Leave no woman behind

Despite the hospital's high cure rate, each year the hospital treats a few women whose injuries are too severe to ever be repaired. These women are fitted with surgical stomas and rely on urostomy or colostomy bags for the collection of bodily wastes. Such patients need ongoing medical attention and are therefore unable to return to their villages, and so, in keeping with Fistula Hospital's dedication to holistic care, these women are invited to stay on at the hospital and are given food, shelter and love. They are also trained to provide care to others. All of the hospital's 39 nursing aides and several other members of the staff are former patients who require long-term care.

Desta Mender

In recent years the number of long-term patients slowly rose to the point where there was neither enough work for them at the hospital, nor enough room to shelter them.

In 2000, the hospital requested and eventually received a grant of approximately 60 acres of land located eight miles from the hospital. There they built Desta Mender (meaning "Village of Joy" in Amharic), a village of ten cottages and two common buildings.

The village is presently home to 60 of a planned 100 long-term patients. Local workers grow crops on the land and raise chickens for eggs and cows for milk and meat for the village and the hospital. The women themselves attend school on the village grounds and make quality handicrafts. Some work caring for livestock or maintaining the village compound. The women at Desta Mender earn a wage and are able to support themselves and their fellow patients through their efforts.