This afternoon, CCC successfully established our second permanent, sustainable cervical cancer “See and Treat” clinic on this project (and in Ethiopia!) in Wukra, Ethiopia. The Cure Cervical Cancer: The Mary Clinic was met by an outpouring of grateful women who flocked to the clinic in order to be screened and treated for premalignant cervical lesions by 3 talented nurses and 2 enthusiastic doctors, all of whom will be the dedicated healthcare staff at this CCC clinic. During the team’s brief visit to the clinic (only one afternoon), with the help of Dr. Samson Mulgeta of Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekele, Ethiopia, CCC was able to efficiently train the 5 dedicated clinicians in the “See and Treat” procedure, as well as screen 13 women, 7 of whom screened positive with the Vinegar Test.
The CCC team was also fortunate to be able to revisit our existing clinic at Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekele Ethiopia. This visit procured a wonderful surprise: not only did Tsehay and Sara, the two dedicated CCC nurses, perfect and improve upon CCC’s sustainable clinic model with touches of ingenuity, but also they were training new nursing and medical students in VIA and cryotherapy as well! Dr. Patricia Gordon welled up with emotion as she realized that her permanent, sustainable model for ensuring that women around the globe can be spared a slow death from cervical cancer was being carried through to fruition. CCC now has definitive proof that our permanent clinic models truly work!
During this project, CCC was also thrilled to be able to form a partnership with Columbia University’s Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) Kenya Headquarters and the Kisumu Ministry of Health. Through a successful day of meetings and site visits organized by Beldina Opyio (and facilitated by Zacheus Okoth Okech) from MCI Kenya, the CCC team was able to decide upon 3 MCI sites (in addition to IMC’s affiliation with Kodiaga Clinic) that we will focus upon in our return trip to Kisumu in April: Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (pictured), Migosi Health Center (pictured), and Gita Health Center. CCC will therefore establish 5 more sustainable, ongoing cervical cancer “See and Treat” clinics in April 2014!