Dr. Sarah Beekley, a hospital-based pediatrician at the Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center, has spent much of August working at the Matibabu Clinic in western Kenya. The clinic serves a vast area of poverty and disease, mainly HIV/AIDS and tropical illness. The clinic was founded by Dr. Gail Wagner, an East Bay Kaiser Permanente physician, who was alerted to the need by her daughter. While many Kaiser Permanente physicians have volunteered at Matibabu, Dr.Beekley brought HER daughters along on this medical mission.
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I am a DNP student specializing in Public Health and an RN at the VAL AACC. I am encouraged by Dr. Beekley’s actions and spirit – it gave me one of those “goose flesh” experiences to read the blog. I look forward to the day that I may do something similar. I would love to see and purchase one of the bags Dr. Beekley’s daughters are helping to make. I’m sure that other nurses would feel the same, perhaps one day the bags could be displayed at the AACC in Vallejo?
Thanks so much for a great blog! What a great experience for eveyone involved (including the readers) – it is always an uplifting feeling to read about those who give from the heart!
Thank you for your very kind note! I have asked my daughter to send me any of the bags that she has not sold, so that KP staff here can purchase them. However, at this point, her sorority sister at NYU are very eager to buy the bags and support Matibabu. I have spoken to Dr. Gail Wagner, the founder of Matibabu, in the hope that there may be a way to repeat this sewing project with other volunteers in the future.
Thank you again for your support.
Regards,
Sarah
Nice meeting you in Nairobi. Had a great experince inUkuala, thank you for ypur timly advice.
Brave People, Ambitious and dedicated to improve oucomes and dignity
I am very interested in your work and admire your dedication, and that of your daughters. We also would like to see the bags the Girls are making here in Santa Rosa, CA (The fabrics are amazing). I am wondering if there is work to be done by a volunteer social worker over there withh extensive hospital and clinic experience? How would I inquire? Are you able to protect yourself from most of the ailments the patient’s commonly get? What support system is there for you?
Yes, I believe that the Matibabu Foundation could benefit from the expertise of a medical social worker. I can think of many aspects of the medical, community, preventive health and social development work that one could address.
I would contact the american volunteer arm of Matibabu (www.matibabukenya.org) at TIBA at http://www.tibafoundation.org.
As to how I kept healthy….I was very, very careful!