Spotlight on Clinical Officers: The Faces of Medical Excellence

Meet Amos Langat, a Registered Clinical Officer who dedicated three years to Tenwek Hospital. Amos finds deep fulfillment in the opportunities his role offers to impact lives positively and in the rewarding tasks he tackles daily. He aims to contribute to the hospital’s growth by acquiring vital equipment and staff training programs. Inspired by his mission to enact positive change, Amos envisions Tenwek Hospital emerging as a regional center of medical excellence as he continues to grow professionally.

Introducing Kevin Bett, a Clinical Officer specializing in Family Medicine with two years of committed service at Tenwek. Kevin thrives on the challenging and rewarding nature of his work, the supportive community, and the nurturing environment. His driving force is the aspiration to ease people’s suffering and restore their well-being. Professionally, he aims for career advancement and hopes to see Tenwek Hospital expand its scope to become a globally and regionally recognized institution in comprehensive training and medical resources.

Say hello to Kipkirui Towett, a dedicated Clinical Officer who has been part of the Tenwek Hospital family for four years. Dr. Towett finds joy in the spirit of teamwork, the chance to make a meaningful difference, and the stimulating mix of challenges and rewards that his job presents. His goals include bolstering the hospital’s resources and implementing extensive staff training programs. Motivated by the vision of transformative care, he sees his own growth and specialization in Family Medicine coinciding with Tenwek Hospital’s rise as a regional medical powerhouse.

Lastly, we have Felix Kibet, a passionate Clinical Officer with an impressive five-year tenure at Tenwek Hospital. Felix revels in the collaborative atmosphere and relishes the opportunity to make a real impact through his medical expertise. His ambitions include enhancing staff training opportunities to foster personal and institutional growth. Driven by a desire for positive transformation, he foresees Tenwek Hospital evolving into an international benchmark for medical excellence, even as he aims to excel in his specialized field of medical oncology.

College School of Health Sciences Students Take Pivotal Step

In a week filled with high expectations and focused energy, 390 aspiring nurses gathered at Tenwek Hospital College’s School of Health Sciences on August 7, 2023, to embark on the rigorous journey of the Nursing Council of Kenya’s Registration Exams. This group included two classes from the college, each prepared to demonstrate their nursing proficiency.

A standout moment came from the Critical Care Nursing Class, an innovative program initiated just a year ago for veteran nurses aiming to upskill. These dedicated individuals took their National Exam on August 8, 2023, marking the pinnacle of their intensive educational preparation and reflecting the high standards of their training.

The 2020 KRCHN Nursing Class showcased remarkable adaptability by overcoming the challenges of remote learning due to the pandemic during their initial year. Making a successful transition to in-person instruction in January 2021, this resilient group faced its defining exams on August 10, 2023, concluding a transformative three-year journey.

The Tenwek Hospital community is united in hope and prayer as the candidates await their results. Each candidate stands as a testament to commitment, zeal, and unwavering dedication to the healthcare profession. This pivotal moment reinforces Tenwek Hospital College’s reputation as a center of healthcare excellence, and we can’t wait to see these candidates shape the future of medicine.

As we eagerly await the exam outcomes, we celebrate the strides these aspiring healthcare experts have taken and look forward to a healthcare landscape enriched by their transformative education at Tenwek Hospital College. May their journeys inspire future generations to chase their dreams with equal enthusiasm, contributing to a healthier, brighter future for everyone.

A New Era in Emergency Care: A Sneak Peek into the New A&E Facility

The excitement is palpable as construction on Tenwek Hospital’s new Accident and Emergency (A&E) building nears completion. Focused on revolutionizing patient care, streamlining administrative functions, and boosting educational opportunities, the facility promises to set a new standard in healthcare. State-of-the-art medical technologies lie at the heart of the project, aiming to provide unparalleled care and improve patient experiences through reduced wait times and efficient layouts.

Operational efficiency is a cornerstone of the new A&E facility. Consolidating various administrative functions under one roof promises to enhance team communication and decision-making, facilitating smoother operations. With the integration of modern management systems and digital solutions, we are minimizing paperwork, allowing healthcare providers to focus on what truly matters—patient care.

Beyond patient care and administrative work, the new building will function as an educational hub. A dedicated training wing with cutting-edge simulation facilities will offer medical professionals a safe space to hone their skills, practice complex procedures, and broaden their medical knowledge. This continuous education will further augment the proficiency of our healthcare workforce, benefiting both patients and the broader community.

The atmosphere was optimistic and eager during a recent tour of the soon-to-be-completed A&E wing. Situated on the ground floor of the forthcoming structure, the cutting-edge facility was revealed to include spacious corridors and specialized rooms designed for effective patient care and staff comfort. This expansion signifies a considerable advancement over the existing casualty department, with features promising quicker response times and enhanced patient outcomes.

At the core of this transformation is a range of advanced medical tools and technologies. Every aspect of the facility’s design aims to optimize patient experiences and outcomes, from trauma bays equipped to handle critical cases to comforting triage rooms.

The tour wrapped up with a sense of pride and anticipation among staff members as they look forward to inaugurating a new chapter in compassionate healthcare. The forthcoming official opening ceremony, scheduled for a few months from now, marks a monumental stride in Tenwek Hospital’s enduring commitment to healthcare excellence.

As the construction phase concludes, the new A&E building stands as a testament to Tenwek Hospital’s commitment to innovation and progress. It serves as a beacon of hope and healing, promising a future where state-of-the-art technology and heartfelt care come together to brighten the lives of patients and their families.

A Life-Changing Contribution: Wilson Ngeno’s Shoeshine Venture

Wilson Ngeno, a local shoeshine entrepreneur in Tenwek Town Centre, recently benefitted from a transformative donation from Tenwek Hospital’s welding team. After receiving medical care at the hospital, Wilson encountered financial obstacles that stressed him and his family. Seeing an opportunity to make a difference, the hospital’s social work team coordinated with the welding department to craft a tailor-made shoeshine chair and bench for Wilson.

The thoughtful gift not only elevates Wilson’s workspace but also boosts the professionalism of his business. With his new setup, Wilson is better positioned to offer services to hospital staff, ensuring their footwear is impeccably maintained and making a positive impact.

This enhancement is expected to grow Wilson’s customer base, contributing to his family’s financial security and stability. Beyond immediate monetary gains, this act of kindness radiates through the community. By alleviating Wilson’s financial stress, the gift enables him to concentrate on improving life for his children, including securing better educational and healthcare opportunities.

Tenwek Hospital’s generous gesture affirms its dedication to comprehensive well-being, illustrating that its commitment to enriching lives extends beyond medical care.

Upgrading Diagnostic Excellence: Lab Expansion

Tenwek Hospital’s Laboratory is in the midst of a pivotal transformation as it transitions its essential lab services to a revamped and enlarged space. The hospital has proudly completed the first phase of this ambitious lab upgrade, which involves moving vital services to the upper level of the Dr. Ernie Steury building.

This noteworthy shift allows the Laboratory to fully utilize the upper floor, offering a spacious, cutting-edge setting for crucial diagnostic services. The departments moving to this updated environment include Chemistry, Hematology, Serology, Parasitology, and Microbiology. This change guarantees that these indispensable services have the space to function proficiently and effectively.

The Lab’s enlargement is a monumental effort by Tenwek Hospital, aiming to amplify the capacity and quality of its diagnostic services. The second phase of this project is already in motion, focusing on revamping the existing Inpatient Lab. During this transitional period, essential services—such as the Blood Bank, molecular testing, and histology—will continue operating in the current Inpatient Lab.

By repositioning and broadening its Lab facilities, Tenwek Hospital is proactively paving the way for improved patient healthcare outcomes. These enhanced spaces are designed to enable quicker, more precise diagnoses, ensuring patients obtain the timely and suitable care they need.

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THCSHS Student Spotlights

A native of Bomet County, Dominick earned his nursing diploma from the Tenwek Hospital College School of Health Sciences (THCSHS) in 2015. His school fees were sponsored by FOT donors. He took a job at Tenwek directly after graduation and is now in his sixth year of working in the maternity department. Dominick met his wife Millicent, also a THCSHS graduate, and the two now have a three-year-old son, Ivan.

dominickWith his training and occupation, Dominick has been able to buy his mother a plot of land and pay for his siblings’ school fees. Seven years after graduating, Dominick can look back on his life and celebrate where God has brought him.

“I really don’t think I could be where I am today if I had not received the support that I needed,” Dominick said. “So my life has changed through your support.”

While Dominick’s story is certainly inspirational, so is the fact that it’s not the only one like it.

FOT_2021-97FOT donors have also supported students like Winnie. As the second-oldest of seven siblings raised by a single mother, Winnie is now a third-year nursing student realizing her dreams.

“I want to thank you all for your contribution, for the money you’ve given to me so that I can continue with my studies,” she said. “I really thank you so much.”

KipkiruiKipkirui is in his third year of studying to be a clinical officer. With six months left in his studies, he is thankful for those who have helped him along the way.

“I’ve been grateful for the assistance you gave me to fulfill that dream, because it was almost lost,” Kipkirui said. “I’m seeing a bright future to further my studies because I’ve been given this chance.”

EnockEnock is the oldest of five children raised by tea pickers in Bomet County. A second-year clinical officer student, Enock is planning to work on the orthopedic ward.

“I’m just happy to hear that supporters are going to pay my school fees,” Enock said.

Fancy, a Bomet County native, is in her third year at the College’s nursing program. She’s had to make sacrifices to reach her goals. As the oldest of eight children, Fancy lives at home with her father, a school security guard, and mother, a homemaker, to save money. Tenwek donors have eased some of her burden.

Fancy“I’m very grateful for all the helping hands to me,” Fancy said. “You stepped in and helped me realize my goal. I can see that my dream will come true.”

Dominick, Winnie, Kipkirui, Enock and Fancy have worked tirelessly to gain skills that will enable them to become excellent health care providers that can care for patients in Christ’s name. And throughout their journeys, FOT donors have been part of the story.

“Through the support, so many lives have been touched, and may God bless you,” Dominick said. “There’s nothing I can give to say thank you, but we can do the same by helping others.”

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To give toward needs at the Tenwek Hospital College School of Health Sciences, click here: https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E126579&id=80

Volunteer Spotlight: Dr. Erik Van Os

Dr. Erik Van Os didn’t know anything about Tenwek Hospital when he first arrived.

“I was looking for an opportunity to serve,” Dr. Van Os said. “I applied to World Medical Mission, and I told them to just send me wherever they needed me, and they sent me to this place called Tenwek Hospital, which was completely unknown to me.”

That first visit, a three-month trip in 1988 as a new Christian having just finished his internal medicine residency in San Antonio, left quite a mark on the young doctor. Working as a general medical officer, Dr. Van Os did basically everything but surgery, including caring for patients in the emergency room and maternity ward.

The graduate of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School has been back to Tenwek three times since then.

erik and sonHe returned for a three-week visit in 2015 with his wife, Nancy, and three children, Andrew, Peter and Elizabeth. In 2018, he went back for another three-week stint, this time with just Peter. Last year, he spent six weeks at Tenwek with Nancy, returning to their home of Colorado Springs in November.

And while many people, experiences and events at Tenwek over the years have left an impression on Dr. Van Os, one person in particular has stood out: Dr. Ernie Steury.

“I have to say my greatest memory is probably my first trip, because I had the great honor and privilege of working with Dr. Ernie Steury directly,” Dr. Van Os said. “He was the most godly, Christlike person I’ve ever met; unbelievably self-sacrificing. He’s really served as an inspiration and role model to me for the rest of my life.”

Dr. Van Os remembers a particularly impactful case during his first trip to the hospital in ’88, a situation that showed the character of Dr. Steury.

One night, a man came to the hospital with a severe head wound. Appearing disheveled and lethargic, Dr. Van Os and the other emergency room personnel assumed he was drunk. However, rather than sobering up as time went on, the patient became more sluggish.

“He was herniating in his brainstem,” Dr. Van Os said. “I thought we had to let him go – there was no intensive care unit at that time in Tenwek.”

Ernie in the background preparing to operate on the patient's headJust to be safe, Dr. Van Os called Dr. Steury to update him on the situation. Dr. Steury was not on call for emergencies. To his surprise, Dr. Steury jumped to action as he had done so many times in his career.

“Shave his head and bring him down to the operating room,” Dr. Van Os remembers Dr. Steury saying. “I’ll meet you there.”

Although Dr. Steury wasn’t on duty at the time, he operated on the sick man anyway, flushing the large clot that had formed on his brain in order to save his life.

man who's life Ernie saved with skull surgery“I have a picture standing next to the guy two days later,” Dr. Van Os said. “A dramatic case and just highlights the versatility and skill of Dr. Steury.”

Throughout his experiences at Tenwek, Dr. Van Os has seen a common thread tying his patients together: one of humility, resolve and grace.

“Some are pretty destitute,” Dr. Van Os said. “Many patients don’t read or write – they’ll sign consent forms with a thumb print. Some don’t speak Swahili. Some don’t have shoes. They may not have more than one or two sets of clothing. It’s really humbling and really a privilege to be able to care for them.”

A few particular patients from his most recent trip represented this distinct persona.

One was a jaundiced woman with pancreatic cancer and an obstructed bile duct, who Dr. Van Os stented in order to drain her liver and resolve the jaundice.

There was also a patient who needed a bile duct stone removed and a woman with bad pancreatitis who needed stenting.

Finally, there was a seven-year-old boy who had inadvertently swallowed sulfuric acid and was suffering from severe damage to his esophagus.

“If you don’t get to that quickly, your esophagus can stricture shut and become nonfunctional,” Dr. Van Os said.

While he doesn’t see patients less than 17 years old in the United States, Dr. Van Os operated on the boy anyway and was able to dilate his esophagus to prevent it from permanently closing. This procedure was done in collaboration with his Kenyan colleagues. Their experience is invaluable in these situations and the teamwork is wonderful.

Dr. Van Os notes that many of these success stories have been made possible by Tenwek’s state-of-the-art support network.

“Tenwek is certainly an advanced hospital by mission hospital standards,” he said. “They’re really pushing the envelope in a lot of areas.”

the current endoscopy teamOne notable technology that Tenwek offers to its patients is ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography), a diagnostic technique used by trained gastroenterologists (like Dr. Van Os, who stayed an extra year during his fellowship at the Mayo Clinic to be trained in this technique).

“That’s a very advanced procedure,” Dr. Van Os said. “There are many hospitals in America that don’t do ERCP. It’s nice to be able to offer that to patients at a rural hospital.”

And while Dr. Van Os has been touched by the patients he’s treated at Tenwek, he’s also been inspired by the long-term missionaries he’s served alongside.

“They’re a neat group of people – very inspiring in what they’ve given up, what they’ve sacrificed, to serve in a mission field for Christ — sharing the Gospel and caring for sick people with limited resources,” he said. “First and foremost comes sharing the Gospel, and I think the missionaries understand that. And they’ve given up material success in the U.S. to serve the greater call of the Gospel.”

Robert Chepkwony, endo team leader, and Dr. Mike Mwachiro, endo medical director“They’ve left behind the opportunity to be quite wealthy and successful. They’ve forsaken that for a higher calling — to be obedient to Christ and to minister his name to the needs of people in Africa.”

Dr. Van Os is also impressed by the flexibility of Tenwek missionaries, the same type of flexibility he was forced to demonstrate when operating on the seven-year-old during his last visit.

doctors in training learning endoscopy 2021“I’m inspired medically by the career missionary doctors, because they’re often faced with having to do things that they weren’t specifically trained to do,” Dr. Van Os said. “It takes courage and ingenuity to try to do something for a patient that you don’t have a lot of experience with – but the patients don’t have any other options.”

Dr. Van Os is also inspired by a different type of flexibility that Tenwek missionaries show — a flexibility that allows them to straddle between distinct, far-away countries and cultures.

“They’re Americans, but they don’t live in America,” he said. “They’re Americans living in Kenya. They’re not Kenyans. They’re sort of a third thing. It’s hard to know who you are sometimes.”

scoping in 2018After retiring from practice in Colorado Springs this year, Dr. Van Os is looking forward to spending more of his time at Tenwek and places like it with Nancy, who, as an experienced seamstress, has enjoyed involvement with Threads of Hope. As he prepares for a new phase of his life, one centered on mission work, Dr. Van Os eagerly awaits the opportunities to practice medicine with the perspective he learned at Tenwek back in 1988.

“My experience back in the 80’s, I have been able to carry with me, and it really helped me to get my priorities right,” Dr. Van Os said. “I would just say when you get over to Tenwek, it’s very, very refreshing, because you’re reminded of and confronted with the reason you went into medicine in the first place – it’s focus on the pure joy of practicing medicine.”my first scopes in 1988, before GI fellowship

Meet Richard Glenn – FOT’s New Ambassador

Glenn fam shuka

Richard Glenn has been appointed the FOT Ambassador at Tenwek Hospital. Richard and his family – wife Callie, and children Emma, Stephen, Charlotte, and William – arrived at Tenwek in January. As FOT’s on-site representative at Tenwek, he will make essential connections with U.S. physicians and welcome visitors into the FOT family.

This includes hosting visiting staff and families at the guest house and providing information and insights about ministry opportunities within the Tenwek community. Richard will work closely with Janie Leland, FOT’s Director of Development, to keep FOT’s benefactors and friends informed about the news and needs at Tenwek Hospital.

A resident of Little Rock, Arkansas, Richard and his family are eager to support Tenwek’s transformative medical and spiritual care, specifically through service with FOT. You will find him playing soccer (or football, as they call it in Kenya) with the local kids, encouraging and uplifting the staff at the hospital, and meeting and serving visiting staff and families at the Guest House. Richard will always have something in his back pocket to be able to brighten everyone’s day!

 

Tenwek’s New HMIS Scheduled to Go Live in March

Phase I of Tenwek Hospital’s conversion to an all-new HMIS platform is scheduled to go live in early March. After many months of intensive planning, testing, system integration, and training, the hospital will launch the system using four new servers, fiber optic cables, and 42 Terabytes of storage capacity. The ITDOSE Hospedia software and Microsoft Business Dynamics program, customized by Iansoft, include both patient care and operations components.
Phase I will integrate the majority of Tenwek’s clinical services into the Hospedia patient care system. Phase II will see the integration of the remaining clinical services and the implementation of the operational components, including the queue management system, smart phone apps, a work order system, and departmental income/expense reporting.

FOT donors have invested over $450,000 in the new HMIS, enabling Tenwek to set a new standard of care and accountability through technology – one that is being emulated by another prominent Nairobi hospital. Thank you for your support!

Sue Steury Building Appeal a Big Success!

A big THANK YOU to our many generous donors who recently gave over $200k to fund critical renovations to the Sue Steury Building! Tenwek is facing a strict timeline to move the COVID-19 Holding Area and Care Unit (CHACU) to the Steury Building and faithful FOT benefactors stepped up to provide the necessary funds. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

With the prompt infusion of funds for the project, the third floor of the Steury Building is nearly completed, and the CHACU and Tenwek’s administrative offices are scheduled to occupy the new space in March. There are currently three COVID-positive patients in the CHACU, which will make the move of that unit into the Sue Steury building easier to accomplish. Please continue to pray that COVID infections remain low and that the move of these services into the Sue Steury building happens smoothly and quickly.

The new CHACU will have 25 beds, plus a three-bed ICU, and will become a permanent unit for future infectious disease patients. Renovations to the building’s first and second floors – to accommodate the renal/dialysis and oncology units, a 17-bed wound ward, and other auxiliary services – will be completed later this spring. Construction of the new Accident & Emergency Centre can now begin in time to secure a $500,000 USAID grant.