Thursday, November 13, 2008
Kimoyo Ltd.: Healthy mission
A Roanoke doctor will travel to Ghana to celebrate the opening of a new medical center.
Photo courtesy of Kathy O'Keefe
Dr. Celia Yamile Rodriguez examines a patient with an ultrasound machine, which was donated by a Roanoke doctor, at the N'aaba Akparabilla Medical Centre in Zebilla, Ghana. Kimoyo Ltd. helped build the hospital and provide medical equipment.
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Dr. Edgar Weaver has seen a lot of health challenges in Ghana since he started going there more than a decade ago.
He's seen people with leprosy and a child who died from dehydration, as well as many cases of malaria, meningitis, childhood malnutrition, gastrointestinal issues and parasitic diseases.
The former neurosurgeon-turned-spinal surgeon has played a vital role in finding solutions to a wide range of health challenges.
The Roanoke doctor is the current president and leader of medical direction for Kimoyo Ltd., an organization that promotes cultural understanding in Roanoke as well as various development projects in Ghana.
In January, Weaver will return to Ghana to celebrate the completion of the N'aaba Akparabilla Medical Centre in Zebilla, a town in Ghana's Upper East Region. The hospital is the second health care clinic to open in the district, which is home to more than 80,000 residents, according to Kimoyo Executive Director Ellen Stewart.
Weaver first went to the West African nation in 1996 on a joint mission trip between Kingdom Life Ministries and St. John's Episcopal Church.
Kimoyo Ltd. grew out of that first trip and, since then, Weaver has returned at least 10 times to Ghana.
Kimoyo, in partnership with the African Turning Point Foundation, a regional nonprofit, started to construct the hospital five years ago.
Dr. Celia Yamile Rodriguez, a Cuban doctor, heads the hospital and provides medical consultation along with six other hospital staff including an obstetrician. Organizers plan to increase the staff to 12 or 15 people, including laboratory technicians and nurses.
The hospital has a minor surgical unit, a medical supply dispensary, ultrasound equipment and a laboratory. There are currently 14 inpatient beds, but Weaver expects that number to double by the end of the year.
Through fundraising efforts, Kimoyo received several significant gifts, including two gifts totaling $20,400 for the clinic's general operations, two gifts totaling $6,500 for ultrasound equipment, $1,062.50 from the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia for hospital services, $1,000 from Bank of America for educational programming and $5,000 to build an Internet cafe near the hospital, Stewart said.
Still, what strikes Weaver the most is how a few dollars can go a very long way in Africa. With a small organization like Kimoyo, a few dollars can affect thousands of lives and buy simple lifesaving equipment such as IVs to give fluids, refrigeration for venom for snakebites and oral antibiotics.
"From a medical standpoint, that's what really stands out: what tremendous good we can do with limited resources," Weaver said.
Kimoyo is now focused on trying to work with major donors to take the hospital and Kimoyo to the next level, Weaver said.
Weaver believes the hospital could become a major full-service international hospital, especially because of its strategic location in northern Ghana near where a major airport is being built.
He also envisions the hospital as providing a wonderful learning opportunity for Western medical students and residents to practice and learn more about tropical diseases.
"I just keep trying to look ahead," Weaver said. "I'm constantly trying to find ways to take it to the next level."
