improving the overall sanitation and safety in our hospital buildings and campus.  We want people who access our hospital services to experience our compassionate care in a safe and sanitary environment. Our recent efforts have involved provision of effective waste disposal sites, physical plant improvements such as re-screening all windows, provision of screen doors, roof repairs, painting strategic parts of the hospital, repairs and renovations of bathrooms, masonry repairs, replacement of rotted wood and timbers, removal of excessive foliage on hospital grounds to prevent conditions conducive for breeding mosquitoes (to control malaria).   Also, we trained our janitors and general staff on infection control and prevention methods.   Creating a safe work environment is our primary goal in improving our service delivery.  The ripple effect is a beautiful face-lift to the hospital which restores confidence among our public, thus encouraging greater client access.  We heavily rely upon fee-for-service to operate the hospital.

With our own resources, coupled with local and external partners support, we will do all we can towards achievement of our goal for renovation and sanitation improvement.  We still have a ways to go.   Our most prioritized needs now are to replace ceramic floor tiles on our various wards and modernize our Labor and Delivery Ward to prevent cross infections among our new born and their mothers.

We invite you to support our efforts with your prayers, notes of encouragement, material and supplies contributions, volunteering and financial support.   Please support our Ganta Hospital Advance Special #15080N.  Consider coming as a volunteer and share your presence and expertise. You may use Global Ministries’ website: www.umcmission.org  to electronically send a donation for our project support- Ganta Hospital Advance Special #15080N. You may also mail a check directly to Global Ministries.  Write “Ganta Hospital Advance #15080N” on the memo line of your check and mail to:

Advance GCFA ; P.O. Box 9068 ; New York, NY 10087-9068. 

Thank you so much!  A comprehensive newsletter covering the current quarter (July-Sept) will be sent in October.

Humbly yours,

Patrick Mantor, Administrator, (pmantorm@gmail.com

Ganta United Methodist Hospital