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David Kim Endowment

In Ethiopia...
Every morning at a small clinic in Shinshicho, Ethiopia, women and children line up to receive medical care. It’s the only clinic for a region of 176,000 people, 45% of whom are children. Recently, Holt refurbished the clinic’s buildings and began to supplement funding for a full-time physician and staff. The number of people receiving care in the upgraded clinic subsequently rose from 35 to 150 each day – approximately 50,000 people annually. Conditions commonly addressed at the clinic include complications from pregnancy, respiratory infections (including TB), malnutrition and diarrheal diseases, malaria and HIV.

Despite the advances in health care provided at Shinshicho, the clinic’s staff is unable to treat many of the people who come to them for help. Those requiring surgery, x-rays or hospitalization must be referred to a facility 10 miles away – a huge obstacle to pregnant women, seriously ill children and adults without private means of payment or transportation. Many people have no choice but to be carried home to die.

To resolve these and other medical care challenges, Holt has committed to funding most of the construction costs for the Shinshicho Mother and Child Health Center, which includes:

• Surgical Rooms – There is no surgical unit at the clinic.
• Medical Equipment – The clinic has no x-ray, ultrasound or anesthesia equipment.
• Patient Beds – Because the clinic has only a small admission room and 4 beds, most medical care is limited to consultations and outpatient services.

The new facility will enable an estimated 1,500 people a year to receive more acute, quality care than the clinic can currently provide. Two operating rooms will be available for those who require surgery. Diagnostic and other needed equipment will aid in rapid diagnosis, and 72 patient beds will allow those with serious illnesses to receive extended care.
Family Preservation and Strengthening
Holt’s first priority is to help children stay with their biological families whenever possible. Our staff assists families in extreme poverty with the resources and skill development needed to achieve economic self-reliance, enabling them to care for their children.
Ethiopian family before and after successful family preservation efforts
[lower photo]: Their oldest daughter was able to return home and continue her schooling, after having been forced to work outside her village.
Orphan Care and Adoption
For those children who can’t stay with their biological families, Holt finds loving, permanent homes. Some are adopted locally, but most find their adoptive families in the United States. For children awaiting adoption, Holt provides medical and nutritional services, and trains social workers and nannies in child development and child care-related issues.

Medical Care, Particularly for Women, Infants and Children
Because of severe need and the urging of the Ethiopian government and local leaders, Holt has been instrumental in providing medical care, primarily for women and children, at clinics in Shinshicho and Doyagena. Recently, Holt also helped coordinate two medical mission teams to both clinics in which Ethiopian and U.S. physicians provided complex medical and surgical care to the region’s rural poor.