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Ghana Health Mission
Ghana Health Mission (GHM), established in 1996, evolved from the needs of the local community in Sekondi-Takoradi, the vision of Reverend Robert Andoh, the leader of a small church community in Sekondi, and the dedication of Dr. Leda McKenry and Dr. Anita Hunter. What started as a small group of nurse practitioner students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Nursing has grown to include
• students and faculty of schools of nursing from University of Tennessee Knoxville, San Francisco State University, University of Texas-El Paso, Clemson University and the University of New England
• medical residents and physicians from New York Presbyterian Hospital – Weill Cornell Medical School
• business, public health, engineering, and communications students from UMASS, Clemson, University of New England and the University of Miami
Every year, since its inception in 1996, members of the Ghana Health Mission have traveled to Sekondi, in the Western Region of Ghana, West Africa to provide free primary health care to its residents. The ultimate goal is to improve the overall health and well being of this community. Over the past ten years, GHM has worked in collaboration with the community to:
Organize a health clinic to provide free care to patients twice a year at our main site as well as a rural location, including the provision of medications.
•Provide financial support for surgical procedures by the local health care system.
•Organize enrollment programs for the National Health Insurance Scheme of Ghana
•Assist with administration of childhood immunizations with the local public health department
•Train over 70 community members as Community Health Educators with an established curriculum for health education classes on topics such as sanitation and immunizations so that they may better promote the health of their community. Support a hypertension clinic for over 300 elderly clients in association with the local health system on an ongoing basis.
Establish a computer center and provide onsultative services to small businesses.
•Offer courses in entrepreneurship in the local secondary schools within the Sekondi-Takoradi area.
•Support a local women’s craft cooperative with proceeds funding primary education for the children and secondary education for the young women of the community.
•Donate textbooks to expand the medical library at the regional hospital and the School for Nursing.
•Provide expertise as requested by the faculty of the Effia Kwanta School of Nursing in the Regional hospital in the area.
•Collaborate with Ghanaian School of Optometry and the World Council of Optometry to bring eye care and eyeglasses to the community
•Extend health promotion activities into the community through radio programming and health screening and education in the local markets.
•Build wells and latrines in communities in the local area without sanitation and safe water supplies.
•And our latest effort, support a microlending program for the isolated village of Accromocrom to engage in creating batiks.
In 2006, GHM supported and supervised the drilling of wells in two rural villages in the District. These villagers had depended on pond water for all their water supplies and they still lack basic sanitation. When we visited the wells in March 2007, the villagers had landscaped the areas surrounding the wells. They also indicated that “they had no sick babies now”. In August 2007, we undertook a community survey in these communities to best determine the placement of latrines in keeping with the communities’ wishes and the placement of wells in Accromocrom..
The principal humanitarian purpose of the trips is to provide primary health care with an emphasis on health promotion and education. Working with an Advisory Board of community residents that Rev. Andoh created, GHM establishes a temporary primary health care "clinic" within the church compound. In recent trips, additional temporary clinics have been established in two outlying villages.
Another goal is to continue to work with a group of over 70 young people at the church who function as Community Health Educators, having taken a set curriculum in health education. These hard-working young people volunteer their time to provide translation services during clinic hours. They also conduct classes for the community in conjunction with our group members on a variety of health-related topics, such as sanitation and the importance of immunizations and work closely with U.S. health providers to provide individualized health education for each provider-client encounter.
Dr. McKenry and Dr. Hunter have established excellent relationships with key individuals at Effia Kwanta Regional Hospital, the regional school of nursing, the Regional Ministry of Health and the government of the Western Region. All have recognized the importance of the work of the GHM and support its activities.
GHM adheres to the definition of health adopted by the World Health Organization: Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. In its statement of key policies, WHO states that health policies must reach beyond the health sector to constitute an integral part of sustainable development. In this spirit, Ghana Health Mission facilitated a developing relationship between the community and the University of Massachusetts Isenberg School of Management, initially, and now with Babson School of Business. Students and faculty have established a computer center and provided consultation to businessmen in the Sekondi-Takoradi area through the UMASS Center for Business Development, and now, work with students in secondary schools to develop entrepreneurial skills. Students from the University of Miami developed a microlending program for the village of and are working to raise funds to establish a well in this village without water, sanitation or electricity.
GHM was incorporated in Massachusetts on December 6, 2001, and it is tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. It is governed by a Board of Directors representing individuals from the fields of nursing, medicine, education, engineering, management and law.
The current Directors and Officers are:
President
Leda M. McKenry, RN; PhD; FNP, FAAN
Associate Professor and Director, Office for Academic Outreach
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, School of Nursing
Amherst, Massachusetts
Vice President of Nursing Affairs
TBA
Jacqueline Spencer, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Cornell Internal Medicine Associates
New York Presbyterian Hospital- Weill Cornell Medical Center
New York, New York
Treasurer and Clerk
Anita Sarro, RN, MS, JD, Attorney-at-law
Risk Manager, Baystate Health System, Springfield, MA
Adjunct Faculty, Western New England College, School of Law
Amherst, Massachusetts
Micheline Asselin, RN, MSN, MPA, CHPN
Clinical Assistant Professor
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, School of Nursing
Amherst, Massachusetts
Joseph Betancourt, MD MPH
Senior Scientist, Institute for Health Policy
Department of Medicine and Health Policy
Massachusetts General Hospital - Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts
Melanie Dreher, PhD, RN, FAAN
Dean and Professor
Rush University
Chicago, IL
Dennis Hanno, BBA, MSA, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Accounting & Information Systems
Isenberg School of Management
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Amherst, Massachusetts
Almaneta Lee, RN, MSN
Faculty School of Nursing
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, Massachusetts
Paul Shuldiner, BSCE, MSCE, Eng.D
Professor
College of Engineering
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Amherst, Massachusetts
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