I heard from my friend, Nancy, this week. She is in Rwanda right now taking care of the children at Urukundo while Mama Arlene is in the U.S. taking care of personal business. Nancy is in need of an INR meter for a patient who was recently put on Coumadin for a blood clot. The meters are rather pricey, and the test strips are pricey, too.
I hate asking for things.....like I've said before, I'm independent to a MAJOR fault....but this is different. This patient (and yes, even in Rwanda there are confidentiality rules, so I can't give a name) is someone whom many people depend on for their well being....people who are unable to take care of themselves right now. Soooo, it's really important for them to be able to return home, and to do that they need to be able to monitor their blood values on this medication. Since Nancy will be in Rwanda for a couple of months, she has agreed to oversee the training of this patient in the use of the meter and the monitoring of the values so the doctor is comfortable with sending the patient home. The dilemma.....the meter costs about $1,000 and the test strips are an added expense on top of that. The other issue is getting the meter to Rwanda in a timely fashion. This last issue may be manageable as Mama Arlene will be returning to Rwanda in mid-January, so if I can lay my hands on the meter and test strips, she could take it back with her.
If any of you know a Phillips rep, I would love to talk to them. Phillips makes these meters, and I'm hoping (best case scenario) that they would donate one along with a year's supply of test strips. Worst case, I will buy one and the strips in the next week, but either way I need it soon so Mama can take it back with her. Any help would be great! If you know of anyone, email me at sbrown2126@kc.rr.com and put INR in the subject line. Or....if you'd like to donate toward the purchase of the meter and test strips, go to www.onegooddeedkc.org and in our project lists, choose the PayPal donate button next to $tatAid.
People helping people....that's what it's really all about isn't it? Happy New Year!
No comments:
Post a Comment