Family Care’s Free Health Care Projects
Amongst Family Care’s programs is free health care and consultation, which is provided to thousands nationwide who otherwise would not have an opportunity to receive such treatment. Adding to our health care efforts we have partnered with several rural clinics and endeavors that attend to the health care needs of the local populace.

The need for accessible health care in Nigeria’s rural areas has spurred on our efforts, which began in the 90’s, to reach out to remote communities via Family Care’s Free Health Care Projects. Over the years we have established relationships with scores of medical volunteers who are ready to accompany us to a remote community. They give of their time, skills and energy to extend a helping hand, be it a stethoscope to listen to patients’ maladies and offer relief, to major surgeries.

A typical Free Health Care Project runs for a week, but these large-scale projects are the result of months of planning, administration, logistics, volunteer recruitment and coordination. As the sites where the projects take place are usually rural and lack most or all infrastructural conveniences that one normally takes for granted, the coordinating team has their work cut out for them. Needless to say, when the very complex programs are successfully carried out and concluded without major setbacks, all who have participated with the health exercise can breathe a sigh of relief.

Before the team of sixty-five medical volunteers arrive at the project site and begin treating patients, a preliminary team travels well in advance to the chosen hospital. They ensure that it will serve the project’s purpose and be able to accommodate the throngs of villagers that will inevitably arrive seeking care. Entire wards and gangways must be scrubbed to satisfaction, generators overhauled, medical equipment put in place and operating theatres sterilized, not to speak of bushes and shrubbery cleared to accommodate the masses! Traditional rulers and community leaders are made aware of the project in advance and town criers are sent to the four winds carrying their message, ensuring all are made aware of the soon to come team of doctors, and with them the hopes of free health care.

As the project’s venue is being readied, the rest of Family Care’s coordinating team is busy undertaking the leviathan task of recruiting medical doctors, pediatricians, surgeons, dentists, opticians, ophthalmologists, pharmacists and logistical volunteers. This is perhaps the most challenging aspect of the free health care projects, as the volunteer team is recruited from many various and far flung towns and cities throughout the nation. Transportation by land, air or boat, and sometimes a combination of all three, is arranged for the large team of volunteers to be safely ferried to the target village. The complex logistics and communications between the coordinating team and volunteers takes a tremendous amount of perseverance and effort that finally results in a sizeable and well-rounded team eager and up to the task ahead.

Additionally, sponsorship for these initiatives is sought from large companies or government bodies to bear the bulk of the costly volumes of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and logistics. Other members of the business community are also contacted to contribute funding, products and services to play their role in being part of the program.

When the project’s opening day arrives much of the work is already behind, but many challenges still lie ahead. At first, the patients start to trickle into the hospital at a manageable rate. Some happen to live in a close proximity to the hospital and take the opportunity to benefit from the program, while others come to see if the health care is, in fact, free and then return home to tell family and loved ones what they have seen and experienced. From the second day of the project until the last, the volume of people grows steadily, increasing to thousands more than can be accommodated by the medical team.

With added pressure from the throngs of people begging to be the next one to benefit from free health care, the entire team must run like a well-oiled machine to achieve maximum efficiency and reach all they can with quality health care. Working tirelessly from early morning until late at night, the medical volunteers summon all their physical, mental and spiritual resolve to do their part in making the project a success, while at the same time endeavoring to convey a message of hope and love to the many lives they touch.

The grateful villagers stand in lines awaiting attention from the volunteers. Those seeking treatment will first receive a patient card, which guarantees them the free health care. The patients will then have a chance to meet and tell a doctor, pediatrician, dentist, optician, or optometrist or ophthalmologist of their body’s complaints. After the diagnosis is made the patient is either sent to the pharmacy to collect their drug prescription, or if surgical attention is necessary, they are referred to the theatre team to be screened for surgery.

As the patients leave the hospital after benefiting from the program, they often thank the obviously overworked volunteers for coming to help them with the otherwise inaccessible and unaffordable health care. This is especially true of those who undergo life-altering surgeries, knowing full well that if the program hadn’t come to their village they may have continued to suffer with their condition indefinitely, resulting in a difficult and perhaps shortened life. By the time the project comes to a close, anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 people will have received free health care. For most it is an once-in-a-lifetime experience, that they pray will return in the not too distant future. Read more

The overwhelming feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment that comes to all the program’s volunteers is indescribable. Seeing lives saved, sight restored to the blind, strength returned to the weak and those treated joyously embracing their loved ones and turning to thank you, is priceless! Many medical volunteers comment that they had taken part in order to give, but realized that they had gained so much more in return, that in the end they cannot call their participation a sacrifice.

Following is a testimonial from a 50-year-old woman, Felicia, who had been virtually blind for 8 years as a result of cataracts:

“It is with a joyful heart and excitement that I write to express my appreciation for your good charity work of helping others. I have been blind in one eye for the last eight years and thought I would never see the day when I would be able to see with both my eyes again. I am 50 years old and at my age there was little hope to get the needed help or financing to get this operation done.
“One day I was talking to my pastor in Enugu and he told me that he had a friend who was from Erema, Rivers State who had gone to a Family Care Medical Program and had benefited from a free eye surgery and whose life was completely changed from this help he received.
“I so hoped for a way to find out where Family Care was and see if I could plead for assistance for my eyes. By a miracle it worked out I found them and was able to travel with my daughter and participate in a successful eye surgery where I got all my treatment completely free.
“I really want to thank all of the Family Care staff and sponsors who so generously helped us; and I want to thank God for giving me this chance to change my life completely.”