Pediatric Essentials in Rwanda

(Michetti Family - fundraiser organizers)
(Brianna Smith completing her final year working at hospital in Rwanda)


Hello! My name is Alicia, I have started this campaign to help raise funds for the pediatric ward at a hospital in Rwanda. 
Why you might ask? Well, for two reasons. 1) my husband and I spent some time in the NICU in Prince George with our twins in February 2017. Had basic necessities not been available to us or any of the moms and babies in there I don’t even want to think of what their/our health outcomes would have been. 2) after finding out that a friend of mine for over 20 years was doing her final year of Med School at a hospital in Rwanda, working with moms and babies in the pediatric ward I was intrigued about her story. Turns out she has not only been donating her time, but also some funds to increase the survival rates of the moms and babies she sees. Rwanda has an elevated rate of twin pregnancies, and a huge need for assistance providing the essentials to new moms and babies who are often born prematurely. 

I ask that instead of purchasing your latté today you instead donate a few $ to this cause and help Brianna (a Dawson Creek girl) help these families! 

Email from Brianna:

I’m in my final year of Medical School at James Cook University currently working with neonates in the paediatric department of Centre Hospital Universitaire Butare in Rwanda. I have a keen interest for tropical medicine which is what led me to study medicine in Australia. I choose to come to Rwanda to practice my French clinical skills and learn about working in an under resourced health service and of course learn about the diagnostics and management of tropical diseases. I have been here for 6 weeks with 4 more to go and I have had an amazing experience to date! The healthcare staff here do so much with so little, it’s astonishing! Most patients in Rwanda have national health insurance but are still responsible for 10% of the health bill which unfortunately is just not available to many people.

Frequently basic necessities are not met and patients are dying from easily treatable infection and malnutrition. Infant mortality rates are sitting at 32 deaths per 1000 live births in Rwanda compared to 5.1 in Canada.

While I am fortunate to be in a position to help while I’m here it would be amazing to leave them with some supplies when I leave.
I can’t help but think about how that $5 latte at home can mean food for a breastfeeding mother for a week or a course of lifesaving antibiotics.
The photos below are of some of the success stories I have seen since arriving and perhaps with a bit more help there could be a few more success stories to speak of in Butare!

Thanks for your consideration!
Bri

PS
I have consent for all the photos to be shared for the purposes of raising funds for the unit.