Team Leader View: How COVID-19 Impacts AMPATH
I am a doctor and medicine team leader with AMPATH.
In October, I was able to return to my Kenyan home as travel restrictions lifted. Back in the spring, I was recalled to the states because of COVID.
As a donor and friend of AMPATH, you are vital to the care given to people in Kenya. I wanted to share with you what I’ve seen and heard.
Dr. Olive Okunga, Kenyan registrar, and Dr. Caitrin Kelly, AMPATH medicine team leader
As you know, for a while it looked like Kenya had avoided the devastating toll that COVID was taking in other parts of the world. As it turns out, my return a few weeks ago to Kenya coincided with a dangerous surge in cases of COVID.
Hard-won gains in care you have made possible are being threatened and need to be protected. In the past, you joined forces with other generous, global-minded people to change the health care system -- to give better care to those who need it most.
The COVID isolation ward at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital has been at or near full capacity for the past several weeks. We are running out of space to care for COVID patients.
Outside the COVID ward, the hospital seems deserted. While there normally are visitors and caretakers around the patients and in the hospital, the corridors are now empty because of COVID restrictions.
Healthcare workers are scared. Two Moi University faculty members recently died from COVID. We are mourning the loss of close colleagues, afraid, and worried about the limited critical care resources available. Frontline healthcare workers are at high risk of contracting COVID while caring for patients.
Patient care is challenging because of limited COVID screening and testing for patients being admitted to the hospital. There are high rates of absenteeism among healthcare workers due to COVID isolation and quarantine policies.
The future health care leaders - Moi medical students - are worried that the cessation in medical education caused by COVID could derail their education completely.
IU House is so quiet when I return home each night. It’s not the same place without the close community of long-term faculty families, medical students and residents or visitors coming and going. It is reassuring to still see Sammy at the gate every morning with cheerful Swahili greetings, and chat with Silas as he makes the security walk around the compound every night with the IU House dogs in tow.
Donors have generously helped by providing PPE, hand sanitizer, UV machines for mask sterilization, medical equipment and materials for infection prevention and control. Supporters like you have contributed to direct cash and food relief for patients most in need during this difficult time. We are so grateful for your support, but much more help is needed.
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis continues to disproportionately impact those who have the least.
For the most vulnerable people in Kenya, the economic impact of COVID-19 has left many worse off, struggling with health and without income. Individuals with COVID who must isolate for two weeks have no income for that period, and no way of putting food on the table.
Individuals hospitalized due to COVID are facing financial hardship from hospital bills that insurers won’t cover. I worry about how the patients I am currently caring for will be able to pay their hospital bill.
Patients and program leaders have told me that increased prices for public transportation have made it difficult if not impossible for patients to get to follow-up appointments.
I have heard from AMPATH social workers that the economic stress is triggering an increase in gender-based violence. I’ve had patients admitted for attempted suicide by ingesting chemicals due to the unbearable stress of their economic situation.
When the immediate threat from COVID has past, these economic and other threats to well-being will remain and many of our patients and programs will need additional long-term support.
We are working hard to get food, medications and care to people that need it and your support, even from across the world, is truly appreciated by your friends and colleagues in Kenya.
Sincerely,
Caitrin Kelly, MD, MPH
Medicine Team Leader, AMPATH Consortium
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, IU School of Medicine