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AgapeMED 2018 Medical Mission Report

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Activity: AgapeMED 2018 Annual Medical, Surgical and Dental Mission

Mission dates: April 12th-April 16th 2018

Place: Holeta, Ethiopia | Holeta is a town and separate woreda in central Ethiopia Located in the Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfine of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of 9°3′N 38°30′E and an altitude of 2391 meters above sea level.

In Cooperation With: CMDDF (Christian Medical Doctors and Dentist Fellowship), These doctors are living in Ethiopia, who has been working together with AgapeMED since 2015.

Beneficiaries: People who lives in Holeta and nearby towns.

AgapeMED is a Ministry of Ethiopian Evangelical Church in MN, one of its goals is to travel to Ethiopia annually and serve underprivileged people due to low income and lack of healthcare access. This year AgapeMED successfully conducted its medical, surgical, eye and dental mission from April 12th -16th in Holeta Health Center.
The medical team was composed of 45-50 doctors, nurses and few non-medical professionals. The target beneficiaries were the Holeta and nearby town people and their dependents that couldn’t afford to be treated in a private or government hospitals.

Prior to the medical mission, medication has been purchased, prescreening and registration was done. Since the Holeta Health Center doesn’t have major surgical setting, only minor surgeries were performed during this mission.
This mission provided free health care services, which included Minor surgery, Dental Services, ENT, Internal Medicine, Pediatric Service, and Ophthalmology. Also, many patients referred to St. Paul Hospital that is located in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Medications and reading glasses were also given away for free to the beneficiaries.

Total number of patients served

During this mission 2,800 patients were treated in different specialties. Among the 2,800 patients, 986 were treated in Internal Medicine, 1,165 in Ophthalmology, 239 in Pediatric, 161, in Dental service, 182 in Surgery, and 110 ENT services. Also teaching was done on hand hygiene, high blood pressure, diabetes and nutrition.

Story to share:

We met two brothers 21 and 19 years old who were suffering from eye problem called Dense Corneal Scar on both eyes, which made them legally blind due to the severity of the disease. They were unable to see since their childhood. They have visited several health institutions but could not afford to get the treatment. During our mission they came to be checked and searching for hope. They got a chance to be screened in ophthalmology department. Doctors referred them to St. Paul Hospital that is located in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. At St. Paul Hospital the Ophthalmologist were able to do a Corneal transplant on one eye to Workneh a 21 year old young man and the prognosis will be expected in a good condition. Once Workineh operated eye totally healed they will work on the second eye. The other young man whose name is Kebede, waiting for his surgery due to inflammation on his eyes. For now he is on anti inflammatory and antibiotic medications to treat the infection. As soon as, the infection is resolved and the inflammation subsided, the surgery will be performed. AgapeMED sponsored their entire medical, surgical and financial costs until they fully recovered and able to support themselves.

Barriers

Language: Most of the medical team were Amharic speaking but the dominant language in Holeta was Oromiffa. During the medical mission, there was an obvious language barrier but we were able to place at least one medical team member who can speak Oromiffa in every medical examination room. Most patients also came with a family member who can interpret for them

Light: The room that Minor surgery was performed didn’t have adequate light. As a result, team members helped holding flashlights when needed.

Supplies: AgapeMED team has shipped full container of medical supplies and equipment a year ago. We were able to use gloves, drapes, sutures and other supplies from the container that was donated for Holeta Hospital.

Working space: The original plan to have this medical mission was in Holeta Primary Hospital. Unfortunately, the Hospital building and installation was not completely done. As a result, there was no alternative local Hospital except the Holeta Health center. The number of medical examination rooms at the Holeta Health Center were not enough to serve that many people at once, therefore, at times two doctors were examining different patients in one room with shared table. In this situation, obviously it was very difficult to maintain privacy. The room that was minor surgery performed also was not originally intended to be a surgical room. As a result, it didn’t have appropriate setup and lighting.

AgapeMED 2017 Medical Mission Report

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Activity: AgapeMED Annual Medical, Surgical, and Dental Mission

Mission dates: May 29th - June 3rd, 2017

Place: Holeta, Ethiopia | Holeta is a town and separate woreda in central Ethiopia Located in the Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfine of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of 9°3′N 38°30′E and an altitude of 2391 meters above sea level.

In Cooperation With: Christian Medical Doctors and Dentist Fellowship (CMDDF) - based in Ethiopia and has been collaborating with AgapeMED since 2015.

Beneficiaries: Patients residing in Holeta and nearby towns.

AgapeMED is a Ministry of Ethiopian Evangelical Church in MN (EECMN) that strives to reach those who are struggling to get basic medical care due to lack of access to healthcare and poverty by using volunteers from Minnesota and around the world, and also to share the Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ. As part of this mission, AgapeMED organizes an annual trip to Ethiopia to serve underprivileged and low-income communities. This year, AgapeMED accomplished its mission by providing medical, surgical, eye, dental, and other services as well as evangelism from May 29th - June 3rd at Holeta Health Center, Holeta, Ethiopia.

The medical team consisted 50 volunteers including doctors, nurses, evangelists, and few non-medical professionals. Senior Pastor of EECMN, Pastor Endiryas and Evangelist Yohannes were on hand with the team to lead an evangelical crusade in Holeta town.

Upon arrival in Holeta, local church leaders welcomed the team and prayed for the success of the mission. The next day, representative of the Mayor’s Office and the head of the Holeta Health Office welcomed the team before kicking off the start of the mission work at 9 AM. Right away, the team received and triaged the overwhelming crowd that gathered in anticipation of this event to identify and address individual medical concerns.

The target beneficiaries of the mission were residents of Holeta and nearby towns, who couldn’t afford medical care provided at local hospitals and those coming from places where there was no healthcare facility to address their needs. More than a thousand such patients, mostly elders and children, had arrived at the Health Center early in the morning desperate to get their medical complaints resolved.

The mission provided free healthcare services consisting of minor surgeries, dental services, dermatology, Internal Medicine, pediatric services, and eye examinations. Lab works and special diagnostic tests (using Ultrasound and X-Ray) were performed. Prescribed medicines and reading glasses were also given out for free to the beneficiaries.

Total number of patients served

A total of 3,350 beneficiaries were treated and served during the medical mission across the many specialties. Among these were: Internal Medicine - 1,286, Ophthalmology - 1,048, Pediatrics - 475, Dental Services - 251 (78 patients got dental extraction), Surgery - 185 (110 patients got Cyst and Lipoma removal), and Dermatology - 105 patients.
While the beneficiaries waited for registration, they received health education in the areas of infection prevention, good hand hygiene, clean water usage, the benefits of breast feeding, complications of abortion, and other pertinent topics.

Story to share:

A distraught mother brought her 3yr old daughter to be seen by a pediatrician. The child was very pale, weak, and actively bleeding from her mouth. The physician suspected Leech worm (typically found in river and lake water) to be the culprit and attempted to visualize using a flash light and tongue depressor, but was unable to do so. Her hemoglobin was 4. Her mother was crying nonstop and desperately begging the doctor to save her daughter’s life. The child was referred to Saint Paul referral Hospital in Addis Ababa for immediate medical attention. The moment she arrived at the hospital, she was examined and given a medication that successfully induced removal of the Leech worm. She was then transfused with one-unit of blood. The next day, her Hemoglobin recovered to 8, the bleeding stopped, and she returned to her baseline. She was discharged from the hospital in a stable health condition. On the way home, the mother brought her daughter back directly to the mission site to show the progress and thank Dr. Bereket, who made the initial diagnosis and was present every single day during the mission along with the team making a difference in the life of this child and many others like her.

Access to fresh and clean water still remains to be a challenge in rural areas of Ethiopia. This experience has further highlighted the need for more education regarding clean water usage to mitigate preventable disease outcomes.

Challenges Language Barrier:

While most of the medical team spoke Amharic, most of the Holeta people spoke the Oromo language. During the medical mission, attempts were made to resolve this issue by placing at least one medical team member that can speak the local language in most of the medical examination rooms. Most patients also came with family members who helped translate for them. Having interpreters on hand helped free up mission team members to attend to other pressing medical needs.

Challenges Lighting:

Operating rooms where minor surgeries and dental services were provided did not have adequate lighting. Improvised light sources such as cell phones and flash lights were used for improved visualization during medical procedures.

Challenges Supplies:

AgapeMED team had shipped a container full of medical supplies and equipment three months in advance of the mission trip. However, due to various reasons including Customs Office bureaucracy, the shipment didn’t arrive on time. To make up for the deficit, some supplies like gloves were locally purchased for the mission work. There was a shortage of items like drapes that couldn’t be found in the local market.

Challenges Working space:

The original plan was to perform the medical mission at Holeta Primary Hospital. The hospital building and installation were unfortunately not completely done. There was no other alternative except to use Holeta Health Center, which didn’t have adequate medical examination rooms to serve that many people at once. As a result, at times, two doctors were examining different patients in one room with a shared table. In addition to the restriction imposed in the delivery of medical care, this condition compromised patients’ privacy.

Donor and Sponsors

Holeta Primary Hospital was the intended recipient of the medical supplies and equipment AgapeMED shipped. The plan was to donate everything to this hospital, and to use some supplies during the medical mission work. Since the container arrived after the completion of mission work, all supplies and equipment were donated directly to the hospital.
MATTER “Hope for the City,” an NGO based in Minnesota, donated over half a million-dollar worth of supplies and equipment. AgapeMED has been partnering with this humanitarian organization since 2015. We are so grateful to collaborate with this incredible organization. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to all the MATTER staff, who worked with us throughout the procurement and shipment process and made this mission work a success.
We would also like to thank all the people that came to MATTER and helped us pack the supplies. We would be remiss if we didn’t also acknowledge the support of all our brothers and sisters Ethiopia, who worked tirelessly in the effort to get the container released from Customs. Our highest appreciation goes to them.AgapeMED is financially supported by its annual fundraising event, EECMN members’ support, volunteers’ contribution, and sales events held throughout the year.
Allina Health financially supported employees, who were volunteering for the mission, through its global mission fund program. Other organizations and co-workers of the volunteers on the mission also participated by donating reading eye glasses and other medical supplies.
We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all our donors and sponsors.

Evangelism

“And He said to them, Go into the world, and preach the gospel to all creation” Mark 16:15

Besides reaching the patients with their medical needs, touching lives with God’s love is also part of AgapeMED Ministry mission. To accomplish this goal, the team provided one to one counseling provided during this mission to all those willing to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. Of all the people who heard the Gospel, 280 people responded and received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and with their permission, their contact information was given to the local church for follow-up.
We are praising and glorifying our God who helped us complete 2017’s AgapeMED Medical mission successfully. We would like to inform our readers that, in addition to our annual trip to Ethiopia, this Ministry serves locally in Minnesota through various activities. We, the AgapeMED team, passionately welcome you to serve with us locally or/and internationally!

AgapeMED 2016 Medical Mission Report

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"እንግዲህ በጌታ እስር የሆንሁ እኔ በተጠራችሁበት መጠራታችሁ እንደሚገባ ትመላለሱ ዘንድ እለምናችኋለሁ" ኤፌሶን 4፡1

ሻሸመኔ በኢትዮጵያ በምዕራብ አርደሲ ዞን በኦሮሚያ ክልል ውስጥ ከአዲስ አበባ 150 ማይልስ ርቃ የምትገኝ ከተማ ስትሆን፤ እ.አ.አ 2012 በነበረው የህዝብ ቆጠራ መሰረት 150,000 ህዝብ ይኖርባታል ተብሎ ይገመታል፡፡ አብዛኛው ህዝብ የኦሮምኛ ቋንቋ ተናጋሪ ሲሆን አማርኛ፤ወላይትኛ፤ከምባትኛና ጉራጌኛ ተናጋሪዎችም ይኖሩባታል፡፡ አብዛኛው ህዝብ የሚተዳደረው ከግብርና ጋር በተያያዘ ስራ ቢሆንም የመንግስት ስራና ቱሪዝምም በስፍራው ለብዙዎች አይነተኛ የገቢ ምንጭ ናቸው፡፡

አብዛኛው ህዝብ የእስልም እና የኦርቶዶክስ ሀይማኖት ተከታይ ሲሆን እንዲሁም የፕሮቴስታንት ና የካቶሊክ ሀይማኖት ተከታዮችም ጥቂቶች አይደሉም፡፡ ሻሸመኔ ከ1948 ጀምሮ ከጀማይካና ከተለያዩ የካረቢያን ሀገሮች መጥተው የሰፈሩ ራስተፈሪያን ያሉባት ከተማ ናት፡፡

የሻሸመኔን ህዝብ ከሚያጠቃው በሽታዎች መካከል 80 ፐርሰንቱ በቀላሉ መከላከያ ሊገኝላቸው የሚችሉ በሽታዎች ናቸው፤ ይሁን እንጂ በቂ ህክምናን ካለማግኘት የተነሳ ብዙዎች በበሽታ ለረጅም ጊዜ ይሰቃያሉ፤ ብሎም ይሞታሉ ፡፡ የአካባቢውን ህዝብ በብዛት ያጠቃሉ ተብለው የሚገመቱ ዋና ዋና የበሽታ አይነቶች እንደሚከተሉት ናቸው፡፡

• የሳንባ ነቀርሳና ኒሞንያ
• ወባ
• ታይፎይድ
• የሽንት ቧንቧ ኢንፌክሽን
• ኤች አይ ቪ/ ኤድስ
• የአይን በሽታ
• የስኳር በሽታ
• ደም ብዛት/ ስትሮክ
• እንቅርት
• የጨጓራ በሽታ
• የወገብ ህመም እና የመሳሰሉት

በሚኒሶታ በምትገኘው የኢትዮጵያ ወንጌላዊት ቤተክርስቲያን አንድ የአገልግሎት ዘርፍ የሆነው አጋፔሜድ የህክምና ቡድን በኢትዮጵያ ከሚገኘው የክርስቲያን ሜዲካል ዶክተሮችና የጥርስ ሀኪሞች ህብረት ጋር በመተባበር ከ ማርች 13-19 /2016 በመልካ ኦዳ ሆስፒታል በመገኘት በተለያዩ ዘርፎች ለበርካታ ህዝብ የህክምና አገልግሎት አበርክቶ ተመልሷል፡፡ በስራው ላይ ከተሳተፉት በጎ ፈቃደኞች መካከል 18ቱ ከሚኒሶታ የሄዱ ሲሆን 50 የሚሆኑት ዶክተሮች ደግሞ ከተለያዩ የኢትዮጵያ ክልሎች የመጡ ነበሩ፡፡

በወቅቱ በአጠቃላይ 3,372 ሰዎች የተለያየ ህክምና አግኝተዋል፡፡ ከነዚህም መካከል 1,336 ሰዎች የአይን ህክምና የተደረገላቸው ሲሆን፤ 700 ለሚሆኑት የአይን በሽተኞች መነፅር ተሰጥቷቸዋል፡፡ የጥርስ ህክምና ከተደረገላቸው172 የሚሆኑ ሰዎች መካከልም 78 ለሚሆኑት የተበላሸ ጥርስ ያላቸው የጥርስ ነቀላ ስራ ተሰርቶላቸዋል፡፡

ሆስፒታሉ ባሉት ሁለት የኦፐሬሽን ክፍሎችም በርካታ የቀዶ ጥገና ስራ ተሰርቷል፡፡ በመሆኑም 17 ሰዎች ዋና ቀዶ ጥገና የተደረገላቸው ሲሆን ከነዚህም መካከል 11 ሰወች በቅድሚያ አስፈላጊው የላቦራቶሪ ስራ ተደርጎላቸው በውጤቱ መሰረት ጎይተር/ እንቅርት ወጥቶላቸዋል፡፡ 35 የሚሆኑ ሰዎችም አነስተኛ ቀዶ ጥገና ተደርጎላቸዋል፡፡ በተለይ በዚህ ቀላላ የቀዶ ጥገና ወቅት በርካታ በሰውነት ላይ የወጡ እጢዎችና የተቋጠሩ ፈሳሾች ከብዙዎች ተወግደዋል፡፡

ከዚህ በተጨማሪ ቀሪዎቹ ከ1,500 በላይ የሚሆኑት ሰዎች የውስጥ ደዌ ህክምና ያገኙ ሲሆን የህፃናት ህክምናም በዚህ ውስጥ ተካቷል፡፡

የዚህ አገልግሎት ሌላው ዋና አላማ ደግሞ ሰዎችን በወንጌል መድረስ እንደመሆኑ መጠን በወቅቱ ለህክምና ለመጡት በርካታ ሰዎች ህክምናቸውን ካጠናቀቁ በኋላ የምስራቹን ወንጌል እነዲሰሙ ተደርጓል፡፡ በመሆኑም ልባቸውን ለቃሉ የከፈቱ 42 ሰዎች ክርስቶስ ኢየሱስን እንደግል አዳኝ አድርገው በእምነት ተቀብለዋል፡፡

ጌታን እንደግል አዳኝ አድርገው ከተቀበሉት ወገኖች መካከል በተለይ የአንድ ወንድም ምስክርነት ሳይጠቀስ የሚታለፍ አይደለም፡፡ ይህ ሰው በኑሮው ላይ ከደረሰበት ውጣ ውረድ የተነሳ ህይወት ትርጉም ስላጣበት በብስጭት ጋዝ በሰውነቱ ላይ በማፍሰስ ህይወቱን በገዛ እጁ ለማጥፋት ክብሪት ላዩ ላይ ይለኩሳል፡፡ ድርጊቱን ሲፈፅም በአካባቢው ሆነው የተመለከቱ ሰዎች እሳቱን ካጠፉ በኋላ ወደ ሆስፒታል ያመጡታል፡፡ ሆስፒታል እንደደረሰ ተገቢው የድንገተኛ አገልግሎት ተሰጥቶት በማግስቱ የተቃጠለውን የሰውነት ቆዳ ለማንሳት የሚያስችል የቀዶ ጥገና እንደሚደረግለት ተነግሮት ያድራል፡፡

በማግስቱ ለቀዶ ጥገናው ከመግባቱ በፊት በተኛበት ገርኒ ላይ ተራውን በመጠባበቅ ላይ ሳለ፤ ያየችው ነገር ያስደነገጣት አንዲት ነርስ ወደ በሽተኛው ጠጋ ብላ ምን ሆኖ በእሳት ሊቃጠል እንደቻለ ጠየቀችው፡፡ በመሆኑም ከላይ እንደተጠቀሰው የህይወት ተስፋ እንዴት እንደተዳፈነበትና ከመኖር ሞትን እንዴት እንዳስመረጠው ምንም ሳይደብቅ ይነግራታል፡፡ በዚህን ጊዜ በውስጧ ከገባው ርህራሄ የተነሳ እንባና ሲቃ በተሞላባቸው ቃላቶች "ምነው ወንድሜ ለምን ብለህ በስጋም በነፍስም መቃጠልን መረጥክ፡፡ ህይወት እኮ ፈጣሪ ያላት የከበረች ናት፡፡ ክርስቶስ እየሱስ ይወድሀል፡፡ እርሱ ለሰው ልጆች ካለው ታላቅ ፍቅር የተነሳ ነፍሱን ሰለሁላችን ሲል በመስቀል ላይ በመስጠት በኀጢያታችን ምክንያት መሞት ሲገባን፤ ሞታችንን ሞቶ እኛን ከኀጢያት ባርነት ነፃ አድርጎናል፡፡ ከእኛ የሚጠበቀው እርሱን በማመን ኀጢያታችንን በመናዘዝ በንስሀ ወደ ፈጠረንና ወደሚወደን ጌታ መመለስ ብቻ ነው፡፡ ስለዚህ ወንድሜ ይህ ጌታ የአንተም ጌታ ነው፡፡ ነፍሱን በመስጠት ፍቅሩን የገለፀልህን፤ የሚወድህን ጌታ እንደግል አዳኝህ አድርገህ በመቀበል የህይወትህ ጌታ ልታደርገው ብትፈልግ ትችላለህ፡፡ እርሱ እውነት፤ህይወትና ብቸኛ ወደ እግዚአብሔር የሚያደርስ መንገድ ነው፡፡ ህይወትህን በእውነተኛ ደስታ፤ ሰላምና ተስፋ ሊሞላ የሚችል አርሱ ብቻ ነው፡፡ አሁን በዚህች ደቂቃ በልብህ በር ላይ ቆሞ ልብህን ክፈትልኝ እያለ አያንኳኳ ነው፡፡ ልትከፍትለት ፈቃደኛ ነህ? " በማለት ስለክርስቶስ በመመስከር ፈቃደኛነቱን ጠየቀችው፡፡ በጣም በሚደንቅ ሁኔታ ያለምንም ማንገራገር በአይኖቹ ውስጥ በህይወት የመኖርና የተስፋ ጭላንጭል እየታየው አዎን ፈቃደኛ ነኝ በማለት እዛው ባለበት ገርኒ ላይ ሆኖ ጌታን እንደግል አዳኙ አድርጎ ተቀበለ፡፡ ፀሎቱን አድርገው እንደጨረሱ የቀዶ ጥገናውን ከጨረሰ በኋላ ወደ ዋርድ ሲመለስ እርሷም ሆነ ሌሎች ወገኖች መጥተው እንደሚያዩት ተነጋግረው ወደ ኦፐሬሽኑ ክፍል ገባ፡፡

ከዚህም ባሻገር ደግሞ 12 ለሚሆኑ ወላጅና መጠለያ አልባ ለሌላቸው እንዲሁም በኤች አይ ቪ ለተጠቁ ህፃናት ወደፊት ራሳቸውን ለማስቻል እገዛ ሊያደርግ የሚችልና አነስተኛ ስራን ለማቋቋም የሚረዳ መጠነኛ እርዳታ በሀላፊነት ለሚያስፈፅም አካል ተሰጥቷል ፡፡

የአጋፔሜድ የህክምና ቡድን በሻሸመኔ ከተማ በመልካ ኦዳ ሆስፒታል በመገኘት የነፃ ህክምና አገልግሎት ከመስጠቱም በተጨማሪ በሚኒሶታ ከሚገኘው ማተርስ ከተሰኘው በጎ አደራጊ ድርጅት ጋር ግማሽ ሚሊዮን ዶላር የሚደርስ ወጪ ያላቸውን የህክምና መሳሪያዎችና መገልገያ እቃዎች በኮንቴነር ሞልቶ በመርከብ በማስጫን ወደስፍራው በመላክ ለህዝብ አገልግሎት ይውል ዘንድ ለሆስፒታሉ አበርክቷል፡፡ በዚህ አጋጣሚ እነዚህን በርካታ መሳሪያዎችና የመገልገያ እቃዎች በነፃ የሰጠንን ማተርስ የተሰኘ ድርጅት በጣም ለማመስገን እንወዳለን፡፡ በተጨማሪም ኮንቴነሩን በመርከብ ለማስጫን የሚያስፈልገውን ወጪ ለመሸፈን በተደረገው የፈንድ ሬዚንግ ዝግጅትም ሆነ በተለያየ የገቢ ማሰባሰቢያ እንቅስቃሴ ወቅት የተሳተፋችሁትን ሁሉ በአጋፔሜድ እና በሚኒሶታ በምትገኘው የኢትዮጵያ ወንጌላዊት ቤ/ክርስቲያን ስም ከልብ የምናመሰግን መሆኑን ለመግለፅ እንወዳለን፡፡

አገልግሎቱ በተጠናቀቀበት ወቅት በመልካ ኦዳ ሆስፒታል የተዘጋጀ የምስጋናና የሽኝት ስነስርአት ተካሄዶ ነበር፡፡

በወቅቱም ፓስተር እንድርያስ ሐዋዝ በሚኒሶታ የምትገኘው የኢትዮጵያ ወንጌላዊት ቤተ ክርስቲያን ዋና መጋቢ ስለ አጋፔሜድ አገልግሎ አጀማመርና እንቅስቃሴ ሰፊ ማብራሪያ አድርገዋል፡፡

የሻሸመኔ ከተማ ከንቲባ ተወካይ እንዲሁም የመልካ ኦዳ ሆስፒታል የቦርድ ሰብሳቢ የሆኑት አቶ መሀመድም በበኩላቸው የአጋፔሜድ የበጎ ፈቃድ አገልግሎት በሆስፒታሉና በሻሸመኔ ህዝብ ላይ ያበረከተውን አስተዋፅኦ በመዳሰስ የምስጋና ንግግር አድርገዋል፡፡ ከንግግራቸውም ማብቂያ ላይ ለቡድኑ ተወካዮች ለአገልግሎቱ ጥቅም ላይ የሚውል ስጦታ አበርክተዋል፡፡

አቶ አብዲ ለገሰ የሆስፒታሉ ስራ አስኪያጅም ሆስፒታሉ ከአጋፔሜድ ጋር በመተባበር በአመቱ ውስጥ ሲያደርግ የነበረውን እንቅስቃሴ በዝርዝር በማስረዳት ለሆስፒታሉ ስለተደረገው የበጎ ፈቃድ አገልግሎት ያላቸውን ከፍተኛ ምስጋና ገልፀዋል፡፡

የአጋፔሜድ አገልግሎት ተወካዮችም ከሁሉ በላይ የአገልግሎቱ ዘርፍ ስራውን ለመስራት ካቀደበት ጊዜ አንስቶ ተግባራዊ እስኪሆን ድረስ አመቱን ሙሉ እርዳታውን ለደቂቃ እንኳን ላላቋረጠው እግዚአብሔር ምስጋና ይግባው በማለት ከልብ አመስግነዋል፡፡ በተለይም የአካባቢውን ሰላም ተቆጣጥሮ አገልግሎቱ ስራውን በሰላም ጀምሮ በሰላምና በድል እንዲጨርስ ማድረጉ ምስጋናቸውን እጥፍ ድርብ አድርጎታል፡፡ ክብሩን እርሱ ብቻ ይውሰድ፡፡

"ብቻውን ተአምራትን የሚያደርግ የእስራኤል አምላክ እግዚአብሔር ይባረክ፡፡" መዝሙር 72፡18

AgapeMED 2015 Medical Mission Report

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ሚኒሶታ በምትገኘው የኢትዮጵያ ወንጌላዊት ቤተ ክርስቲያን መሪዎች ማለትም በፓስተር እንድርያስ ሐዋዝ እና በወንጌላዊ ዮሐንስ በለጠ ልብ ውስጥ እግዚአብሔር ባስቀመጠው ራዕይ መሰረት የተጀመረው አጋፔሜድ (AgapeMED) የተሰኘው አገልግሎት በተለያየ የህክምና ሙያ ላይ ተሰማርተው የሚገኙ የቤተክርሰቲያኒቱን አባላት ያሳተፈ የአገልግሎት ዘርፍ ነው፡፡ ይህ የአገልግሎት ዘርፍ በሚኒሶታ ከሚያካሂደው አገልግሎት ባሻገር ከወንጌል ስርጭት በተጓዳኝነት በአመት አንድ ጊዜ የህክምና ባለሙያዎችን ወደ ኢትዮጵያ በመላክ የጀማው ስብከት ከሚካሄድባቸው ሁለት ከተሞች መካከል በአንዱ ከተማ ላይ አገልገሎቱን እንዲሰጥ ታቅዷል፡፡

በዚህም መሰረት፤ እ.አ.አ ከጃንዋሪ 27 እስከ ፌብርዋሪ 3,2015 ድረስ በሆለታ ከተማ በመገኘት ከኢትዮጵያ ክርስቲያን ሜዲካል ዶክተሮችና የጥርስ ሀኪሞች ህብረት (Christian Medical Doctors and Dentist Fellowship) CMDDF ጋር በመተባበር የመጀመሪያውን የጤና አገልግሎት አካሂዶ ተመልሷል፡፡ ከአሜሪካን ወደ ኢትዮጵያ በመሄድ በተለያዩ ቀናት በልዩልዩ አገልግሎት የተሳተፉት ወገኖች ቁጥር 18 ሲሆን፤ በኢትዮጵያ ከሚገኘው ክርስቲያን ዶክተሮችና የጥርስ ሀኪሞች ህብረት ተውጣጥተው በተለያዩ ቀናት ወደስፍራው በመምጣት ያገለገሉ የህክምና ባለሙያዎች እንዲሁም የምክር አገልግሎት ሰጪ ወገኖች ቁጥር ደግሞ ወደ 45 ይጠጋል፡፡

ቡድኑ በአብዛኛው የተጠቀመባቸውን መሳሪያዎች ሚኒሶታ ከሚገኘው ማተርስ ከተሰኘ እርዳታ ሰጪ ድርጅት ያገኘ ሲሆን፤ ሌሎች በርካታ ግለሰቦችም ያበረከቱለትን መሳሪያዎች ይዞ በመሔድ ጥቅም ላይ አውሏል፡፡ በኢትዮጵያ የሚገኘው የክርስቲያን ሀኪሞች ህብረትም አስቀድሞ አስፈላጊ መድሐኒቶችን በመግዛትና አንዳንድ ጠቃሚ መሳሪያዎችን ስፍራው ድረስ በማምጣት ስራው በተቃና ሁኔታ እንዲከናወን ከፍተኛ ትብብር አድርጓል፡፡ ሆለታ ከተማ ከአዲስ አበባ 30 ኪሎ ሜትር ርቃ የምትገኝ ሲሆን እንደ ኢትዮጵያውያን አቆጣጠር በሁለት ሺህ አመተ ምህረት የህዝብ ቆጠራ መሰረት 40,077 ሰወች ይኖሩባታል ተብሎ ይገመታል፡፡ አብዛኛው ህዝብ የኦሮምኛ ቋንቋ ተናጋሪ ሲሆን አማርኛ፤ጉራጌኛ፤ትግሪኛ፤ወላይትኛ እና የሀድያ ቋንቋ ተናጋሪዎች ይገኙበታል፡፡ አብዛኛው ህዝብ የሚተዳደረው በንግድ ስራ፤በመንግስት ስራና በእርሻ ልማት ነው፡፡ ጤናን በተመለከተ በከተማው ሁለት የጤና ጣቢያና 12 የግል ክሊኒኮች ይገኙበታል፡፡

ይሁን እንጂ አንድም ሆስፒታል የለም፡፡ ላቅ ያለ ክትትል የሚያስፈልጋቸው ሰዎች ሲኖሩ ወደ አዲስ አበባ ሄደው ህክምና እንዲከታተሉ ይደረጋል፡፡ የከተማውን ህዝብ ያጠቃሉ ተብሎ የሚገመቱ የጤና ችግሮች፡-

• የሳንባ ነቀርሳና ኒሞንያ
• የቆዳ በሽታ
• የሆድ እቃ ችግር
• ታይፎይድና የሽንት ቧንቧ ኢንፌክሽን
• የጨጓራ በሽታ
• የአይን በሽታ
• ኤች.አይ.ቪ
• የጀርባ በሽታ
• የስኳር በሽታና
• የደም ግፊት ናቸው

የከተማውን ነዋሪ ችግር ግምት ውስጥ በማስገባት ይኸው የህክምና ቡድን እና ከኢትዮጵያ ክርስቲያን ሜዲካል ዶክተሮችና የጥርስ ሀኪሞች ህብረት በዚህ የበጎ ፈቃድ አገልግሎት ላይ ለመሰማራት የመጡት ባለሙያዎች በጋራ በሆለታ ከተማ ጤና አጠባበቅ ጣቢያ በመገኘት የህክምና አገልግሎታቸውን በፍቅርና በትህትና ለህዝቡ አበርክተዋል፡፡ በዚህም መሰረት በወቅቱ በተደረገው የህክምና አገልግሎት በአጠቃላይ 2,866 ሰወች የተለያየ የህክምና አገልግሎት አግኝተዋል፤ ከነዚህም መካከል፡-

• 523 ህፃናት ህክምና
• 1,064 ሰዎች የውስጥ ደዌ ህክምና
• 114 ሰዎች የቆዳ ህክምና
• 150 ሰዎች የአንገት በላይ ህክምና
• 72 ሰዎች ቀላል የቀዶ ጥገና አገልግሎት ተሰጥቷቸዋል