A Progress Report from the

Guyana Adventist Medical Aviation Service

"DEAD" PATIENT FROM ARAU ARRIVES ALIVE IN KAMARANG: We received an urgent radio call from Arau in early June, stating that a patient had recently arrived and was in desperate need of medical attention. Arriving in Arau, Captain Gates found

Residents and visitors attend dedication of completed first new classroom in Paruima

Mr. Luis Walker extremely weak and suffering from the classic symptoms of advanced malaria -- fever, anemia, enlarged liver and jaundiced. His eyes were recessed from dehydration. Needing immediate hospitalization, Mr. Walker was flown directly to Kamarang Hospital where Medex Willie and other hospital workers met them at the plane. On hearing the patient's name, one of the workers gasped in surprise, "We had already received information that Mr. Walker had passed away, and have already notified his mother!"

Dr. Wally Ammundsen officially opens new building

The news of his safe arrival in the GAMAS plane was joyfully forwarded to Mr. Walker's family.

VOLUNTEERS FROM WARAMADONG, KAIKAN AND ARAU HELP FINISH SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION IN PARUIMA: Desirous of supporting the Davis Indian Industrial College, residents of Waramadong sent 18 volunteer construction workers by boat in May to assist for a full week with the completion of the first 2-story classroom in Paruima. Kaikan sent 9 men, with 1 coming from Arau. ADRA/Guyana provided lunch for the volunteer men and women. GAMAS provided free transportation of the food from Georgetown. The completion of the new building will provide housing for the teachers upstairs, with classes to be taught downstairs. Houses currently being used by volunteer teachers will be refurbished as student dorms. The dedication ceremony was held on June 13. Representatives from the different villages, as well as the local police, were invited and present for the even. Dr. Wally

Mr. Roland Thomson, representing the ADRA/ Caribbean, hands over funding for new library/classroom.

Ammundsen, Director of ADRA/Interamerica, performed the ribbon cutting, and declared the building "open for service." The groundbreaking services for the new Library/Classroom was held on June 20.

FOUR KAIKAN WOMEN LOSE PREGNANCY: Suffering from a combination of harsh factors including high fevers of malaria and typhoid, trauma, and physical predisposition, four Kaikan women consecutively

Monica and Natalie hard at work diagnosing and treating the many malaria patients in Kaikan

lost their unborn child due to spontaneous abortions. The loss of an unborn child can be as painful as the loss of normal children. We grieve with these families over the loss of their little ones.

MALARIA OFFICERS ASSIGNED TO KAIKAN: Responding to the high incidence of Malaria in Kaikan, the Ministry of Health assigned two Malaria specialists, Natalie and Monica, to assist the village with this crisis. In addition to being competent, their pleasant personality cheered villagers as well as GDF and police staff stationed at Kaikan. Thank you Natalie and Monica for sharing your skills and time with us in Kaikan. You are welcome back any time.

MEDICAL EMERGENCIES REQUIRE FREQUENT MEDIVACS: Serious medical emergencies have been uncommonly frequent during the last two months. Many of them presented symptoms of malaria or suffered from side-effects of the same. Some suffered from contaminated drinking water or other physical

Community Health Worker Mendasen sends Phillippi Malaria patient to Kamarang

maladies. One young lady originally from Waramadong, but living in San Juan, was brought with much difficulty to Kaikan, from where she was flown to Kamarang hospital. She never regained consciousness and died the next day. Another young girl, also unconscious, was flown from Kaikan to the hospital in Kamarang. A pregnant Kaikan mother, diagnosed with two types of malaria as well as Typhoid Fever, lost her pregnancy through a spontaneous abortion. Two women and one man from Phillippi, extremely weak from malaria, were flown out to receive treatment by Medex Willie in Kamarang. A young boy, after 7 seizures in one day, was also taken to Kamarang. We are glad that in the many cases, the GAMAS airplane was the key factor which allowed rapid hospitalization resulting in a saving of life.

ADRA/GUYANA DONATES DENTAL CHAIR TO KAMARANG HOSPITAL: In anticipation of the day when Georgetown dentists will be flown in free

Medex Juliet Willie was pleased with the ADRA's new dental chair flown in by GAMAS

by GAMAS to provide voluntary dental care to needy residents in Region #7, ADRA/Guyana donated a comfortable, fully-articulating dental chair to the Kamarang Hospital. ADRA plans future donations of additional dental equipment to the hospital in order to assist in alleviating the desperate need for professional dental care by Region residents. According to Medex Willie, Dr. Westford, the region's Chief Medical Officer, is very happy with this development and feels it will have a positive impact on the dental care received by our residents.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND GAMAS WORK TOGETHER TO GET KAKO BOY TO TRINIDAD: Dr. Jeffrey, Minister of Health was very supportive of the idea of working together with GAMAS to provide little Duwan Krammer, from Kako, with appropriate medical care. Having had a face tumor since birth, it was necessary to fly Duwan, accompanied by his father Julian Krammer, to Trinidad where appropriate diagnostic equipment was available. Gates flew Julian and Duwan to Ogle, and then accompanied them to the Amerindian Residence. From there, Ms. Elvie Kenneth, Social Worker, worked closely with them on travel documents with funding provided by GAMAS. With their passports in hand, Ms. Elvie, then took everything over to the Ministry of Health, where Dr. Jeffrey personally authorized the purchase of two tickets to Trinidad for father and son. He then faxed Trinidad with the appropriate details, where hospital staff stood by to receive them after their arrival. To the best of our knowledge, the flight to Georgetown in the tiny Cessna 150

Julian and Duwan Krammer -- off to Georgetown

was the first flight of any kind for both Julian and Duwan. You can image what the flight to Trinidad must have been in a large jet airliner cabin. Thank you Dr. Jeffrey for your support of this worthy project. Thanks to you too Ms. Elvie for your many hours of hard work, pulling together all the loose ends which made this project possible. We pray that the long procedures will someday pay off for Duwan.

ADRA AWAITING FUNDING FROM HOLLAND AND WORD FROM MINISTRY OF HEALTH REGARDING MALARIA TREATMENT IN KAIKAN/PHILLIPI: Funding proposals were submitted last month to Agencies in Holland for the purpose of developing a localized, high impact, one-time-only, treatment plan for Malaria using the drug Mefloquin.. The areas of focus will be the villages of Kaikan and Phillippi who are currently suffering severely from the disease due to re-contamination from other infected family members, the majority of which are suffering from active cases of Malaria. Mr. Gates discussed the proposal in person with the Minister of Health, Dr. Jeffrey, and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Cummings prior to submitting the proposal for funding. If the project funding is approved, final details will be worked out with the Ministry. A licensed physician will be personally supervising each stage of the project.

FUNDING APPROVED FOR MOSQUITO NETS FOR PHILLIPPI. MINISTER OF HEALTH OFFERS ADDITIONAL FREE NETS: Phillippi resident, Mrs. Hope, spent one week in Kaikan receiving sewing classes in the making of mosquito nets. Soon after she was flown back to her home, GAMAS flew in two treadle sewing machines, several 200 yard rolls of mosquito net material, several rolls of white cotton material, and sufficient thread and supplies to produce approximately 50 nets. Mrs. Hope will teach and work along with other local women as they develop their sewing skills, and at the same time produce the badly needed nets to assist in preventing the spread of disease. Funding for the purchase of netting materials and machines for Phillippi and further materials for Kaikan came through Dr. Wally Ammundsen, Director of ADRA/Interamerica, who himself spent several weeks in Phillippi and the Upper Mazaruni district this last Summer. Thank you Dr. Ammundsen. Additional mosquito nets were offered by Dr. Jeffrey to GAMAS for free distribution among needy patients. The offer was kindly accepted, and a written request for mosquito nets will be prepared.

GAMAS is a faith operation that continues to be made possible totally by unsolicited funds which come in each month. We therefore give God the full credit and thanks for keeping the program in the air.

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