GPC Sponsors International Nursing Day in Lesotho
May 16th, 2008
Global Primary Care was the proud sponsor of International Nursing Day activities at Maluti Adventist Hospital and Motebang Hospital in Leribe. We received the following message about the festivities:”On behalf of the Nursing staff at Maluti Adventist Hospital and Leribe Government Hospital, I would like to express my sincerest and warmest gratitude for the donations made by Global Primary Care and for the nursing supplies donated by BMC staff members.
The celebration at Maluti Hospital on Tuesday, May 13th began with inspirational speeches made by several nurse leaders at Maluti and a distinguished member of the LNA, Me’ Lepaka, PNO Motholomi Hospital. Some of the memorable quotes include: “[Nursing] is not an easy environment, nobody said it would be, but we continue to do it anyway…” and “If Florence Nightingale were to come back now to Lesotho- she would have a fit! And indeed she would!” The nurses then marched through Mapoteng to Tiping Village where the village chief held a pitso. Health talks were given, and nurses checked blood pressures and blood sugars. Nurses delivered donated supplies to home care patients and performed bed baths on bed ridden patients. After the nurses marched back to the Hospital, a braai commenced with tons of food, music and dancing. The donated nursing supplies were raffled off and the stethoscopes were a huge hit.
Leribe Hospital nursing staff members began the day with a march that circled the town and ended up at a ‘health’ tent on the hospital campus. Several encouraging and motivating speeches were made but, the most memorable was Dr. Obi’s, who remarked: “The nurses’ day celebration is a very big occasion worldwide. It is supposed to be a national holiday to stress the importance of this day but, unfortunately we cannot afford that luxury because of the nature of the nurse’s job. If all the nurses take one day off to celebrate their day, the whole health care delivery services will ground to a halt and that will turn the celebration into a day of mourning. That is why this occasion is celebrated in a low key way -to avoid a national disaster. On the other hand if all the doctors, pharmacists, or lab personnel take one day holiday to celebrate their day, work will still go on. This shows that nurses are the single most important group of professionals in the health care delivery system worldwide.”
After the speeches, patients received blood pressure and blood sugar checks, HIV testing and counseling, and TB screening. Nurses then joined together in a lunch which was shared with most staff members. The raffle again was a huge sensation, with nurse’s cheering and singing with every item that was given out!”<br /><br /><br /><br />
The full-length documentary (
Global Primary Care’s Literacy program endorsed by Lesotho’s Queen; receives 1000+ children’s books from Houghton MifflinHer Majesty Queen ‘Masenate, the Queen of Lesotho, has agreed to be the patron of Family Literacy Lesotho, Global Primary Care’s literacy program. Because she and her husband King Letsie III literally embody the Basotho culture, we couldn’t have asked for a more prestigious endorsement. They also have small children and she is devoted to education and literacy for children.Additionally, through a literacy program at textbook manufacturer Houghton Mifflin, Global Primary Care purchased more than 1,000 books at a 50% discount for distribution at pediatric clinics in Lesotho. We are very appreciative of the support of Houghton Mifflin, Scholastic Books, Reach out and Read, and the Boston Medical Center’s Department of Pediatrics for all of their support in providing books to date.Through August of 2007, our program has provided more than 6,000 books to children at the Baylor Pediatric clinic outside Maseru.We expect the Queen’s support for the program to help expand the roll-out to a number of clinics throughout Lesotho, and are thrilled with the progress we have made in 2007.