WORTH (World Organization of Renal Therapies)

February 2011

On February 4, 2011

Belize celebrated the official launch of its National Dialysis Services. Ceremonies were held at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital and La Loma Luz Adventist Hospital.

This was a national event with broad media coverage and we all hope that it marks an

important advance in medical care in Belize.

In the news

Dr. Michael Pitts, Directorof Public Health for Belize addresses the public at the ceremony in Belize City.

Dr. Peter Allen CEO of the Ministryof Health Belize speaks at the ceremony in Belize City

The dialysis unit at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City, Belize

The dialysis unit at La Loma Luz Adventist Hospital in Santa Elena

Our patients in Belize are thriving and WORTH is moving forward. Our mission to deliver state of the art dialysis in the developing world without causing financial stress to our patients is being fulfilled.

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October's Trip to Belize

Here is a video of two of our nurses describing how they feel about their work.

Also here is a picture of our driver from this trip. He was so proud of his "all chrome taxi" that we promised to put a picture of it on our blog :-)

September 2010 WORTH starts dialyzing in Belize

On September 22, 2010 WORTH dialyzed its first patients in Belize

The WORTH dialysis unit at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize is now operational and we hope to have the one at La Loma Luz Hopital up and running soon.

July 2010: Progress Report

A WORTH delegation went to Belize in July 2010 and proudly reports several areas of success. Each of the two new dialysis units are well under way in construction. Dr. Trebbin and Ms. Mcteague met with the new Belizean dialysis nurses and technicians and spent many hours teaching. They found the new staff to be highly intelligent and inquisitive and everyone felt the dawn of what promises to be a spirited, tight knit group. Also the Management Committee, for the two units (created in the MOU) met, and reaffirmed that no patient would ever be turned away from either dialysis unit for lack of the ability topay. Furthermore, a payment scale was created that will insure no one will be unduly overburdened financially by payments for dialysis.

Some pictures of interest:

The team of nurses and technicians with Dr. Wayne Trebbin and Ms. Carolyn McTeague

Main corridor, dialysis unit Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) in Belize City.

The main dialysis room at KHMH

Site of the Dialysis Unit at La Loma Luz Hospital (LLLH)

The main dialysis room at LLLH

June 2010 Progress in Belize

Good progress was made this month. WORTH signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU In Belize this is the equivalent of a contract) with the government of Belize, the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) and the La Loma Luz Hospital (LLLH) that delineates the responsibilities of all parties as we move forward with the creation of our two dialysis units in Belize (one at KHMH and one at LLLH). The signing occured in a ceremony featuring a key note speech by the Minister of Health and others, and received wide press coverage. Also, during the same WORTH trip to Belize most of our future local nursing staff was selected as well as 2 of our future local 4 biomedical technicians. Plans are being made to ship machinery and supplies from WORTH in America to Belize in the near future, and after that WORTH nurses, physicians and tecnicians will start to arrive in shifts to begin training. We hope to be dialyzing our first patients in September.

Below we have included a video and pictures of interest

The Signing Ceremony

Hon Pablo Martin Minister of Health

Dr. Gary Longsworth CEO of Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital

Mr. Grant McPherson CEO LaLoma Luz Hospital

Dr. Wayne Trebbin President of WORTH

Ms. Carolyn Mcteague Vice President of WORTH

Mr. Jose Cruz Belizean Patient Advocate

SIGNING THE MOU

On to Latin America

In August WORTH members went to the Latin American country of Belize as guests of the government there. The meeting was very fruitful, and plans are being made to establish two new dialysis units in that country. One will be in the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH) located in Belize City on the east coast and the other will be in the missionary facility La Loma Luz Hospital (LLLH) in Santa Elena approximately 11 miles from the border of Guatamala.

Belize is slightly smaller than Massachusetts. It is a parliamentary domocracy of the British Commonwealth. The GDP per capita is estimated to be the equivalent of $8,600 USD (est 2008)

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is in the process of being negotiated, and both the Belizean government and WORTH are very enthusiastic about this project.

Belize