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 ELWA Hospital's Malnutrition Program Puts Smiles On Mother and Child! From November 2020 Newsletter - Subscribe
Large numbers of women started bringing their babies and young children with severe malnutrition problems to the hospital in 2019. There is often a medical issue associated with this as well. With the onset of Covid-19, more women struggling to feed their children are coming for help and advice. In August 2019, ELWA hospital started a free "Malnutrition Feeding and Medical Management Program" for children under five years old suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). Carrying out malnutrition treatment in a hospital setting offers a big advantage in allowing for diagnosis and treatment of the underlying medical condition and leads to higher survival rates for these children. The specialized food provided in the program is free for the kids but costs the hospital about $16,000 a year. ELWA Ministries Association USA has committed to paying for half of this cost but we can only do it with your help. Please consider a donation for this project.  EMAUSA’s recent financial gift to ELWA Hospital will, according to Jason Troxell, CEO – ELWA Medical Center, “go a long way to proving supplies and care for patients suffering from COVID-19 in Liberia.” EMAUSA looks forward to partnering with ELWA Hospital to promote evangelism and discipleship of both patients and staff. Currently, there are three Chaplains at ELWA Hospital: three paid, one volunteer. They conduct daily chapel teaching and worship services. They pray with patients individually offering counseling when needed. The Chaplains also pray over, counsel, and disciple staff members. The Jesus Film is shown daily along with a Gospel presentation on the 10 monitors in the OPD area. Many patients have made the decision to follow Jesus as the result of this film.
Visitors who gather at the hospital before opening are invited to participate in Bible teaching provided by HCF (Healthcare Christian Fellowship), a ministry started by ELWA Hospital staff. HCF members also visit patients providing Bible teaching to them and their families. Mr. Troxell would like to provide more encouragement and spiritual training for ELWA Hospital staff including one-on-one discipleship and small group Bible studies. “I think its easy to underestimate the darkness in Liberia. There are a lot of “churches” but still the country is very dark spiritually…” says Mr. Troxell.  The ECOL (Evangelical Churches of Liberia) medical mission team has not been able to travel to rural villages for mobile clinics due to COVID-19 restrictions, but they are active during this pandemic. The team has been responding to emergency cases as I receive calls from villagers in rural Liberia about health emergencies. During this new normal, our contact pastors in the rural regions are usually contacted when there is an emergency. The contact pastors verify the emergency and recruit young men who cover 3-6 hours on foot to get to locations that have phone coverage and make SOS calls to me or the head of the medical team. We use our ECOL motorbike as an ambulance to go in and bring the critically ill patients to Monrovia.
 In August 2019, ELWA hospital started a free "Malnutrition Feeding and Medical Management Program" for children under 5 suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM). Carrying out malnutrition treatment in a hospital setting offers a big advantage in allowing for diagnosis and treatment of the underlying medical conditions and leads to higher survival rates for these children.
The new malnutrition program remains one of ELWA hospital’s most successful initiatives, with close to 300 outpatient malnutrition consultations each month plus a busy inpatient feeding unit where children with more serious medical complications are admitted. These conditions include severe malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, typhoid fever and severe anemia. To date, every child admitted into the nutrition program has survived and been discharged having reached a healthy weight! |
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ELWA Ministries Association USA