Namoruputh Health Centre in Kenya
Life in Turkana, Kenya
In 2013, ERDO alongside Mission Global, began transforming a small medical dispensary into the Namoruputh Health Centre, a large facility that provides primary and comprehensive healthcare to families in need.
Before the Health Centre was built, families were forced to travel 80 kilometres on foot to reach the nearest hospital. This distance was almost impossible to travel when a person was hungry, thirsty or sick.
But today, the Namoruputh Health Centre serves over 42,000 people every year living in rural Turkana.
In the remote area of Turkana, northern Kenya, life is difficult as food is scarce. By bringing families in Turkana access to healthcare, we can save lives and impact families for good.
Ride to Thrive
While the Health Centre now serves as a vital lifeline in one of the most remote regions of Africa, it’s still missing one critical component: a functioning surgical theatre.
Currently, the closest hospital that can perform surgeries is 85 km away from Turkana over rough dirt roads and dry riverbeds.
710 patients in the last 5 years have been transported to this nearby hospital from the Health Centre in emergency vehicles. Medical staff accompany their patients on motorcycles. Travel delays surgeries for patients with traumatic injuries, mothers with delivery complications, and patients with urgent needs.
This fall, ERDO’s Board Chair, Murray Cornelius, is hosting the Ride to Thrive in support of the Namoruputh Health Centre! He will be raising $120,000 to equip the surgical theatre with:
- Operating tables and surgical lights
- Anesthesia and monitoring machines
- Surgical kits for childbirth, trauma and infection
- Oxygen tanks, sterilizers, baby warmers, scrubs and more
Groups of cyclists will ride 100 kilometers in both Ottawa on August 23 and Milton on September 6—so that families in Turkana no longer need to travel huge distances for surgical procedures.
Together we can equip surgeons in Turkana with the supplies they need to save lives by giving toward Ride to Thrive.
Turkana Health Centre
Today, the Namoruputh Health Centre includes in-patient and out-patient wards, consultation rooms, hematology analysis, and wound care, casualty and injection rooms. The out-patient centre includes mother and child health immunization areas, a refrigeration room for vaccine storage and a kitchen.
Thanks to generous donations over the years, the Health Centre has met the needs of thousands of patients, particularly mothers and their children. Through the out-patient centre, children and mothers are provided with the needed vitamins, minerals and nutrition to maintain their health. Staff ensures that children are meeting their height and weight requirements and are no longer suffering from malnutrition.
When families are healthy communities have the opportunity to flourish. Thank you for giving generously in the name of Jesus, helping the Health Centre with operating costs so families in medical crisis have a place to heal.
