Gizo Hospital
My visit to Gizo Hospital brought many positive surprises.
Thus, a Trunz Brakish Water plant and a Solar Power Center were set up by UNDP. This will supply the entire hospital with water and and electricity.
In addition, the incineration plant was put into operation. Chris Leve had already told me about this last year.
Gizo Hospital - Update
16.04.2017
Due to the fact that all reserve material to the TWM1 was burned in the fire, the Swiss Trunz technician installing the equipment at Kilu'ufi Hospital takes all material from Switzerland. he will work with a technician from Auki (Malaita) to re-commission the plant, train the staff and introduce the local technician as the local contact. This will ensure local support.
04.10.2016
Today I received a very encouraging email from Chris Leve, the Head Infection Control at Gizo Hospital.
Chris writes that the drinking water facility is fully utilized by patients and staff. Diarrheal diseases have decreased, which is certainly related to the clean drinking water.
Less pleasant is that the fire of the old hospital destroyed everything - the old buildings, in which were the administration, Chris office, and the hospital pharmacy - all burned down completely. there is nothing left except a few pieces of sheet metal - that is bitter!
All documents relating to Infection Control, whether electronic or paper, have been destroyed. Chris has started to recreate everything - a huge mosaic needs to be put back together.
IT'S DONE!
Since Saturday, 09 July 2016, Gizo Hospital has a functioning Trunz drinking water system. The joy about this is immeasurable in the hospital and on Gizo.
Here are a few impressions of the plant:
Details on how the system works can be found here: TWM_001 and here: E_Facts TWM 001 Whereby it must be noted that the system initially works WITHOUT solar panel. That would have exceeded the donation's budget.
I thank everyone who believed in me and the project. I would like to thank the patrons, without whose donations the project could not have been realized.
AND - I thank John Nell, Andrea Trunz and the staff at Gizo Hospital for their tireless efforts and support to make this project a reality.
We are now able to continue with the project on the Solomon Islands and, thanks to further donations, install drinking water systems in hospitals.
If you would like to know more about the other planned drinking water projects in the Solomon Islands and about possible donations, please contact Petra Breiting - the author of this blog - by mail: pbreiting@gmx.net.
Soraya Pina Hospital Secretary Gizo Hospital has written that they are very proud to be the only hospital in the Solomon Islands with the Trunz facility.
Original text:"It makes us proud because we the only hospital in the country that has it, See attached photo of the taps".
23.08.2016
The St. Galler Tagblatt has published an article about the drinking water project read more here in the St. Galler Tagblatt
Gizo Hospital Update
On 12.1.16 I had my conversation with Dr. Gegory Jilini regarding the drinking water project.
He is still very fond of the fact that there are private donors for the drinking water plant. He sees this as a great help for the population and, of course, the patients.
What surprised me a lot is the fact that the old hospital is still in operation. The Wards are totally dilapidated, run down, basically unusable.
The reason is that when the new hospital was built, the administrative area was not taken into account.
Doctors and nurses pointed out to me that there are no toilets and showers for outpatients in the area of the entire first floor where the emergency room, laboratory, outpatient departments and the X-ray department are located. These rooms are located on the top floor. Currently, there is a severe epidemic of diarrhea here on Gizo - and if the patients have to walk through the entire hospital to the toilet and shower - it is only a short transmission path to "healthy" people. Although the epidemic is on the wane, action is still needed.
Anyway, Dr. Jilini will discuss with John Nell the details for the installation so we can move forward with the project. And so, of course, further diarrhea can be prevented.
In addition, Dr. Jilini is reassured that I will inform Koji Yamaguchi at the Japanese Embassy on 1/20/16 about the project, after all, the Japanese government would have built the new hospital.
On 13.01.2016 Dr. Jilini informed the cadre staff in Gizo Hospital about the installation of Trunz - TWM1 - system. Everyone is relieved that relief is coming soon.
As already reported in the amount to the conversation in the Japanese Embassy, Koji Yamaguchi wants Chris Leve to work in the Grass-Root project.
Chris has the first conversation with Koji Yamaguchi in Honiara at the Japanese Embassy on Jan. 26, 2016.
Gregory Jilini is delighted that an employee of "his" hospital has been appointed.
On 3/14/2016, I received an e-mail from Chris Leve reporting that he personally submitted a plan to the Japanese Embassy for the restrooms and showers in the emergency area. The toilets are installed. Finally, a ray of hope for hospital staff and especially for outpatients.
Remember my roundup email where I tell you Chris and I made soap? Chris reports in his mail that they now make the soap for the hospital and the patients themselves - that makes me very happy. Another small success in infection prophylaxis.
I sent Chris Leve an e-mail with the project plan and project schedule, as there are some tasks in it for him. Precisely because he has now completed further training in infection prophylaxis and hospital hygiene at the Ministry of Health in Honaira, he can apply this know-how in the preparations for the Trunz drinking water plant.
23.06.2016
Read the info on "The countdown is on". This gives you a quick overview of the progress. According to John Nell of Trunz Water Systems AG, installation and commissioning of the TWM1 is scheduled to take place during the 2nd week of July.
Drinking water project at Gizo Hospital
This mission, just like the 2014 one, is primarily titled "Humanitarian Mission", but the focus is on a drinking water facility for the hospital on Gizo. This includes teaching and coaching for hospital staff. Staff must be able to operate the drinking water system and train residents of Gizo and surrounding islands in its proper use. It is of no use if totally dirty liquid containers are brought along so that the clean drinking water can be filled into them..., it must be conveyed that these containers must be cleaned.
John Nell sent an email stating that a large brackish water (TBB) filtration system is certainly needed, see the PDF in the Trunz post. Independently of this, the primarily intended device TWM1 can already be installed from the donated money. For this purpose, a water pipe must be laid from the old kitchen at the hospital to the water supply of the new hospital.
The important thing now is that the water available for this system can be used from the analyses. Salty water cannot be filtered with the unit. It should be avoided that the device does not work properly and in the worst case breaks.
It should also be noted that this is the start of a pilot project, the success of which depends largely on the installation of further equipment on the Solomon Islands.
As soon as enough money is available for the brackish water system, work can begin to convert the water supply of Gizo and the hospital to the Trunz brackish water system.
The first installed device (TWM1) then serves as a backup.
For this reason, I will be having a conversation with John Nell in Sydney on 1/25/16. Once all ambiguities and possible risks have been cleared up, the device can be shipped by air freight from the Trunz company in Steinach/SG.
English is a foreign language, so all instructions should be translated from English into Pidgin English - this will ensure that there are no misunderstandings.