The late Chief of Feyiase Akoyem in the Bosomtwe District saw the need to respond to the health needs of the community and started a small clinic using the “Security House” at the Palace as a Pediatrics Child Welfare Clinic.
That dream has become a reality as it has now become a Community-based Health, Planning and Services (CHPS) Compound.
Madam Dawn Sutherland, a philanthropist, who relocated from Los Angeles in the USA to Atasemanso Kumasi in 2014, and expressed her desire to help, in line with the objectives of her non-governmental organisation (NGO), Bridge-To-Africa Connection (BATC), to empower women and girls by investing in health initiatives with the help of her friends in the Diaspora.
On a visit to the make-shift Clinic, Madam Dawn Sutherland realised that nurses at the improvised clinic worked with limited resources to help the patients, using scales used by meat sellers and cloth diaper literally hanging from the ceiling to weigh babies.
“The nurses would take the infants, remove their clothes, and hoist them into the scale made of diapers. The babies looked around screaming at the top of their lungs, arms flailing in the air, and peeing and pooping on occasion while being weighed,” she narrated.
She also noticed that the medical supplies were stored in a tiny cabinet, which could only fulfill two days requirements, which situation called for an immense need for larger cabinets and more medicinal supplies.
The five nurses that serve at the Clinic at the Palace in Feyiase Akoyem also make the time to conduct home visits in the community to members who were fearful of the clinic, because of the deplorable conditions and lack of resources, and the fact that it was located right inside the Chief’s Palace.
Due to the limited supplies at the Clinic, the nurses could not ensure proper family planning or proper pediatric care in the homes that they visited.
Madam Dawn noted then that “The babies of the community need to be weighed in [a] proper scales. They need sterile equipment and medical supplies. There is a lot of work to be done,” as a result of which she decided “to create a better system; a better way for the women and their families to get proper healthcare, one child at a time.”
With the assistance of the Member of Parliament (MP), Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, and the Assembly Member, the BTAC approached the Chief and elders of the community with the idea of creating a more stable and functional Clinic on land that was released for that purpose.
With the release of a parcel of land by the Chief, the ground-breaking ceremony was held in September 2014.
Madam Sutherland’s NGO, with the support of friends of BTAC, built a Community-based Health, Planning and Services (CHPS) Compound and christened it Cordella Sutherland Clinic, after her mother, who had a passion for kids and the betterment of their lives.
It was constructed by BTAC, with support with funding by friends of BTAC in memory of the late Feyiasehene, Nana Osei Kuffuor III, to provide adequate healthcare for the people in the community, where precious lives could be saved and prevent unnecessary deaths of the children in the community, thus “create a safe haven for our babies.”
The Clinic, in collaboration with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), currently provides services, including Out-Patient-Department (OPD) and Emergency, antenatal, delivery, postnatal, children welfare clinic, family planning, adolescent health, nutritional health and ultrasound scanning services.
The facility is in line with the policy of the Ministry of Health to prevent disease problems promptly by simple, basic and primary health care procedures, and also extending coverage of healthcare would require engaging the cooperation and authorisation of the people themselves at the various communities.
The BTAC, in partnership the International Black Women Public Policy Institute (IBWPPI), ensures that the Clinic has the necessary equipment and supplies needed to serve the people of Feyiase and surrounding areas.
Among the medical supplies are Sphygmomanometer – professional blood pressure monitors with large adult, regular adult and pediatric cuff; Thermometers (manual and electronic); Sterile hypodermic needles; Glucose monitors and test strips; Beds for the patients,
Professional Medical Weight Scales for the adults as well as infants; Basic medical and hygienic supplies: band-aid, antiseptic, Tylenol, aspirin, cotton, sanitary napkins and antibiotics.
The latest supply of medical equipment including fetal Doppler equipment was by 20-member Volunteer tourists headed by Dr. Donta Morrison from Los Angeles in California early this month.
The Ministry of Health has since February 2021 supplied nurses and midwives to manage the clinic which has since delivered 22 healthy babies.
Madam Sutherland has commended the chief of Feyiase, Nana Addae Gyamera for supporting BTAC to ensure that the dream of his predecessor is fruitful for the benefit of the community at large.
