On Tuesday, May 30, Mercy had a send-off ceremony for seven staff retiring at the end of May. Reverend Charley and Hospital Administrator Jinnah Lahai gave speeches praising these staff members for their years of service.

Sister Taiwo and Comfort Beah have been at Mercy since it opened in 2007, and have seen Mercy through many changes. 

Three of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) aides, Comfort Beah, Mary Jabaty, and Josephine Simbo, as well as Sister Taiwo, have worked hard to ensure that throughout the 10 years of Mercy’s existence they have performed hundreds of deliveries and never had a single maternal death. Additionally, the maternity team has been a very active component of the Outreach Department, often leading the outreaches as well as holding prenatal clinics at Mercy multiple times per week. 

Morrison Amara, the Community Health Officer (CHO) in charge of the malaria program traveled on numerous outreaches during his time at Mercy, as well as ably assisting the doctor in the small operating room doing hernia repairs. 

Sidi Saffa, the Pharmacy Technician, had become very well known as always being the first staff member to arrive everyday. He was always in his office early, sometimes as early as 6:00 AM in order to organize his workspace and get the pharmacy ready for the day. He underwent an operation in December and was still back at work within a minimal amount of time, despite being offered paid sick leave.

Agnes John, the Laundress was solely in charge of all of the laundering needed by Mercy, all done by hand, of course!  Agnes washed all the bed linens, scrubs, and various other necessities needed to keep the hospital running and hygienic. 

Mercy Hospital and HCW are deeply grateful to these staff for their years of service and dedication.  We pray for them to find peace and enjoyment in their retirement, and wish them well for the future.

After working diligently for weeks, Mercy has finally been able to secure Plumpy'nut from the government to help address Abu-Bakarr's specific nutritional needs. There was a lot of red tape but now we have a three month supply.  This is significant because the government typically only provides Plumpy'nut to malnourished children under five years of age, and Abu Bakarr is 10.   He eats 6 packets per day (500 kcal each), in addition to the Sierramix supplement he has been receiving since arriving at Mercy through its nutrition program, and three healthy, protein-rich meals a day provided to him from the CRC kitchen. He continues to improve day by day. ​

Though the completion date has been slightly delayed until the end of August, construction on the OR wing of Mercy Hospital continues to progress.  Work has begun on a feature that Mercy has never had and long needed, a ramp to transport non-ambulatory patients between the first and second floors.