Join me in enjoying December photos from TERREWODE. Alice, staff, and several board members toured the construction site this last month, and we are excited to see the construction has moved along on schedule. The land has been leveled, much of the external construction is done, and they will be finishing the rooms in coming months.
The next steps for the Uganda Fistula Fund is to help provide funds for furniture and linens, medical equipment and landscaping. While we're focusing on finishing touches, TERREWODE will be hiring a medical director and nursing staff, as well as other supportive health professionals.
By the beginning of 2020, the 30 bed hospital should be open, and ready to provide up to 600 surgeries a year to women with obstetric fistula. The rehabilitation building will also be ready for up to 30 women, to help them recover and prepare for reintegration into the community.
Soroti has sun over 300 days a year. This puts the hospital in a prime position for using solar power. The roofs were constructed to handle solar panels, but funds are too limited to provide them now, and so the hospital will depend upon municipal power, and a back-up generator. Cost estimate for solar panels is $45,000.
The hospital will also use municipal water. An engineer has analyzed the availability of water on the hospital's campus, and a draft plan is in place for a well and pump, to enable the hospital to provide it's own water, and ensure that the quality is excellent. Separate funds will need to be raised for the well, which is estimated at $50,000.
This month, Alice, Bonnie, and Martin Andrews, International Fistula Alliance Director, attended the International Society of Obstetric Fistula Surgeons conference. Alice presented the TERREWODE Women's Hospital progress to the fistula community, who responded with gratitude for the work that TERREWODE is doing on behalf of women with fistula.
The board members of the Uganda Fistula Fund for TERREWODE wish you all the best in the coming year, and send you heartfelt thanks for your support of the hospital. It's exciting to be part of this mission, which means so much to so many women. Thank you being an important part of the journey.