This month we’ve decided to leave
aside the story of our adventures in health to update you on some significant changes taking place in
Dayasagar Health Services. In the following paragraphs you will find
information about 1) a Crucial Merger,
2) Decentralization of our Ambulances, 3) Expansion of Community Based Care , 4) Relocation of Our Base of Operations and
5) our upcoming plans to visit America.
HIMserve Merger
Since
our arrival in Kaffer in the fall of 2009, we have been cooperating with
community groups, NGO’s, religious institutions and the government to expand
health services throughout the region.
From the very beginning, our hope was to partner with a local
institution and enhance its services rather than form, yet another, organization. A broad spectrum of groups have benefited
from the services we provide/trainings we give and have supported us on an
ideological level. But until recently we
were unable to forge a deep mutually beneficial partnership with any particular
organization. As a result we found
ourselves struggling under an
impossible burden, juggling the administration and implementation off all our
projects singlehandedly. Additionally,
as our projects grew the need to fully legitimize our operations through a local
registered body became more and more urgent.
The demands were becoming so pressing, that soon I would’ve had to
completely stop all field work just to attend to official matters.
We were
first introduced to a Siliguri based NGO called HIMserve in the fall of 2010
and have been working together in the field since spring of 2011. Last year, we conducted several medical camps
in conjunction with this institution and teamed up to give 8 months of training
to 12 community health volunteers in the Buxa Duar region (located on the
border of Bhutan). This year we’ve
joined forces again to train 10 more candidates in the isolated area surrounding
the village of Lungshel. Working
together, we were surprised to find that our mission and vision nearly identical. The few existing differences compliment
rather than conflict with each other’s work.
While we have gained ideological and vocal support from almost every
corner, HIMserve is the only body to have consistently set to work with us in
the field.
On
March 20th, HIMserve’s Board of Directors voted to accept a proposed
merger with Dayasagar. This decision
will significantly reduce our administrative burden freeing us to focus on the
implementation of our existing programs.
Additionally, many processes (e.g. receiving foreign funds, paying
taxes, auditing) will be streamlined and legitimized by merging with an
established domestic body. We will
retain control and responsibilities for all existing and ongoing projects. This mutually beneficial partnership comes at
critical juncture for HIMserve as well.
HIMserve’s founder, Anne Herr, will be retiring and returning to Germany
this April. She spent 16 years serving as
a nurse in Nepal as well as 14 years in North Bengal. The organization has been under local
leadership for several years but no one had been found to replace Anne’s role
in advising and coordinating the Health Department. The organization had advertised this
position for years, domestically and internationally, with little success. Amanda and I will assume Anne’s role in the
organization and hope to lead the program on into new territory. Providence has brought us all together at
just the right moment to answer our independent prayers. Without this crucial merger, each of our health
programs would have faced an uncertain future.
HIMserve works to bring
holistic transformation to the communities it works in. By uniting fractured bodies of faith and
teaching them their spiritual duty to address the needs of their community. The organization is bringing a broad spectrum
of change to our region. They train and
equip villagers in the formation of Village Development Committees and Self
Help Groups, in Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Teacher’s training, Child-to-Child groups,
Income Generation Projects and Community Health. Learn more at www.himserve.org
Decentralisation
of Emergency Care
During
the early stages of Dayasagar’s Emergency Medical Service, the vehicles were
centred at the base of operations in Kaffer.
Constant supervision was required.
Now that a reliable staff has been developed it is time to decentralize
the vehicles to improve response time and regional coverage. The “Donkey” has provided an invaluable
service to the community through the Matri Yaan and provides free transport to
around 20 labouring mothers a month.
Unfortunately, after its placement at Git Dabling the response time to
the Nimbong area increased significantly.
Several mothers from this region have delivered en route and many
emergency patients have experienced a delay in reaching definitive care. To counter act these problems the “Elephant”
will be offering its services based out of Nimbong/Barbhot starting in June.
In
2008, while still living in Daragaon, we felt the need for rural ambulances in
a very personal way. Since that time
we’ve hoped to bring an ambulance to the Rimbic/Daragaon region. Sometime this year, a rough vehicle road will
reach the village. Many other changes
are taking place and the time is right to station an ambulance in the
area. We are working with our old
friends in the Red Star Social Club to make EMS a reality in this isolated
corner. Starting in July, the “Rhino”
will begin to service the Git Dabling region based out of the PHC and the
Donkey will be transferred to Sepi (the end of the paved vehicle road below
Daragaon). This decentralisation will
provide access to a much larger populace and significantly improve our quality
of care.
Expansion of
Community Based Care
Over the last few months I’ve
been working to revamp the Swasta Kendra in Daragaon. Anu, having recently returned from her nurse
training at Navjeevan Hospital, has helped to bring about significant change in
a short amount of time. A new ceiling is
going in as well as tiles in the kitchen.
The transformation is deep enough to require a “Re-opening Ceremony”
which will be held at the end of May.
Additionally, last year’s Home
Nursing trainees have returned to their villages and we’ve been working with
their communities to establish health centres.
In addition to Kaffer and Daragaon’s centres, March saw the opening of
Tsering Lamu’s centre in Chuikim and Biren’s in Git Kolbong. The Health Department has become interested
in these centres and there is a legitimate hope that they will be recognized
and converted into Government Health Sub-Centres.
Relocation of Our
Base of Operations:
2012
has brought about a massive shift in our time and focus. The majority of our time and attention (as
described above) is now spent on communities other than Kaffer. The Matri Yaan program has provided free
transport to Government hospital for labouring mothers. As a result the birth centre will probably
only see a handful of deliveries this year.
Our little home based clinic continues to see 5-15 patients a day but
the majority of these cases could be cared for by Binita. She is the current school nurse for St.
Stephen’s. We mentored her during the
fall of 2009 after which she attended the Home Nursing training at Navjeevan
Hospital.
Since
our trip to Delhi in December, we have frequently discussed all of our programs
and evaluated their worth. After much
consideration, we decided that our activities in Kaffer itself were the least
important of our endeavours. Kaffer’s
level of need is relatively low and as a result our work has not received the
cooperation and support we often find in more impoverished communities. Having recently forged a strong partnership
with HIMserve and assumed responsibilities in the oversight of its Health
Department, we’ve decided to relocate our centre of operations to
Siliguri. This will give us an
opportunity to have a close working relationship with the staff and share in
camaraderie/spiritual community (which we have been sorely lacking over the
years). This time will also give us an
opportunity to develop our training and awareness materials which is the core
of our work. Before leaving Kaffer, we
will work to hand over our health centre to the community so that its services
may continue under local leadership.
On a practical note, the shift to
Siliguri will not increase (and in some cases actually decrease) the travel
times to the communities we are currently working in. Currently, I have to travel to Siliguri
several times a month to repair vehicles and purchase supplies. The shift will enable me to reclaim 4-5 days
out of every month. As far as personal
preference goes, we would rather NOT live in Siliguri. Those who know me well know my thoughts on
the city. But in the light of all the
recent changes, the relocation will help us to be better stewards of our time
and more effectively serve the region.
A Visit to
America:
We will
move to Siliguri the first of June and spend the following three months setting
up our new home, reorganizing our projects and integrating them into
HIMserve. Once this process is done we
will, for the first time in two years, have the freedom to return to the USA to
reconnect with friends and family. Our
last visit in 2010 was a short two months overshadowed with visa tensions. A good sabbatical is overdue... especially
after the intensity and furious activity of the last two years! Our current plan is to spend September
through December in the USA and return to India just after the first of the
year. Additionally, Amanda and I are
hoping to enroll in an online Master’s of Public Health program for the spring
of 2013 and complete the course during our next stint in India. This sabbatical will give us the opportunity
to apply and prepare for this program.
Plus...
I’m sure there are some folks who’d like to finally meet Cedar!
A Few Potential Questions:
Q) So what
about ECTA?
A) Dayasagar is still an ECTA born project and
will remain linked to it. Our merger
with HIMserve is to satisfy legal and logistical requirements on the Indian end
of things. Starting an independent
entity which can receive foreign funds in South Asia is a laborious, consuming
process. It is much easier to find a
good partner who has already blazed this trail and walk beside them.
Q) Will the
merger with HIMserve affect donations or the donation process in anyway?
A) No. We will still do all of our fundraising through
ECTA. ECTA will transfer the funds to
HIMserve’s account. HIMserve will
deposit 100% of the funds in Dayasagar’s project account. Don’t worry.
No comments:
Post a Comment