Medical Campaign, Las Lomas

Thursday and Friday 21st & 22nd of September saw the Diocesan medical centre team along with parish volunteers run a medical campaign in an area called Villa Lima Tambo, Las Lomas in the municipal district of Villa Maria. They were invited by the local community through a contact of a mother of a disabled child who lives near by.




View to the hillsides of Las Lomas












Thankfully there was a community building available for our use which saved taking and setting up the usual tents and awnings.

Alejandro fixing the banner announcing our presence inthe community





There was a lot of space and sheets separated the various areas of the clinic, registration, triaje, doctors surgeries, pharmacy and integrated health for both adults and children.






Janet registered patients












Erasmo worked with the children










In the two days a total of 125 patients were seen, the majority under 10 years old and suffering with bronchial problems due to the climate and quality of the local air. The adults had a variety of aliments but common problems included gastritis and coughs or colds. The first day got off to a slow start but the dentist was busy with quite a queue forming after lunch. The second day saw a steady flow of patients. There were 25 dental patients on the Thursday and the two doctors saw a total of 100 medical patients during the two days.














As always a main focal point were the health and evangelistic talks taking place in integrated health with both the children and adults. Some good contacts were made so follow up visits will be planned. Pray for wisdom as to how to continue the work in this area as there is no Anglican church nearby.

Medical Centre San Juan Evangelista

The Medical Centre in Pamplona Baja welcomed Dr. Katherine Luyo Smith to be the resident medic following the departure of Dr. Cano in March. Dr. Luyo attends patients each day from 8am to 2pm. As with any changes there have been challenges but the work continues to give integral care to many people in the locality. In April 75 patients were seen, mainly children with respiratory problems. In May 125 patients were attended and during the month a mini 4 day campaign was held within the centre with additional dental attention and health talks. Several new patients were seen. In June numbers reduced to 72 attentions.

Nurse Epifania continues to go into the community and the Diocesan missions to give talks and orientation to many women. Every other Thursday the women's group at Mission San Pedro receive health orientation for the benefit of them and their families, nutrition, hygiene etc. In June the topic of parasites has been discussed which is a common and recurring aliment amongst the families. Epifania also visits the local Diocesan educational projects to teach the children and their parents and to weigh and measure the children to ensure they are developing according to their age.

Medical Campaign San Francisco de la Cruz

Rain, well actually heavy Lima drizzle, no transport and road repairs made the medical campaign on 6th July a very difficult activity. The proposed transport did not arrive at the church in the morning to collect the tents, people and medical equipment and so a replacement was hailed from the road but due to the weather and the works on the road the people and supplies were left quite a distance from the planned site. With local children helping to carry the equipment we decided to install the clinic in a different area than planned and finally got underway rather later than usual at 10am. It was a slow morning of attention for the doctors and dentist. Many people were involved in a milk rally to plead with local government to continue the free milk rations in the shanty areas. Other mothers were working on the building of local wall and communal stairs to make access and movement in the district easier. The lunch time break saw many of the workers come to the clinic, some with back ache, others with colds and coughs due to the bad weather and damp conditions.

A total of 61 patients were seen by the doctors, 35 - 0 - 10 year olds, 4 - 11 - 18 years and 22 adults. There were 12 dental patients, many needing teeth extracted.

There was a long wait at the end of the day whilst transport was negotiated to get everyone out, the driver of the bus wanting an exorbitant fee - the desperation, and the continued rain, forced the normal price up a bit but thankfully everyone and everything was returned to its home at the end of the day with help from more local youngsters eager to help carry and move things to where they needed to be.

Local Medical Campaign

On Thursday 8th June the team of doctors, dentists, nurses and campaign volunteers installed a mobile clinic on the football pitch in Las Rosales in an area called the Chancheria - literally the pig sty and there are pigs around, plus a few cows but also many families without the basic facilities of light and water.

It was a busy day and a total of 109 patients were seen. 82 patiens in medicine, 60 children and 22 adults and 27 patients in dental, 12 children and 15 adults. The dentists worked right through lunch and pulled a lot of teeth!

























The weather surprised us and it was a hot day, everyone had wrapped up warmly as we are in winter here in Lima and usually up on these hillsides it is damp and misty.

The little girl below was very keen to be weighed but then didn't want to get off the scales

Children's Check ups

On Thursday 4th May a team of nursing students and their professor from Michigan University joined nurse Epifania to do health checks on children involved in the San Pedro breakfast and feeding programme. This social outreach ministry is led by Rev. Misael Varillas and his wife Claudia who each week provide breakfast for over 100 children. This is accompanied by bible stories and creative activities for the children who especially like to draw and sing.

The medical team saw over 100 children who assembled with their mothers or older siblings to be weighed, measured and given a general physical check up.

Most of the children were in good shape physically in weight and height. Several showed signs of coughs, colds and bronchial problems, very common in the shanty areas due to the damp climate and poor air quality. One child came with a badly burnt arm which the nurses were able to treat and redress and provide bandages and cream for the mother to continue the treatment. Burns are common as many families live in just one room so cooking, playing and household activitives take place in the same small area.

Each family were given gifts of toothbrush, soap and some toy or clothing. Several new borns were seen as were many expectant mothers, and blankets and clothes were distributed.

Follow up visits will be made to check on those who were ill and monitor their progress.

Weight and height controls will be done on a regular basis inthe future to ensure that the feeding programme accomplishes its aim in enabling these children grow fit and strong physically with the knowledge of God's love and care for each of them.

Medical Campaign and MMI

The week of 20th to 24th March saw a team of over 50 peole offering integrated health care in some of the poorer shanty communities of Lima. Longstanding partnerships between the Anglican Church and Medical Ministry International ((MMI) brought a team of doctors, nurses, lab. technicians and helpers together for 5 days of clinics in 3 different locations where the Anglican church is reaching out into new communities. This year the group was joined by a team of Municipality of Lima doctors and nurses with the additional clinic for our 4 legged friends as a team of 4 vets from the Municipality and volunteers from a Peruvian charity 'Vida Digna' took care of the animals, mainly dogs and cats but the occasional pig, rabbit and parrot appeared to be treated.



A total of 1,200 patiens were seen in the various consultations of general medicine, pediatrics, dental, opthamology and veterinary. As always a focal aspect of the clinic were the preventative talks and the opportunity to share the gospel with patients as they waited to be attended or for their medicines. Below we see one of the Anglican health promoters teaching the children how to care for their hair and prevent nits!

We are grateful for the support of MMI again this year and the Anglican church are committed to continue this ministry throughout 2006 with mini medical campaigns as we have done in previous years.

Medical atention and Community Health

During 2005 there was medical attention each morning Monday through Friday in the Anglican clinic in the church of San Juan Evangelista (St. John the Evangelist) . The medical team, plus other volunteers and health promoters, also headed up the hillsides on the outskirts of Lima to set up tents and offer low cost medical and dental attention to poor communities lacking the basic facilities of water and light.

Throughout the year over 2,000 patients were seen during the medical campaigns and over 4,000 in the clinic. Health talks were also given to groups of women in our mission posts and to the children and students in our Diocesan social outreach projects. The medical and community health work therefore has a wide impact in the shanty town communities in Lima. There is no state system of health care and as most medicines can be purchased 'over the counter' there is alot of self prescribing or at the other extreme nothing is taken and the problem escalates.

Health prevention is also very important and this needs to start at a young age, encouraging children in good habits of both hygene and diet - a difficult area when water is expensive and scarce and nutritious food out of the price range of most. Educating children and adults is therefore a priority.

In the area of nutrition people have been encourage to use pulses and grains which are in abundance here and use a 'magic ove' to save fuel. Two polystyrene filled cushions are used to insulate the partly cooked food in its saucepan which then continues to cook 'gas free' and without burning or danger to young children playing around the cooking area.