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Expats in Africa: From Ohio to Eswatini: Compassion That Crosses Continents
July 5, 2024
CategoryAfrica Central
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/Script((INTRO))
When Echo and Harry VanderWal saw the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Eswatini, they packed up their lives in Ohio in 2004, and moved to set up a free healthcare service there. Today, their nonprofit, The Luke Commission [TLC], provides medical care to over 300,000 patients annually in rural Eswatini. It was a powerful act of compassion that spanned continents and is transforming communities and saving lives. Nokukhanya Musi has the report.
((NARRATOR))
((Video: Drone footage - Wide shots of rural Eswatini, close-ups and wide shots of The Luke Commission and its facilities))
Amidst the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic of the 2000s, Eswatini's healthcare system was overwhelmed. According to UNAIDS and WHO [World Health Organization] figures, with 25% of the adult population infected and limited access to treatment, it was a public health crisis of staggering proportions. Seeing the urgent need for healthcare in rural Eswatini, Echo and Harry VanderWal from Ohio in the United States, launched The Luke Commission [TLC]. Funded by the United States government through the President's Plan for AIDS Relief [PEPFAR], the United States Agency for International Development [USAID], and the Free Wheelchair Mission, TLC provides free, high-quality critical health services to over 300,000 impoverished and disadvantaged patients annually, transforming lives and communities in rural Eswatini. Sibusiso Hlophe is one of the many whose life was transformed by TLC. For years, he suffered from chronic hip pain that limited his mobility and his life.
((Video: Closeup shots of Sibusiso Hlophe with nurses treating him and doing physical therapy))
((Sibusiso Hlophe, Patient)) ((Male, in English))
“I have been referring the life that I used to live, and I have been seeing my friends elevating you know a life they are progressing and I felt left behind. I was excited to get a call from TLC that you know what? We’ve got a solution for your problem, doing hip replacement. It’s a very expensive surgery. Knowing that I wouldn’t pay even a cent, I was so excited.”
((NARRATOR))
Sibusiso’s story is just one of hundreds of thousands of lives touched by TLC. According to the National Institutes of Health [NIH], Eswatini's healthcare system currently faces immense challenges with a shortage of doctors and nurses, leaving many without access to healthcare. But for those like elderly patient, Gabriel Shiba, who find their way to TLC, hope arrives in the form of free, comprehensive, and compassionate healthcare.
((Video: Cutaways of TLC and Gabriel being treated by nurses and doctors))
((Gabriel Shiba, Patient)) ((Male, in English))
“You go to other hospitals. They will tell you, “We are still calling a doctor. Let’s wait.” We have lost many lives there. But here, there is a doctor every day. You can even cry sometimes here, where you find being washed in the morning with hot water. It is only my mom who last washed me and my wife.”
((Mandatory Courtesy: The Luke Commission))
((NARRATOR))
Arriving in Eswatini during the height of the HIV epidemic in 2004, the VanderWals saw firsthand, the desperate need for quality healthcare in rural communities. Despite facing the challenges of an unknown environment, they were determined to understand those challenges and the complexities of rural healthcare, and find ways to bring compassionate, effective solutions to those most in need.
((Video: Wide shots of community Outreach projects))
The American couple focused on developing a strategy that brought compassionate, impactful care directly to the most isolated and underserved people of Eswatini.
((End Mandatory Courtesy: The Luke Commission))
The Luke Commission currently provides outpatient, inpatient, surgical, emergency, and critical care at the ever-expanding Miracle Campus in central Eswatini. Starting each day from the Miracle Campus, the TLC team, consisting of over 700 U.S. born and local staff, delivers outpatient care through more than 100 mobile hospital outreaches each year across Eswatini.
((Video: Harry VanderWal helping during rural community outreach projects with his children))
((Harry VanderWal, The Luke Commission Co-Founder, Executive Director, Medical Doctor)) ((Male, in English))
“As westerners coming in, we think we always have the answers. We think that if we do this and that, we can fix a situation. But our team helped us understand [that] the situation was far more complex. And so, we just stepped back and listened for the first several years, and just got to know the rural people, got to know the challenges that they faced, the challenges of reaching the health centres, the day-to-day challenges they struggled with. With that mindset, we were able to, with our team, develop a strategy to try to reach these rural communities, and bring healthcare to them. Not expecting them to come to us, but for us to figure out how to bring healthcare to them.”
((NARRATOR))
TLC’s supply chain strategy involves bringing mobile healthcare services to communities, and establishing a reliable supply chain management system that includes sourcing medical supplies, maintaining inventory, and transporting supplies to different locations in a timely and efficient manner.
((Video: Echo attending to patients and giving gifts to children at the rural schools))
((Echo VanderWal, The Luke Commission Co-Founder, Executive Director, Medical Doctor)) ((Female, in English))
"We recognized that well, people may be able to board the bus, pay bus fare, and may be able to pay the fees at the health facility. Where they were really struggling is when they had to go to the pharmacy to buy the medications, and we didn’t want this broken link. So, we worked very hard behind the scenes to develop a robust supply chain system that would ensure that all of the supply chain challenges were managed by us.”
((NARRATOR))
In a world where healthcare access is often an afterthought, the VanderWal couple are a living proof that kindness and ingenuity can be the most powerful medicine of all.
((Video: Wide shots showing the many projects the VanderWals have been involved in and shots of the many people their work has touched in Eswatini))
((Nokukhanya Musi, VOA News, Sidvokodvo, Eswatini))
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