MATTRESSES…..And other up-dates

 I have had a few people ask about more information on the cost of the mattresses.  We have 128 beds in our hospital.  Not all are adult beds, so we only need to fix about 100 mattresses.  The cost of purchasing new mattresses at this time is about $82.50 each.  We spoke to a tailor about the possibility of having him make us mattress covers.  The cost of covers is $22 each!  We are hoping to purchase 25 covers within a short time.  Then if money allows, we will purchase another 25.  Below is a picture and to me they look as good, if not better, than a new one.




If you want to help with the mattresses, you may send money through Dalraida church of Christ for my work-fund and send a note saying it is for mattresses.

The construction on the new OR suite is continuing.


We were able to get insurance for Baby Promise, but not yet for Brayan.  We are continuing to work with Mbeya Hospital for his treatment.  We have now made 4 trips to the hospital just to get an X-ray.  Today, Frank went with Brayan and his dad, but were told to return in the morning. So they are staying over night tonight, hoping to get in first thing in the morning.

We had a powerful lightning strike a little over a week ago.  We had lots of things effected by this strike.  One item was our x-ray machine.  Have you ever felt like the harder you tried to improve things, the worse they got.  We we have two areas like this.  One is the X-ray and the other is our solar system.  The repair for the X-ray is $2,000.  We already had one inverter for our solar system down and the lightning blew the other inverter.  So we had raised money to fix the one inverter and now need to replace them both!. It’s kinda like two steps forward and one step back.  Any time we make a little progress, something else happens.  And currently the hospital is not is good financial shape.

The staff are working with a new computer system for documenting in patient files.  I remember when we went to computers back in the 90’s.  They are experiencing all the challenges we had back then.  I review all death charts and then some of the current patient charts to evaluate both the nurses’ and doctors’ charting as well as making any adjustments to the system which may need to be improved.

This week had two Muslim holidays.  Being a country who has a lot Muslim citizens, all Muslim holidays are observed here.  So short week for most…but I always go in at least for a a few hours.  I will post more updates as they occur.

I praise the Lord every day for all of you….for your encouragement and support.  I pray God blesses you as we bless those in this community.



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