In December of 2017, Kateri Medical Services launched our “New Horizons” Fund Appeal. Over the past four years, we have embarked on a plan to expand our clinics. Our vision is to have ten clinics built, funded and self-sufficient by 2025. From 2003 until 2016, we ran Kateri Clinic, in partnership with the Diocese of Kaduna. From 2013 to 2016, we constructed a new clinic in Iburu (also in Kaduna Diocese). Iburu Clinic opened in July 2016 and is now running full time. Due to the gift of one generous donor, we have full funding for one doctor and two nurses for Iburu for the first five years of operation. In 2018, we will open two new clinics – one in Kafanchan Diocese (April) and one in Gusau Diocese (October). We have raised the full funding for construction of these clinics. And we have raised some funds for equipping these two clinics. And we have raised funding for one doctor and two nurses for each of these two clinics for the first year.
But we still needed funding for one doctor and two nurses for the subsequent four years after the first year of operation. Hence, the New Horizons fund appeal. We need to raise $20,000 per year for four years for two clinics ($20,000 x 2 x 4) for a total of $ 160,000. We began our appeal on December 1, 2017. By January 15, 2018, we had exceeded our goal and raised $ 180,000 in gifts and pledges over four years. We are very grateful to all of our loyal donors who gave so generously. Donors to the New Horizons fund come from seven states in the US and from England. Assuming our new clinics will serve about 5,000 people per year for the next five years, what the New Horizons fund makes possible is simple, decent and affordable health care for 50,000 people who wouldn’t have it otherwise.
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Visit to the Thomas Furrer Clinics in Port Harcourt, Nigeria
In January 2018, our Executive Director, Rev. Tom Furrer visited two clinics named after him in Port Harcourt Nigeria. He visited these clinics to learn more about their work and to explore ideas for possible future collaboration with Kateri Medical Services. The Thomas Furrer Clinics were founded by Dr. Olaniyi Olaobaju (“Dr. Niyi” for short) and his wife Kehinde. Bsdes being a medical doctor, Dr. Niyi is also an ordained Anglican priest in the Diocese of Niger Delta North. In addition to running two full-time medical clinics, he is also an assistant at nearby Calvary Anglican Church. His wife, Kehinde is a Petroleum Engineer and is employed by Port Harcourt Refining Company, a subsidiary of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC). Dr. Niyi was the chief medical officer at Kateri Clinic for many years before his wife accepted the engineering job in Port Harcourt, which is the major center for the petroleum industry in Nigeria. When they relocated to Port Harcourt in 2008, they wanted to replicate the vision of Kateri Clinic in their new context. They wanted to found a clinic that would provide affordable medical care to the working poor and free medical care to those who could not afford to pay anything. Because of his positive experience with Kateri Clinic, he asked permission to name the clinic after the President of Kateri Medical Services. In 2008, shortly after they relocated to Port Harcourt, Dr. and Mrs. Olaobaju opened a medical clinic in in rented space in Aleto, an economically depressed district on the outskirts of Port Harcourt. Their vision was to provide free medical care to the poor of that area. Even though Port Harcourt is a relatively prosperous area due to the oil industry, the prosperity is not widely distributed. There are many good jobs for those who are highly educated, but not for the indigenous people. These are the people the clinic serves. Because he clinic serves people who cannot afford to pay for medical care, Dr. Niyi and his wife opened a for-profit lab which helps to subsidize the clinic. In 2016, Dr. Niyi and his wife opened a second clinic in a more prosperous neighborhood of Alode. Their goal is to replicate the model they began in the first clinic in Aleto, with a for-profit lab to help subsidize the medical care of those who cannot afford it. Also, they hope to be able to attract more people who are able to pay in this relatively more prosperous area. They also plan to continue running the clinic in the poorer neighborhood to fulfill their mission of helping those who cannot afford to pay. Following the visit to Port Harort, Rev. Furrer and the Kateri Medical Services board of directors continue to discuss with Dr. Niyi areas of possible collaboration in the future. We will make our plans known as they develop over the next months and years. History After four years of planning, praying, discussing, designing, fund-raising and constructing, we are now putting the finishing touches on our newest clinic in Nigeria. The new clinic is in the small city of Gidan Waya – about 30 minutes drive from the larger city of Kafanchan. Since 2014, Kateri Medical Services and the Anglican Diocese of Kafanchan have been discussing and planning for a new medical clinic. It all began with a friendship between Bishop Markus Dogo and Rev. Tom Furrer, President and Executive Director of Kateri Medical Services. They met during our annual medical outreach in Kaduna Diocese. At that time, they began to discuss possible locations in Kafanchan Diocese to build a clinic. After several site visits, they decided to build a new clinic in the small city of Gidan Waya. The larger city of Kafanchan already has several health care facilities, but Gidan Waya has none. We decided that the need was greatest in this location. In 2016, we began to draw up plans for the new clinic, to be sited adjacent to St. Stephen’s Anglican Church and a diocesan secondary school. The Diocese of Kafanchan purchased this large piece of land many years ago with the vision that it would have a church, and school and a hospital located there eventually. This new clinic is a dream come true for the people of Gidan Waya. The new clinic will contain a pharmacy, an operating room, a birthing center, male and female wards, offices for general medical consulting, offices for doctors and nurses and for record keeping. We hope to serve about 5,000 patients per year in the early stages and more after the clinic gets established. Dedication and Grand Opening in April
The new clinic will be dedicated in mid-April when our mission team from the US travels to Nigeria for our annual mission outreach effort. After the dedicating the clinic, we will be staying on for an intensive medical mission during which medical care will be offered free to everyone who comes. After that, the clinic will open for full-time operation with a doctor and two nurses on staff. Major Donors The new clinic will be dedicated in honor of the late Arthur and Esther Bradley. Funds were given to Kateri Medical Services from the estate of Mr. and Mrs. Bradley to establish new medical clinics in Nigeria. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley were long-time residents of Simsbury, Connecticut and members of Trinity Episcopal Church in Tariffville, Connecticut. Other contributors to the construction of this clinic were the regular supporters of Kateri Medical Services, members of the Diocese of Kafanchan, grants from the Millennium Development Fund of the Episcopal diocese of Connecticut and several grants form individual parish churches in Connecticut and Ohio. Funds for the first five years of staffing for the new clinic were raised through or recent “New Horizons Fund” conducted in December of 2017. Other Clinics Kateri Medical Services has been funding and facilitating medical clinics in Nigeria since 2003. We work in partnership with three local Anglican Dioceses: Kaduna, Kafanchan and Gusau. In partnership with Kaduna Diocese, we have helped to fund Kateri Clinic since 2003 and Iburu Clinic since 2016. In partnership with Kafanchan Diocese, we are building and funding Gidan Waya Clinic. In partnership with Gusau Diocese, we are currently building Graceland Hospital in Gusau, the capital city of Zamfarra State. |
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