Why start a blog about managing the clinic?

Hi,

The clinic started over six years ago when a set of friends agreed that a small community health clinic was struggling to continue to function and could be helped. An elderly and very dedicated midwife was tending to the needs of her patients and doing so with little pay or supplies of materials or drugs. More background can follow later.

What has been nice about Hope Clinic Lukuli and its growth is that we have achieved it without any of the management committee being medics and with skills ranging from a small shop keeper to civil engineer, a local council member to a teacher, an accountant to a retired civil servant. The community, village, people around the clinic have alternative places to seek medical advice and treatment but choose Hope Clinic Lukuli and return to it with friends.

The task of managing the growth between the eight of us on the committee has made very clear that lots of support in terms of materials, advice, best ways of acting and groups to work with already exist. They just don't know about you and your needs and they are not always as approachable as they could be - or you don't know they want partners.

This blog will be the memo pad for what I and the others continue to work on for the clinic. It will also be a history of our challenges but more usefully for readers, a record of how we overcame them, who we found ourselves talking to and working with. We have a website but this may be an easier thing for me to update.

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