Background:

The Ancilla Hospital is owned and managed by Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus Congregation (HHCJC). HHCJC is located in a rural area where the poor and most vulnerable reside (central Eastern Province in the Ezinihitte Local Government Area, Imo state, Nigeria). Provided healthcare serves the poor, women, children, and other low socioeconomic populations. HHCJC also manages an orphanage which educates at all levels, especially young children. They provide shelter, school materials, and spiritual guidance to children without parents or guardians. HHCJC also empowers women and girls through skills acquisition and organized personal hygiene programs.

The Ancilla Hospital patients have little to no access to quality health care services and are subject to living with poor amenities. The hospital has 16 beds in the General Ward and 7 beds in the Eye Center. They also provide a wide range of services, such as gynecology, antenatal and postnatal care to mothers and newborns, immunizations, HIV/AIDS services, eye care services and other surgical services.

The Problem:

The Ancilla Hospital is located in Ihitte Village in Ezinihitte Local Government Area in Imo State, Nigeria, which is a rural community with very low economic activity and scanty living standards. Individuals in this community are essentially peasant farmers and the level of health awareness is low with very poor hygienic conditions. Being a tropical area, many individuals suffer from tropical illnesses like malaria, malnutrition, typhoid fever, dysentery (infection of the intestines resulting in severe diarrhea with the presence of blood and mucus in the feces), etc. The local government has not been of much help to the people and they have been left to struggle.

Managing the hospital has been difficult due to lack of appropriate surgical equipment, struggle to preserve active regents and necessary health related facilities. Another major challenge is that, as a poor community, most patients can only afford to pay a small portion of their hospital bills and some are not able to pay at all. The hospital has a leaking roof, inadequate medical equipment, shortage of qualified staff, and lack of basic medications that are in daily demand. The hospital also has a borehole that needs energy to function, making access to clean water an issue for the hospital as well.

Additionally, the hospital lacks a source of electricity due to the epileptic nature of the power supply and/or lack of power in this rural location. The Handmaids are rarely able to administer any treatments or procedures at night due to lack of power. At night, they are forced to use lamps when injecting patients or when birthing newborns which is extremely dangerous, unethical and could cost a life.

The Solution:

Pinned Pins aims to help the Ancilla Hospital by installing solar panels to primarily address their biggest issues. As previously mentioned, power from their local government is very unstable and prolonged power outages destroy their medications and it is very dangerous to offer labor and delivery services along with other treatments in almost complete darkness.

We hope that you will join our efforts to support this ongoing project (including other complications listed above, i.e. lack of medical equipment, leaking roof, etc.). Your support will go a long way to improve the quality of health care the Handmaids of the Ancilla Hospital are able to offer to the vulnerable individuals of this community. A portion of the proceeds from each pin sold will be donated to this cause that is very close to our hearts.