International Women's Day 2024
Word and Deed
by Banks Off Shore
1w ago
(by Julie)  March 8th is International Women’s Day. It comes and goes every year without much fanfare in America. But we have found that it holds a certain importance in many African countries. Not the least of which is Burundi.  We as a missionary community have been involved with the local womens' celebrations for several years now. Every year a fabric is chosen and as many women as are able use it to make a dress or skirt. It’s always so much fun to see the creativity in all the beautiful dresses!  At the end of the day, women who work at the hospital join together fo ..read more
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Wounded Healers All
Word and Deed
by The Drs. McLaughlin
1M ago
 (from Eric) Nadia was admitted to my service last night. Two months ago, she delivered twins. One of them is doing well, but the other has had trouble and is admitted to our NICU. So she's been living at Kibuye taking care of her babies. Apparently, last night, she went to get some dinner and had difficult breathing all of a sudden. She stumbled into the Emergency Room where her oxygen levels were super low and she was breathing way too fast. Her blood pressure and heart rate were also quite high. She was admitted to internal medicine where we did all the available tests that might hel ..read more
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The Very First....
Word and Deed
by Caleb Fader
1M ago
 (By Caleb) Training is a cornerstone of what our team does here at Kibuye.  Most of our team is involved in training surgeons, doctors, and nurses, but on the construction team we also have an apprenticeship program where masons, carpenters, iron workers, and welders can be trained by those already in the 'guild'.   When the first members of our team arrived in 2013 my brother ran the construction crew when he was not in the operating room.  He strongly encouraged this apprenticeship program and to this day the construction leadership team still reminds me, "But Doctor Fad ..read more
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Threads of Years Long Gone: Ministers, Babies, and Reasons for Reconsidering Hope
Word and Deed
by The Drs. McLaughlin
2M ago
 (from Eric) On Friday, the hospital inaugurated a new district health office. In addition to being a church hospital and a teaching hospital, Kibuye is the referral hospital for Kibuye Health District, a geographic area of over 200,000 people. Anyone sick in that area goes to one of 18 health centers in the district which refer necessary cases to the hospital. Of course, we also get cases from all over the country and neighboring countries because of specialized care here, but we are the primary hospital for this catchment area, and this health district is administered and supplied by th ..read more
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I Bless the Rains Down in Africa
Word and Deed
by The Drs. McLaughlin
2M ago
by Rachel  If anyone knows anything about Africa, usually they can at least hum the above line from Toto.  It's a great song.  Most of my life I thought the line was "I MISS the rains down in Africa," which I think fits with the longing of the song, but anyway.  I've been thinking about that song a lot lately as Burundi has had a pretty epic rainy season this year.   Now that we've been living here for 10 years, the dry and rainy seasons (instead of a classic summer/winter pattern seen in northern climates) have become second nature to us.  The rains usually stop ..read more
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On the Eve of Christmas
Word and Deed
by The Drs. McLaughlin
3M ago
 (from Eric, adapted from our family Christmas newsletter) Exodus 36:7: The materials were sufficient for them to do all the work. There was more than enough.  I read this obscure verse this morning. It is describing how the people of Israel gave so much of their personal belongings to make the furnishings of the tabernacle that the craftsmen in charge told them to stop. “There was more than enough.” Do you hear that provision? It hits my heart like a feast. We’ve known some times like that in 2023. We have seen our medical school flush again with graduates after several years of d ..read more
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VIPs
Word and Deed
by Alyssa
4M ago
 By Alyssa As one of the most developed hospitals in a small country, we get our share of VIPs, and there is always a tension at to how much time and energy to spend on them versus the rest of the patients. My sense is that this is a challenge in lots of places but especially for mission hospitals in developing countries where the goals of medical excellence, compassionate care for the poor, quality education for trainees, and financial sustainability can sometimes seem impossible to pursue simultaneously.  Kibuye Hope Hospital's vision is to:  "Develop a university hospital of ..read more
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Making Virtual a Reality
Word and Deed
by Michael
4M ago
While a good understanding of anatomy is important for the practice of medicine, it's foundational for the practice of surgery.  Knowing the relationships between structures can be the difference between curing the patient and causing irreparable harm.  Because of its foundational nature, in the U.S. anatomy and physiology is one of the courses taught early in medical school.  Around 90% of U.S. medical schools include cadaver dissection as a part of their curriculum.[1] Even as the pedagogy for medical education is transitioning to a flipped classroom model, the importance of i ..read more
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COTW: Postpartum Complication
Word and Deed
by The Drs. McLaughlin
6M ago
 by Rachel Well, we often see strange and bizarre cases at Kibuye, that has not changed!  But it's been awhile since we've posted our old blog standby of Case of the Week.  FAIR WARNING that if you are squeamish about medical things, this might be a post to skip.  But for all the rest of you, I'm curious if you can figure out the problem.  Also, we could use some advice on how to best fix this patient, so contact me after if you have ideas. This lady came to the maternity service about 4-5 days after a spontaneous vaginal delivery of her 3rd child at a different hospit ..read more
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We Never Stop Learning
Word and Deed
by The Drs. McLaughlin
6M ago
(from Eric) Roughly thirteen years ago this month, Rachel and Maggie and I visited Burundi for the first time. This was the first trip of our team to Burundi and the one that led to all the others, I guess. We were welcomed generously by the leadership of Hope Africa University. We spent five days in country, mostly in Bujumbura, only visiting Kibuye for a half-day.  We learned about the country and the work of HAU, in particular their medical school which was seeking faculty members like ourselves. Walking around the main campus of HAU in Bujumbura, I ducked into a classroom, and I loo ..read more
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