WINTER, 2006
In this issue:
• Letter from CEO Mark Bennett
• Dr. Hamlin and Marck Bennett Lead Stratigic Plan Plan Development
• Fistula Foundation Earns 4-Star Rating
• Fistula Foundation Publishes First Annual Report
• Understanding Maternal Mortality
• Bahr Dar Nurses Quarters Completed
• Circle of Friends Volunteer Raises Awareness and Funds
• Order Dignity Earning for Holiday Giving
• Capalino-Vickery Family visit the Fistula Hospital
Click here to give a young Ethiopian woman her dignity—and get a little of your own
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Hospital Launches Country-Wide Prevention Program
The Hamlin Fistula Hospitals have launched an exciting nation-wide prevention campaign in Ethiopia using radio throughout the country. This is an important new area of the Hospital's work and serves as a complement to their ongoing prevention activities with patients. For many years, each patient has received education in fistula prevention while they are at the Hospital and they are encouraged to serve as “Ambassadors” and educators in their villages when they return home. The radio campaign is the first time the Hospital has used national media to promote prevention. As is highlighted by Mark Bennett in his letter (page 2), the Hospital is working in partnership with Ethiopia's main national broadcaster to feature interviews with patients and with Hospital staff. The campaign is designed to help create awareness of fistula and to encourage fistula sufferers, who are often ostracized, to speak out and seek treatment.
One important element of the campaign is the broadcasting of a new song written by Dr. Biruk, a surgeon at the main Fistula Hospital. The first verses are sung by women, with men answering their call, not to be silent. The music, titled “Our Song”, is sung by popular Ethiopian singers: Moges Teka, Mohamed Ahmed, Tigist Fantahun, Abebe Desalegn, and Tsedenia Gebre Markos. The funding for the song and its airing was provided by generous support from Johnson & Johnson and World Vision who have funded prevention activities. Here are excerpts from the song. The complete verses of the song can be obtained by calling our office.
In addition, the Hospital is also producing a music video of the song to be broadcast on Ethiopian Television
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OUR SONG | Now ostracized,
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Third of Five Hospitals opens in Southern Ethiopia
Dr. Hamlin is one big step closer to achieving her vision of eradicating fistula from Ethiopia with the opening of the third of five new “mini-hospitals”, this one in the Southern Ethiopian city of Yirgalem. Dr. Hamlin and her team welcomed supporters from Norway and the United Kingdom to share in her joy at the official opening of the Hospital on November 7th. Already there are women's organizations helping locate fistula sufferers in the region and the Hospital staff is anticipating being very busy.
Ethiopia and location of Yirgalem Hospital in Yirgalem
Dr. Hamlin and staff in the Operating Room at new Yirgalem Hospital
A letter from CEO Mark Bennett
Dear Friends,
The last few months have been a busy and exciting time at the Hospital. The number of patients seems to have increased this year and this may be a result of some of the awareness raising activities that we have been conducting.
We have worked together with the main national radio broadcaster to present interviews and stories concerning our staff and patients. These have given information on obstetric fistula and its causes and what needs to be done to bring about prevention in this country. These have been broadcast all over the country in Amharic and Oromifa, the two main languages. In addition, we have also been airing a song about fistula. (Please see page 6 for more information). We are now planning to also prepare the programs in other languages and possibly to present them on other local FM channels.
The Hospital has been full all through the rainy season and we have had extra patients waiting in Desta Mender for their chance to come to the Hospital for an operation. With extra patients waiting, some of the Desta Mender residents who have completed their literacy training have been giving lessons to them and also including them in handcraft activities.
This will be the second Christmas our family will spend in Ethiopia. Last Christmas we really enjoyed being able to celebrate with the patients and staff in our new environment. So much seems to have happened since then. It is a privilege for us to be here working in a place that brings such joy and hope to people who have been living on the fringes of society. Dr. Hamlin is a great inspiration to all the staff and we are happy to be here, to support her and to join with others in this wonderful work.
Happy Holidays to all of you!
Sincerely,
Mark Bennett
Chief Executive Officer
Hamlin Fistula Hospitals
Fistula Foundation Publishes First Annual Report
The Fistula Foundation recently published its first annual report, summarizing the work of the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals, detailing the expansion underway in Ethiopia and the contribution of U.S. donors. Any one wishing to obtain a copy of the Report can call our office at 408 249-9596 or email us at info@fistulafoundation.org.
Dr. Hamlin and CEO Mark Bennett Lead Strategic Plan Development
Dr. Catherine Hamlin and CEO Mark Bennett welcomed leaders of the Fistula Foundation, the United Kingdom Trust and the Australian Trust to Addis Ababa to help develop a Long Term Strategic Plan for the network of Hamlin Fistula Hospitals in Ethiopia. Clive Hewitt from the UK, and Stuart Abrahams from Australia, were joined by Fistula Foundation Executive Director, Kate Grant, for meetings with Dr. Hamlin, Mark Bennett and Liaison Officer, Ruth Kennedy. As the Hospital Dr. Hamlin founded with her late husband, Dr. Reg Hamlin, 32 years ago, expands to include five new small hospitals throughout Ethiopia, key partners of the Hospital work closely with leaders of the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals to chart a course for a secure future.
Kate Grant (Foundation Executive Director), Dr. Hamlin, Ruth Kennedy (Liaison Officer) and Mark Bennett (Hospital CEO)
Return to topFistula Foundation Earns 4-Star Rating
The Fistula Foundation is proud to inform its donors and friends that it has achieved a 4 STAR rating from the nonprofit organization Charity Navigator. Charity Navigator evaluates charities financial statements, and a 4 STAR rating is the highest rating a nonprofit organization can achieve. Fewer than a quarter of charities rated by Charity Navigator receive a 4-star rating. Interested donors can find more information about Charity Navigator and its rating system at www.charitynavigator.org The Foundation also earned the Better Business Bureau seal earlier this year for meeting all 20 of the BBB's Standards of Charity Accountability. We hope this provides our donors with increased confidence that their gifts to the Foundation will be used well.
Return to topUnderstanding Maternal Mortality
In our last newsletter, we summarized that over half a million deaths a year result from pregnancy and childbirth in the developing world. While a woman in the U.S. has a lifetime risk of only 1 in 2,800 of dying due to pregnancy or childbirth, an African woman has a lifetime risk of 1 in 16. Also, for each woman who dies, about 20 more who survive are injured and suffer from serious illness or disability, such as fistula.
The primary reason for these deaths and injuries is lack of obstetric care – particularly emergency obstetric care. In Ethiopia, for instance, only 1 in 10 women give birth with a trained attendant; by contrast over 99% of women in the U.S. have a trained attendant present. Without care, when emergencies develop, as they do in about 15% of all births, women in Ethiopia and other developing countries suffer severe consequences.
Of maternal deaths globally, more than 4 in 5 are due to five direct causes: severe bleeding, infection, obstructed labor, unsafe abortion, and eclampsia.
Bahr Dar Nurses Quarters Completed
The Nurses Quarters at the Hamlin Fistula Hospital in Bahr Dar are open and are housing twenty nurses-aides that staff this new regional hospital. The Quarters were funded by the Fistula Foundation. They are a short walk from the Hospital. As with the main Hospital in the capitol Addis Ababa, the Bahr Dar Hospital’s nurses aides are all former fistula patients. The empathy the nurses aides have for their patients is palpable and deeply felt, for these women know better than anyone else the deep emotional and physical suffering endured by women with fistula, and the transformation brought about through treatment. Many thanks to all of you who’ve donated to the Foundation, making the construction of this building possible.
Return to topCircle of Friends Volunteer Raises Awareness and Funds
The Foundation is fortunate to have volunteers around the country who help by giving their time to organize Circle of Friends events that raise both awareness and funds. One of the attendees at last year's very successful Circle of Friends “Girls Night Out” event in New York, Lisa Kaim-Colagiovanni, was inspired to create an event of her own. Lisa also finds the fistula cause personally compelling, as she stated “After my personal experience of a very difficult complicated labor, I realized that were it not for the readily available medical care that I received, I too might be in the same tragic condition that currently faces thousands and thousands of Ethiopian women”. Lisa conceived and created “Art for Hope and Food for Thought” to help the Fistula Foundation. Lisa and a team of her friends and family hosted a dinner at Crabtree's Kittle House in Chappaqua, New York along with a silent auction with over 100 works of art and other donated items. The event was attended by over 50 people and raised over $21,000. Many thanks to Lisa for her generous heart and tenacious spirit of giving!
Martha Christastie, Lisa Colagiovanni, and Julie Moss
Return to topOrder Dignity Earrings for Holiday Giving
Just in time for the Holiday Season, the Fistula Foundation is introducing Dignity Earrings to help raise money for the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals. The silver-plated Dignity Earrings were designed to match with the Dignity Bracelet so that they can be worn together or separately.
With any donation of $65 USD or more you can get a pair of Dignity Earrings. For any donation of $125 USD or more you can get a Dignity Bracelet. You can order the earrings online at our website www.fistulafoundation.org, or by calling our office at 408 249-9596 between 8 am and 5:30 pm Pacific Time. If you wish to send the earrings or bracelet as gifts for the Holiday, please place you order with us no later than Monday, December 11th. Make a personal connection with the Hospital, helping restore health and dignity to patients at Hamlin Fistula Hospitals.
Return to topCapalino-Vickery Family Visit the Fistula Hospital
Like most young American women, Julia Capalino had never heard of obstetric fistula until she saw Dr. Catherine Hamlin on the Oprah Winfrey show in 2004. That show moved her and two of her high school friends, Janie Ostrager and Selby Drummond, at the Spence School in New York to host the very successful “Girl's Night Out” mother-daughter fashion show in May 2005.
Julia's commitment and interest in the Hospital did not stop there. This summer, she and her mother, Carlin Vickery, father James Capalino and brother Borden, visited the Hospital in Ethiopia to meet Dr. Hamlin and see first-hand the Hospital's inspiring work. Julia's mom, Dr. Carlin Vickery, is a surgeon and was able to observe Dr. Hamlin operating. Dr. Vickery was moved by what she observed, particularly in the young and courageous patients: “I was amazed, with all they have endured, they are silent and still, patiently awaiting the surgery that will restore their lives and dignity”. Julia added: “At the time of the fundraiser, I thought I comprehended the impact of fistula injuries on girls my age, but honestly when I walked into the ward of 50 beds all filled with teenage girls recovering from surgery, I was stunned by the magnitude of suffering. The bubble surrounding my New York life was blown apart and I have gained a deep appreciation for how fortunate women in the United States are to have accessible superior health care.”
Julia Capalino, with Sister Ruth Kennedy (Hospital Liaison Officer) and fistula patients
Return to topFistula Foundation Board Of Directors
Abaynesh Asrat
Ato Tekalign Gedamu (honorary)
Kate Grant (ex-officio)
Deborah Harris
Kassahun Kebede
Cleopatra Kiros
Linda Levee Paul
Allan Rosenfield, MD
Gerald Shefren, MD
Mary Tadesse
Robert Tessler, Esq.
Whitney Tilson
Linda Tripp
Larry William, MD
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