Everything that has been achieved in Kenya by HCK over the past 30+ years, in the early days until now, is down to the hard work and generosity of many individuals; founders, trustees, staff and volunteers, our hard-working Kenyan partners, and of course you, our supporters who have made it all possible. Here we meet palliative care nurse and HCK co-founder, Ruth Wooldridge.
“In 1987 I cared for Nancy, a school teacher in Kibagari slum where I was volunteering as a nurse. She had two little boys and lived in a very humble one roomed dwelling with her mother. For Nancy, her cervical cancer was diagnosed too late for any treatment to be helpful. Caring for her at home with no morphine was very difficult. Eventually she died in hospital in great pain and very alone. I then spent a year visiting all the major hospitals in Nairobi, meeting oncologists and medical staff and enquiring how they might care for patients with advanced illness, cancer in particular. Mostly the consensus was that patients wished to go to their traditional home area to die and therefore it was not a great problem. Or that they could do nothing for them.
“At the same time Jane Moore, also a nurse, had been caring for Sir Michael Wood who pioneered AMREF, the flying doctor service in Kenya. She too struggled to find appropriate pain relief as his illness advanced. And importantly, Professor Kasilli, a wonderful haematologist and paediatrician, was introduced to us. He had spent time in Glasgow and understood what palliative care could bring to people with advanced illnesses and pain. After one of our early morning meetings at Professor Kasili’s office, before his busy day began, the vision we were working towards came to me in words: “Put life into their days, not just days into their lives”. This has become the motto for Nairobi Hospice and much quoted elsewhere too.
“We worked hard to introduce the hospice concept to the Ministry of Health, and at the same time we stalked the grounds of Kenyatta Hospital looking for a site large enough to open a centre for palliative care. Eventually, a site was identified and approved by the MoH, and our little centre opened in 1990 with a £25,000 donation from a UK trust.”
“In 1991, the Nairobi Hospice Charitable Trust (now HCK) began in the UK as a charity to support hospice care in Kenya. Our UK trustees came from medical and non medical backgrounds, and raised funds for supporting and extending the service in Nairobi. We raised funds large and small from participating in the Hospice UK Global singing of the Messiah at Dulwich College, to dog shows and fetes, to Archbishop Tutu, a Patron of HCK at the time, delivering a Radio Four Appeal which raised over £65,000 in 1996. We were not prepared for such a huge response as you can see from the photo counting out the cheques on our kitchen table! This enabled the purchase of a vehicle for the home care team, medicines and paid staff salaries.
“In 1992 HCK supported Dr Mike Hughes to join the team in Nairobi to assist with hands-on training and patient care. Mike, now a trustee, really took palliative care forward in Nairobi and inspired other centres to start outside the capital too.”
“The development of the hospice movement in Kenya has been inspirational and a model for other African countries. Much of this has been underpinned by the funding and generosity that supporters of HCK have given over many years. Funding for nurses to have further training, vehicles for home visits, medical supplies, for running day-care and support groups, and training community volunteers to serve in rural villages where often health care is very limited.
“Much of what has been achieved could not have been done without support from HCK. Your donations have made miracles happen and helped to reduce so much suffering for thousands of patients.”
~Ruth Wooldridge, HCK co-founder
Click here to read the stories of just some of the individuals who have been supported with compassion, comfort and care. Or help us reach more people facing the challenges of life-limiting illness in Kenya by donating here today. Thank you.