Earlier this year, The 410 Bridge, a faith-based missions organization focused on work in Kenya, sponsored the shipment of a 40-foot container of medical supplies and equipment for a clinic they built in the rural village of Kwambekenya. Not long after that, a medical mission team with The 410 Bridge collected medical supplies from our MedTeam Store to assist them in providing both medical and dental services to people in another rural community in Kenya.
Dr. George MacMasters, a dentist with the team shares the team’s powerful experience at The Segera Mission in Kenya:
It was our first clinic day at Segera Mission, Kenya. We were here to provide some dental extractions with an extraordinary group called The 410Bridge.
We had no dental chair, operatory light, suction or compressed air so we positioned a hospital bed near an open window and began to set up our instruments and supplies. In few minutes we would be treating our first patient. Oh, did I forget to mention, no one had ever provided dental treatment before in Segera? All we had was what we brought with us, and were an hour from the nearest paved road.
In the States any inst
rument or supply you could possibly desire is quickly and easily available. For us though, if we didn’t have something, we wouldn’t be able to get it - no Segera Medical Supply Company around the corner.
rument or supply you could possibly desire is quickly and easily available. For us though, if we didn’t have something, we wouldn’t be able to get it - no Segera Medical Supply Company around the corner.I looked over to our supplies being laid out and thought, “Wow, where did all that come from?” I saw a mountain of 2 x 2’s, 4 x 4’s, masks, gloves, isolation towels, etc. that had been collected from MedShare. I thought it’s certainly good to be well-supplied, but we probably won’t use most of it.
In walked our first patient, a young man named Godfrey. We extracted a severely-decayed, infected second molar. Things were uneventful for that first extraction.
As our clinic progressed over the next few days the modifications necessary to practice even limited dentistry in the Kenyan countryside became increasingly apparent:
- without suction we would be using many more 2 x2’s and 4 x 4’s than anticipated – these were supplied by MedShare
- with no way to sterilize isolation towels we would need large quantities to avoid cross contamination– fortunately, we had large quantities - supplied by MedShare
- without handpieces (dental drills) many procedures would be much slower causing the operating field to be exposed for longer periods of time thereby increasing the opportunity for infection and cross contamination– we would need many more disposable supplies than we had prepared for – these were supplied by MedShare
Our mountain of MedShare supplies dwindled over the next few days – we used nearly everything.
Controlling cross-contamination is important anywhere, however in an area where hepatitis A, B and HIV are endemic, it’s critical. The generous quantities of supplies from MedShare contributed substantially to good infection control even in a compromised clinical environment. On follow-up, our patients experienced zero post-op infections.
People must wonder from time to time if contributions/donations to organizations like MedShare actually do anything. Did my donation really matter to a real person?
Just before we left Segera Mission, Godfrey told us he had had a headache everyday for five years, but it was now gone. In his pleasant Kenyan-British accent he said, “I did not know it was my tooth.”
I’m pretty sure MedShare’s efforts mattered to Godfrey.
