Finding Connection Through Care

This past January was my first time in Kibera, my first time visiting Crossing Thresholds schools, and my first time doing Hypertension and Diabetes screening for the CT community. But it wasn’t my first time in Kenya. 

In the thick of Covid, I found myself wanting to get out of my office space and craving a way to do charitable medical work. I looked into different countries where this might come to fruition. I chose Kenya, and went on my first trip in October (‘23) to work with another organization that matches medical volunteers with clinics in the Kenyan countryside. 

Shortly after, I was introduced to Carter Via and Dr. Tim Kenefick. After speaking to them, I was excited by the prospect of working with CT, where I knew I would have the opportunity to perform hypertension screening in an underserved community and to mentor Joel Ogumbe, a young and committed clinician who runs CT’s clinic at Facing the Future Primary School (FAFU). 

As an Internist based out of Connecticut, I was looking forward to bringing my expertise in Primary Care, which includes screening for and treating Hypertension and Diabetes, to Kibera to help make the community healthier. Especially in Kenya, the need for early detection and treatment of hypertension has become even more crucial, as unrecognized hypertension often leads to heart disease and strokes, resulting in a surge in deaths. 

During my time with Joel, we saw patients at the clinic, many of whom needed to be treated for hypertension. I was incredibly impressed with Joel’s dedication to patients and his drive to learn more. For every patient that walked in, Joel and the other clinic staff knew exactly who the patient was and what issues we would be trying to treat. 

Joel and I worked together to help him understand and work within the World Health Organization's (WHO) guidelines, develop future treatment plans, and establish strategies for patient care within the clinic. We reviewed the hypertension medicines available at FAFU and I recommended adding another class of medicine to expand the choices available to patients. Since then, Joel has been treating a patient for hypertension who has another condition which requires the use of one of these expanded choices, highlighting the need for additional medication options. 

Before I left, I encouraged Joel to reach out to me for assistance with more complex hypertension cases in the future. I’m happy to share that in the several weeks since then, we have collaborated to treat patients multiple times. I am incredibly happy with the work we were able to do there and I can’t wait to collaborate again with Joel next time I’m in Kibera.
​
The Covid pandemic was not easy for many reasons. Yet for me, it created the desire to go out into the world and do something positive. As a result, my world is forever changed.    


- Dr. Richard Huntley
Crossing Thresholds Volunteer