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November 20, 2007 Patan Hospital Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Patan Hospital had a large celebration on November 7 to mark the 25th Anniversary of its founding. Over 800 people, including the Prime Minister of Nepal, attended the celebration. The contribution that Friends of Patan Hospital makes to the hospital was recognized when Dr.James Hecht, the Chairman of FOPH, was one of the two people honored with a citation and bronze statuette presented by the Prime Minister. Jim views this honor as one shared by all those who have supported FOPH in any way. Jim and Marilyn Simons, the donors of the new Maternity Wing, also attended the celebration. Marilyn told the assembled group a personal story worth repeating. Some years ago when she and Jim were vacationing in Maine they went out into the ocean in a small boat with Jim's daughter and son. They beached the boat on the sand of a small uninhabitated island which they then explored. When they returned, they found that the tide had gone out and, in order to be able to get back into the ocean, they would have to lift the boat and carry it to where the surf now was. With a great effort by everyone, they were just able to do it. Jim's daughter, who was then 16, small and not very strong, then exclaimed, "It took all of us working together to be able to do it." The Simons recognize that their donations through FOPH are dominant in its fundraising efforts, but that the support of others -- not necessarily financial -- makes a huge difference. They are encouraging such support by matching all funds donated to FOPH by others. October 1, 2007 Construction of New Maternity Wing Proceding Construction of the new 140-bed maternity wing, made possible by the generous donation of Dr. Jim Simons and Dr. Marilyn Simons in memory of their son who died in an accident, is now scheduled to be completed in April, 2008 -- 6 months later than the original target date established two years ago. Given the unstable political climate in the country since then, the delay is not unexpected. With approved upgrades such as an extra floor for an education wing and an energy-efficient heating system, the projected cost of the project is about $3.4 million June 4, 2007 FOPH Assisting in Establishing PICU/NICU Units at Patan Hospital The new maternity wing provides the opportunity for establishing intensive care units for children and new-born babies. These will be the first such units in Nepal. A team to assist the hospital in this undertaking is being formed under the leadership of Dr. Sangita Basnet of Springfield, Illinois and Michele Avila-Emerson of Fresno, California, a nurse practioner. This team is seeking equipment for the two units, each of which will have 6 beds. Startup is scheduled for mid 2009 and the team will spend time then at Patan Hospital training the staff. May 14, 2007 Patan Hospital Nursing Director Visits U.S. Ram Shova Risal, the Director of Nursing at Patan Hospital, spent almost a month in April and early May visiting the United States to learn about U.S. methods of hospital administration and nursing practices that might be useful in Nepal. FOPH paid all costs of the trip and FOPH supporters arranged a busy schedule in Washington, DC, the Philadelphia area and California. While in Washington, Ram Shova attended the annual meeting of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) which gave her a full scholarship for the conference and a pre-conference workshop. She also visited Sibley Memorial Hospital. In the Philadelphia area she was hosted by the nursing schools at the University of Pennsylvania, Villanova, Temple and Thomas Jefferson and the hospitals associated with them. In California she visited hospitals associated with Stanford University and then went to Fresno where she visited two other hospitals -- one of which was a Children's Hospital. She also gave several presentations which brought home the compassionate care given at Patan Hospital, but also the disparity of health-care resources between the U.S. and Nepal. April 3, 2007 GE & Children's Hospital (Boston) Make Donations The General Electric Company has donated $50,000 of equipment for the new maternity wing. The equipment is new and current technology. GE provided shipping of the equipment as well as training of personnel to use it. The equipment consists of an ultrasound unit, a CarePlus incubator, a Corometrics fetal monitor and a Dash 4000 patient monitor. Each of these fills an important need. The donation from Children's Hospital in Boston consists of 16 ICU monitors and 13 infusion pumps. All of this equipment is fairly new and in excellent condition. Children's Hospital covered the cost of packing and shipping this equipment to Project C.U.R.E. which will send it in the next shipping container to Patan Hospital. This gift was arranged by Dr. George Taylor, a renowned radiologist at the Harvard Medical School. |
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