Welcome to the second quarterly newsletter from Guinebor 2 Hospital (G2)!
The last few months have been challenging for everyone, everywhere, due to the global spread of the Corona Virus and the necessary restrictions and limitations imposed to counter it.
Chad was fortunate to have been less severely affected than many other countries in terms of confirmed case numbers, but we are yet to see clearly the full impact it’s had in terms of increased mortality and the suffering caused by the economic burden of business closures and transport restrictions.
Here in Chad the government designated a hospital in nearby Farcha as the official testing and treatment centre for Covid 19. Therefore our primary concern at G2 in relation to Covid 19 has been how to minimize the risk of it entering the hospital while continuing to ensure that everyone who comes to the hospital gets the care they need for all the other medical conditions which are so prevalent here.
This involved creating a new sheltered triage area outside the gate, banning visiting-hours, establishing hand-washing stations everywhere, re-purposing our carers village as an isolation area for suspect cases (of which we’ve had several, but thankfully not many), improving all our cleaning routines and external security, improving our power generation to keep oxygen concentrators running, and equipping our staff with protective equipment including masks, gowns, gloves etc and additional training.
These actions all incurred additional expense at a time when our normal hospital income took a real hit from the combined effects of the Covid 19 business and travel restrictions and the annual reduction in patient numbers during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
God is good, however, and ensured that the hospital got additional help from some of our partners, notably medical, cleaning and protective supplies donated from MSF, the Chadian Ministry of Health and SIM, and cash grants from BMS, CEF and some individual donors. We are so grateful for all those who gave generously, especially during this time of hardship for so many. Without this support we could not have kept functioning throughout April, May and June.
Patient numbers are now higher again, and the health needs here remain as great as ever, especially with the rains bringing the start of malaria season.
The Team at G2
G2 hospital has always attracted a mixture of long and short-term mission workers, in addition to our core team of Chadian staff. With the airport and borders closed for more than 4 months, we’ve had some volunteers who ended up serving here much longer than they had expected to!
With much patience and prayer, Dr Penny Hyde (UK) and Eric Tangen (CEF, USA) were eventually able to return home on special evacuation flights in April and May, and American Theatre/Operating Room Nurse, Tyler Fair will fly home on 2nd August, once the airport formally re-opens.
We thank them all for their service here, and for “going the extra mile” with us during these challenging times, both here and in their home countries.
For those of us who live here, the 6-month closure of all schools has also been a real challenge, as it has elsewhere. Home-schooling our children through the heat of Chad’s hot season and working at the hospital at the same time was not easy, but everyone helped each other.
The G2 children were the most excited of all when the rainy season finally started during June, bringing strong cooling winds, spectacular lightening storms, mud and green grass instead of sand, and some truly enormous puddles to be played in, jumped over, or driven through with much splashing!
The G2 soccer/football field we created in February on an expanse of unused sand is now complete and its fresh grass needs regular mowing.
Lives Transformed at G2 Hospital
Ahmat (His name is changed to protect his identity), a farmer from a village some 100km away from G2 hospital, was feeling troubled one night and, unable to sleep. He was walking in the dark and tripped and fell down a well. He broke his right leg so badly it sheared right through the femur and he also bruised his left knee. He spent a long and painful night in the well before help came in the morning to get him out and find transport to come to G2 hospital.
When our Hospital Director Kalbassou Doubassou saw his leg X-ray he was shocked. This would be a difficult operation with a break that severe. He prayed to God for wisdom and then worked hard with the surgical team on Ahmat’s leg.
With considerable skill and two hours of surgery, he was able to fix the broken femur with three screws. The leg is now healing in plaster and Ahmat has been discharged to return back to his farm, his wife, and 4 children, all of whom are dependent upon him.
Had his leg remained broken, or had he gone to a local witch-doctor whose remedies would probably have resulted in the eventual need for amputation, Ahmat’s life would have been ruined, and his family impoverished.
Thankfully, he was able to come to G2 hospital, which has a good reputation for surgery. Although Ahmat will need to keep his leg in plaster to strengthen for another two or three months, at least now he’s home in time for planting season, and he can supervise his children planting the new crop of millet and peanuts, using wooden crutches made for him by our physiotherapist, Matthieu.
After planting season he will return for removal of the plaster, a post-surgical check-up, and some physiotherapy. Ahmat said he is happy with the treatment he had here and thanked Kalbassou for saving his leg.
New Equipment & Services:
We are very grateful for a private donation to purchase an Immuno Analyser for our laboratory, enabling us to perform many new diagnostic tests, including PSA and TSH (prostate & thyroid tests) for the first time, for money raised by Staunton Alliance Church, which paid for our new mobile surgical lamp, and to the Dawn Laurel Foundation which donated money for a new delivery table, Operating table, and ceiling-mounted Operating lamp.
Our new mobile surgical lamp provides better light for surgery.
We also now have a G2 facebook page! You can find us at Hopital Guinebor 2
Prayer Requests & Opportunities to Serve
We are still in urgent need of a Surgeon.
If you have these skills and are willing to serve, whether long or short term, then please do contact us at Guinebor2@gmail.com
Please pray for our founder and surgeon Dr Bert Oubre, who is in the USA after recovering from knee surgery. Pray that he and Debbie will be healthy and able to return to Chad soon.
Please pray for Kalbassou, our General Director and currently our only Surgeon. May God give him energy, strength and wisdom for all the work he does, especially while Bert and Debbie are still away.
Please pray God’s protection over this hospital and this country as we emerge from the restrictions of Coronavirus, and also as heavy rains bring the start of malaria season and occasional flooding and storm damage.
Pray that we will be able to treat patients with the many diseases and conditions which shorten lives and cause so much suffering here in Chad.
Please keep praying for the work of our two Ethiopian Pastors/Chaplains and for all those they are reaching with the Gospel.
G2 Hospital is very grateful for all the volunteers, prayers, and financial support we receive from all over the world, including from AIM, DWAM, Humedica, CHSC, SIM-France, the Cutting Edge Foundation (CEF), and BMS World Mission.
We are also proud to announce a new partnership with the Neuenbürg hospital for anaesthesia training, funded by GIZ (German international development agency)
May the Lord continue to bless you in all that you do.
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9
