News
HOSPITAL MISSION FOR MARY AND FAMILY
Riversway’s highly experienced Operations Director, Mary Rackham, recently spent eight days helping the fledgling Makunduchi Hospital on the Indian Island of Zanzibar.
The much-needed health facility will eventually serve more than 70,000 people living in the south of the island, which is part of the United Republic of Tanzania and lies 35 kilometres off the African coast.
Mary, a former nurse and business manager, became involved through her daughter, Rebecca MacDonagh, and son-in-law Ru, who are both consultants at Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital.
The couple have worked on a voluntary basis at Makunduchi’s old, run down medical centre for the past 16 years and recently launched their charity HIPZ – Health Improvement Project Zanzibar - to see it developed into a modern, efficient hospital.
This involves providing a new building and converting the old, poorly-equipped medical centre to create a hospital with a staff of 60. The Bristol-based charity, The Grant Bradley Charitable Trust, has agreed to pay for new staff uniforms, and has been a generous supporter of the project since it’s inception.
Mary said: “The new building is up to the roof now and looking very good. It’s going to be a modern Primary Healthcare Unit with outpatient services, vaccination facilities and in particular a clinic for mothers and babies because, Zanzibar has one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world.
Ru said: “The old medical centre is being renovated and will be converted into operating theatres, laboratories and male, female and children’s wards. The hospital has been given an x-ray machine, and Danida - the Danish Government aid agency - is supplying our medication. The government is recruiting two new clinical officers and a doctor for us.”
During her time in Zanzibar, Mary, who took out old pairs of spectacles donated by Riversway residents for re-use among the island’s population, used her experience in business management as well as the health and caring field to gather statistics, define working procedures, set up administration systems and generally examine the many problems the hospital will face in order to ensure it functions effectively in the future.
She also got down to basics by ensuring that the place was given a thorough clean from top to bottom while her husband, Anthony, a retired Royal Navy officer and self-confessed computer buff, reviewed the hospitals computer systems.
Mary said: “We are trying to achieve a flagship hospital for Zanzibar. The staff are all very willing to work, but they need help in understanding what their new roles will be.”
One of the key issues for HIPZ is raising sufficient money. Although the Zanzibar government has agreed to pay the hospital staff’s basic salaries and utilities like water and electricity, the charity is committed to finding a total of £1.75 million to keep the hospital operational for the coming decade. This includes topping top up the staff wages to the combined tune of £2,000 a month.
Ru said: “The capital cost for renovating the hospital and equipping it is £900,000 over the next three years, then the hospital will cost £85,000 a year to run, which is £850,000 over the 10 years. We have appointed a professional fundraiser and we are looking at corporate sponsorship, grants and to individuals in order to meet our targets.”
HIPZ is holding what it hopes will be a money-spinning gala charity auction at London’s O2 Arena on April 29 to raise much-needed funds for its work.
The project is certainly a labour of love for Mary and her whole family. Her granddaughter, Emily, who is Rebecca and Ru’s daughter, is spending part of her gap year working at the Makunduchi Hospital before taking a place at Bristol University this year to study medicine.
WINNIE’S A WONDER
The Lord Mayor of Bristol, Councillor Royston Griffey, has praised Bristol’s popular Riversway Nursing Home after an official visit to celebrate the 104th birthday of resident Winifred Watts.
She was born near the centre of the city within the sound of the cathedral’s bells in 1904, the same year as Bristol’s noted son, Archie Leach, who went on to find fame and fortune as the Hollywood film star Cary Grant.
“Winnie was surrounded by her family when we cut the cake and I let her wear my three-cornered hat which made her smile a bit.” said Councillor Griffey.
“I later visited a number of rooms on both floors to see other residents and was very impressed by the home which seemed to be extremely well-run and is in a lovely location right by the side of the river,” he added.
Winifred, who had five brothers and two sisters, lived in Southville where she attended Merrywood School.
She left at 14 to help her mother, who died in 1918 during a flu epidemic, and she then kept house for her father before becoming a nanny.
Winifred looked after the sons of a doctor in Long Ashton, where she settled with her husband, George, and lived there for more than 60 years until moving to Riversway last October with her 79-year-old son, Peter.
George, who died in 1987, was a keen gardener who exhibited his prized vegetables in local shows, while Winifred, an enthusiastic cook, also had a competitive streak and baked cakes which she entered in shows.
She was also a keen painter in her younger days, with a particular love of landscapes and flowers.
Nowadays, she looks forward to her cups of tea, especially with a bit of chocolate and, above all, loves it when the small children of the family pay a visit.
