Mulberries

I wonder how many people know about the mulberry tree inside the NJH campus. 

I had snapped the berries while they were raw last year. 

I remembered them only this year when they had become quite ripe and juicy. 

Another drive . . . to Champa

After the last long drive we took to Madhepura, I was eagerly waiting for the next drive. And came the opportunity yesterday to drive to Champa. 

After much research, the following was the route that we took. 

Google maps showed us that the distance was 436 kilometers. Our odometer showed 470 kilometers. We had started off at 5:30 am and was in Champa by 3:00 pm.

The return was by a different route. 

Here, google maps showed 432 kilometers, but our odometer showed 500 kilometers. We took some more time for the return trip as we took more time to rest on the way back. We started at 5:30 am and reached NJH at 4:00 pm. 

Personally, I preferred the road we used for the return trip. However, there was new road construction in the former route which could change things soon. 

And the reason for the trip. To bring the Grace babies heroes to NJH . . . Wendy and Jerry would be at NJH for a week. 

Well, watch out for the next post on the Champa Christian Hospital. 

Before I sign off, a few snaps from the trip . . . 

We left before dawn and witnessed the beautiful sunrise over the Ranka hills

Entering Chattisgarh . . .

The smooth roads were a welcome relief

Something you'll find only in this part of the country

A common sight in most of North India at this point of time.
There has been a bumper harvest this year . .. ...

Guava orchard . . .

We went through dangerous stretches of forest areas. Here is a signboard warning us of elephants.
There was another place where there was a warning about bears. Unfortunately, we never saw any wild animal

A very good restaurant in Ambikapur . . . Recommended . . . 

Madhepura Christian Hospital . . .

Snaps of the Madhepura Christian Hospital where we had our Regional Administrative Council for 2012.  We drove from NJH and had a really great time of driving through Bihar . . . Good food and great sights . . . You can read more about the place and the work going on at Dr. Augustine's blog.

The front of the hospital. A patient's relative has arrived on horseback. 

The morning devotions. The nurses are mostly from the NJH Nursing School . . .

The registration and billing section. . .

The new Intensive Care Unit . . . 

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit . . . Awaiting a pediatrician . . .

For nursing mothers . . . 

Female ward . . . 

Male ward . . .

A working typewriter . . . Something rare nowadays . . .

Owner's pride, neighbour's envy . . .  Read neighbour as NJH . . .

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I had the opportunity to visit Madhepura sometime in October, 2004. I happened to find the snaps taken during that time.

Dr. Dinesh and Sr. Shannon in the Outpatient Department.
They presently serve at Kacchwa Christian Hospital, another unit of Emmanuel Hospital Association

Morning devotions . . . 

Morning devotions  .. .. ..

Dr. Dinesh with one really old autoclave . . . 

Another snap from the OPD . . . 

Grand rounds . . . 

My room. Electricity was sparse. So, the hurricane lamp . . ,

The old incinerator . . . 

A century old X-Ray machine . . .

The pharmacy . .. ...

Another snap of the grand rounds . . . 

Sr. Shannon seeing patients in the outpatient . . . .

The store . . . 

Dr. Dinesh operating . . . 

The old Tuberculosis Wards . . . 

Another view of the grand rounds . . . 

Final say about the place . . . Another of the EHA units with a great potential. Being situated in a district headquarters, there is potential for the place being developed in almost all specialities. Kindly pray for this place that more young men and women in the healthcare field would feel led by the Lord to come and serve. 

Serving along with us . . . Prayer Request . . .

It has been quite a hectic week at NJH. As we are pleasantly occupied with serving the people of this region, we've always known that we could do with more help. Of course we have new projects, in disability, RSBY and Climate Change which have been approved and we are looking at the possibility of new people joining us in the Community Health Department.

In addition, we need at least consultants in Medicine and Pediatrics, couple of people in administration, a X-Ray technician and a Pharmacist.

All over EHA, we have realised the need for more people to join us. 

Last week our Director had come out with a letter of appeal for people to consider working alongside us. 

This weekend, could I request you to help us out with prayers that more people will join us . . . I'm sure that with a bigger and committed team we can work wonders and be the 'salt and light' for this region.

Of course, we are thankful for the people we already have, but we need more . . . Please do pass this post to people who you think would be of help to us . . . 

Maybe, who knows? The Lord could be calling you to serve with us . . . 

Prayerfully, Jeevan

Nursing . . . An Invitation . . .

Over the last couple of months, there has been quite a hue and cry in my homestate, Kerala about working conditions of nurses as well as the compensation packages being given in private hospitals. There has been violence in one of the well known superspeciality hosptials. Conditions in many of the private hospitals around the country are also not much different. I recently found out that it has affected one of the hospitals under my church. 

I do have relatives who serve in the nursing services in private as well as government hospitals. One of my cousins who is a BSc Nurse, quite a smart chap and popular with patients gets a take home salary of about 6000 INR and works a 10-12 hour shift. Mr. Selvin who joined us about 6 months back also tells us about similar conditions in hospital he worked in before he joined us. He was getting about 5000 INR and living in a single room along with 4 of his colleagues.

I’ve been telling quite a number of my friends and relatives about the much superior working conditions and staying facilities that EHA units such as ours offers to nursing staff. I had been keeping myself away from putting this up for quite a long time till I discovered that the problems continue to remain in spite of umpteen number of agitations etc.

There is a dire need for qualified nurses and nurse leaders within the organisation. The major deterrent to people coming to organisations such as EHA is the remoteness of the places where most of our hospitals are. However, there are quite a lot of nursing staff from India who go all the way to t he Gulf, US or UK. And with the arrival of technology such as skype and faster travel, it is not that difficult to be in regular touch with relatives and friends.

One more major deterrent is the much needed experience that many of them need in super-speciality hospitals so as to make a career in countries abroad. However, I feel that this can be offered in few of our hospitals too.

Well, ultimately you may need to know how much we offer. I do not want to outrightly put it here, but what I need to tell you is that a newly joining ANM in EHA gets almost the same salary as that of a BSc Nurse in Kerala/Tamil Nadu.

And before I sign out, I need to put the fact that we are a bit choosy with selections as we need to ensure that prospective staff would be in line with the mission and vision of the organisation . . .

But for the bottomline, more than the superior working conditions or the better stay facilities, it is the opportunity to serve some of the most poor communities in the world and to become part of a movement that looks at transforming and strengthening such communities that drew me to join EHA. And of course, we pray that the Lord will give you a burden for such an effort and for joining institutions/organisations such as ours . . .