Take Pamoja to the Next Level
Donation protected
We desperately need your help to take Pamoja to the Next Level and to create sustainability and increase services.
Thanks to your generous donations, Pamoja Tunaweza Women's Center has been providing affordable, quality medical care to the financially disadvantaged people of the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania for 10 years.
In addition to offering health care and social support to those living in inequities, we have also spearheaded great changes in both Cervical Cancer screening and health promotion for non-communicable killers and have developed strong partnerships with communities in-need outside of the city borders.
We now need to move into the next phase of the Pamoja Story but we urgently need your help to do so. Unfortunately, without this next stage of development, we fear that we will need to close this wonderful clinic that has provided care and support to the under-serviced of the community for 10 years.
Reasons for needing the expansion in services:
· The government has developed stringent rules for healthcare facilities. While this is very encouraging, it leaves our small clinic lacking many things that they now require
· Patients are requesting onsite laboratories when they visit a health facility
· We believe that health promotion and addressing the social determinants of health are essential components of effective health care. These are not normal foci in the Tanzanian healthcare system and we feel that we can make an even bigger difference to the community by implementing a strong health promotion focus.
What we have done recently:
· With the help of donations for several of you (and a lot of hard work on the part of the staff of the clinic), we have built a full-service lab on the premises. After many many months of work, we have received the go-ahead to open the lab
· We have moved the research offices off-site to allow for more examination rooms.
· We have joined a micro-health insurance plan and have started negotiations with several others, so that more patients can enjoy worry-free, very low-cost medical care for their families
· We are working with the District Medical Officer to obtain permission to ease the burden of HIV care in the area, as well as maternal checks and vaccinations, by requesting permission to start seeing these patients at Pamoja
· We have hired a full-time Medical Officer (doctor), rather than a Clinical Officer, so that we can provide even more comprehensive care.
· In the recent evaluation from the District Medical Officer’s Office, our clinic rating has gone from 0/4 stars previously, to 3 out of 4. The quote from the District medical officer was “Pamoja: from zero to hero”
Our plans for the next three months
· With the inclusion of a lab on the premises, we are now in a position to host specialists on site to see our patients. Up until now, we have had to refer patients to specialists, but this resulted in them NOT getting the care that they needed due to cost. Now they will be able to receive the care that they need, at a fraction of the cost.
· In addition to common specialists (pediatrics, internal medicine, ophthalmology etc.), we feel that our knowledge and well-developed research program in non-communicable diseases, will position us to have a special clinic for NCD screening (diabetes/high blood pressure etc.) and help people PREVENT diseases such as stroke and heart attacks, before they occur. This supports our goal of emphasising health promotion.
· We would like to start offering ultrasound diagnostic tests on-site to improve care further.
Why we need urgent financial help
· Building and outfitting the lab and obtaining all the required permits was far more costly that anticipated. Your generous recent donations have been used for that. To actually open the lab, we need to hire a lab technician and lab assistant.
· The budget and projections show us that with the lab and the increased services and micro-health insurance patients, we will finally be sustainable (or close to it) within 6 months. Unfortunately, we do not have the money to make all of this happen and pay the staff in the meantime.
· We are aiming, with your help, to raise 70 000 dollars. This money will pay for operations, extra training required by the staff, further “sprucing up” of the clinic (to make it desirable to the insurance companies), and an ECG machine and ultrasound, so that we can start doing these important investigations on-site to further improve the care of our patient base.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!
Please consider donating to this “final push” at ensuring the Pamoja Tunaweza can before sustainable and continue its important work in the Kilimanjaro Region for years to come.
Thanks to your generous donations, Pamoja Tunaweza Women's Center has been providing affordable, quality medical care to the financially disadvantaged people of the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania for 10 years.
In addition to offering health care and social support to those living in inequities, we have also spearheaded great changes in both Cervical Cancer screening and health promotion for non-communicable killers and have developed strong partnerships with communities in-need outside of the city borders.
We now need to move into the next phase of the Pamoja Story but we urgently need your help to do so. Unfortunately, without this next stage of development, we fear that we will need to close this wonderful clinic that has provided care and support to the under-serviced of the community for 10 years.
Reasons for needing the expansion in services:
· The government has developed stringent rules for healthcare facilities. While this is very encouraging, it leaves our small clinic lacking many things that they now require
· Patients are requesting onsite laboratories when they visit a health facility
· We believe that health promotion and addressing the social determinants of health are essential components of effective health care. These are not normal foci in the Tanzanian healthcare system and we feel that we can make an even bigger difference to the community by implementing a strong health promotion focus.
What we have done recently:
· With the help of donations for several of you (and a lot of hard work on the part of the staff of the clinic), we have built a full-service lab on the premises. After many many months of work, we have received the go-ahead to open the lab
· We have moved the research offices off-site to allow for more examination rooms.
· We have joined a micro-health insurance plan and have started negotiations with several others, so that more patients can enjoy worry-free, very low-cost medical care for their families
· We are working with the District Medical Officer to obtain permission to ease the burden of HIV care in the area, as well as maternal checks and vaccinations, by requesting permission to start seeing these patients at Pamoja
· We have hired a full-time Medical Officer (doctor), rather than a Clinical Officer, so that we can provide even more comprehensive care.
· In the recent evaluation from the District Medical Officer’s Office, our clinic rating has gone from 0/4 stars previously, to 3 out of 4. The quote from the District medical officer was “Pamoja: from zero to hero”
Our plans for the next three months
· With the inclusion of a lab on the premises, we are now in a position to host specialists on site to see our patients. Up until now, we have had to refer patients to specialists, but this resulted in them NOT getting the care that they needed due to cost. Now they will be able to receive the care that they need, at a fraction of the cost.
· In addition to common specialists (pediatrics, internal medicine, ophthalmology etc.), we feel that our knowledge and well-developed research program in non-communicable diseases, will position us to have a special clinic for NCD screening (diabetes/high blood pressure etc.) and help people PREVENT diseases such as stroke and heart attacks, before they occur. This supports our goal of emphasising health promotion.
· We would like to start offering ultrasound diagnostic tests on-site to improve care further.
Why we need urgent financial help
· Building and outfitting the lab and obtaining all the required permits was far more costly that anticipated. Your generous recent donations have been used for that. To actually open the lab, we need to hire a lab technician and lab assistant.
· The budget and projections show us that with the lab and the increased services and micro-health insurance patients, we will finally be sustainable (or close to it) within 6 months. Unfortunately, we do not have the money to make all of this happen and pay the staff in the meantime.
· We are aiming, with your help, to raise 70 000 dollars. This money will pay for operations, extra training required by the staff, further “sprucing up” of the clinic (to make it desirable to the insurance companies), and an ECG machine and ultrasound, so that we can start doing these important investigations on-site to further improve the care of our patient base.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!
Please consider donating to this “final push” at ensuring the Pamoja Tunaweza can before sustainable and continue its important work in the Kilimanjaro Region for years to come.
Organizer
Jenn Carpenter
Organizer
Elginburg, ON
