Good Shepherd Hospital and the minibus

  We recently went and toured Good Shepherd Hospital, which is about 45 minutes away. This is the hospital where we send all of the CHIPS patients for treatment and appointments. It was nice to finally be able to go meet the doctors, nurses, and staff.  Jabulani gave us the grand tour of the hospital including the mortuary.  We loved visiting the children's' ward and were privileged to hear what a blessing CHIPS is to the staff and how well we look after our patients.  Both Jabulani and Mary help out in whatever way they can when they are there including counselling patients. We are thankful for the staff

  As mentioned in a previous post, the minibus that we use to transport CHIPS patients back and forth to the hospital is in the shop. There is a lot of work that has to be done on the minibus, including replacing the shock absorbers and working on the brakes. The need for transportation hasn't stopped since the vehicle is out of commission so we have had to make more trips in our small vehicle and have had to hire another minibus on occasion. 

Weekly we transport 26 patients to and from Good Shepherd Hospital using the minibus and send another 10 on public transport. The patients have to go for checkup appointments to ensure they are still taking the ARV's medication as prescribed. Once a patient has tested HIV+, s/he will have to take ARV's for life. They have to visit with the nurse before being able to refill their prescriptions.  If someone stops taking ARV's, that is what usually causes their death. 

Additionally we transport sick patients who need to be admitted to the hospital providing that there are beds available. We take all the moms-to-be who are ready to deliver their babies to the hospital as well. 

As you can see, transportation is a big part of the work that we do on a daily basis. Please pray that our minibus will be fixed and that the Lord will provide the means to pay for the repair costs.