Health Care

Medical Mission

HANDS started the Medical Mission program in 2007, in cooperation witha local partner organization, CEOSS. The aim was to facilitate etsablishment of new partnerships between American and Egyptian medical professionals, in order to address the gaps in access to good quality health care in very remote and poor urban and rural areas in Egypt. Last year, two HANDS volunteers traveled to Egypt on fact-finding missions. Based on their feedback, the next phase of Medical Mission program was designed, and it was implemented in February 2008 by five US volunteers. The goal of this trip was to test the most effective ways to provide training and assistance to the local health care workers. The program consisted in two types of activities: community health campaigns in which American and Egyptian medical professionals worked together, and formal teaching sessions held by US volunteers and attended by Egyptian health care workers and community volunteers involved in health campaigns.

Please click here to read more about February 2008 Medical Mission

We continue to plan for our next Medical Mission trip in 2009. Please check back soon for schedule and application form.

Community Eye Care Center in Minia, Upper Egypt

In June 2005, HANDS was awarded its first USAID grant to help establish an eye care center in the Upper Egyptian province of Minia, one of the poorest areas in Egypt. The project will be implemented in cooperation with our largest Egyptian partner, the Coptic Evangelical (Presbyterian) Organization for Social Service (CEOSS).

The Community Eye Care Center will operate as a not-for-profit center, bringing affordable high quality eye care to the residents of this governorate, especially to children and women who are the customary victims of exclusion and neglect. Once fully established, it will serve the area that includes Minia City and about a 100 surrounding villages.

Besides providing both basic and advanced eye care services, this center will coordinate patient screening and referral, organize preventative and educational campaigns, and serve as a regional training center for health care workers. Knowledge and skills transfer will be enhanced through a program for visiting specialists from US universities and health centers: American doctors and professionals will spend some time at the clinic providing training and technical support.

This clinic is planned to be a model of an efficient, humane and ethical patient management system in the eye care center that will set new standards for other health care institutions in the area.

Several donors in addition to USAID have provided support for the first phase of the eye clinic’s establishment. This phase includes the establishment of two examination rooms, one operating room, and a system for mass examination and referrals from Minia city and surrounding villages. A mobile health unit will survey the surrounding villages and refer the patients to the main clinic. A total of seven doctors, two nurses and one optician will be hired for this phase.

At the same time we will be working on continuing the renovation of the building where the center will be housed, equipping the rest of the center and hiring additional personnel. We expect that within 5 years the center will grow to its full capacity.

(Photo of the building where the clinic will be housed)

 

Center for Geriatric Services, Cairo

This center provides holistic care to its 80 elderly Egyptian residents. A building project is currently underway, designed to accommodate an additional 40 residents, provide services for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, introduce day-care facilities, expand training for caregivers, and increase outreach services, especially home healthcare.

Center for Hope and a Cure, Alexandria
“The Center for Hope and a Cure” is a local community health center in Alexandria that provides health care to underprivileged people in the community. Started twenty years ago as a small apartment office, it has grown to become a five-story medical center, where urban poor can seek the help they need at a low cost or in some cases free of charge. Services include surgical operations, assistance with child birth, distributing eye glasses, medicine and much more. The clinic also provides good quality dental care to the poor. This center has been one of the rare places where Sudanese refugees are able to seek free medical and dental care. To learn more about this program please click here.

Cairo Presbyterian Medical Center

Cairo Presbyterian Medical Center is a non-profit medical facility near the heart of Cairo, serving an extremely low-income community. The clinic provides a comprehensive set of medical services, including both outpatient and inpatient care. This is also one of the rare institutions in Egypt that provide geriatric services and a hospice.

Although it is a high quality service provision institution, the center is accessible to all who need care, regardless of their income or religion. The center also allocates a percentage of in-patient beds for refugees, the victims of conflicts in Sudan and Horn of Africa. The center’s current needs include a renal dialysis unit, an operating theater C-arm X-ray, orthopedic operating table, and equipment for their CCU.

The American Hospital of Tanta

The American Hospital of Tanta was established over 100 years ago by two American Presbyterian female doctors. It provides out-patient and in-patient care and services to the residents of Tanta and neighboring towns within a fifty-mile radius.

The hospital also offers specialized geriatric care as well as social services to the neighboring communities. It operates with 350 full–time and 100 part-time employees, serving about 30,000 patients every year through its outpatient clinic. The hospital can accommodate 85 patients in addition to a 13 bed ICU/CCU and dialysis unit serving 36 patients regularly.

Although many positive changes and renovations have been made, the Tanta Hospital still needs some remodeling and additional facilities in order to improve and expand its service to meet the needs of the community.

Green Pastures Society Medical Center

Green Pastures Society Medical Center is a five-room clinic nearing completion in El Salam City, a squatter area outside of Cairo, to provide treatment and a medical dispensary for the lower-income residents of the community. Needs include medical equipment and furniture.