TEAM KENYA...to do list

The fisherfolk hotline aims to improve fisherfolk’s ability to sustain their HIV treatment, both medication administration and appointments, and therefore improve the effectiveness of treatment. The implementation of the hotline will be continually monitored and then evaluated six months after the start date on the basis of the number of calls, the type of service rendered by the hotline, feedback from an interim focus group of fisherfolk, and the number of missed appointments/medication pick-ups compared to the number missed before the hotline’s implementation.

One of our tasks is to locate a list of all the clinics in Suba and create directions to each one. This is no small tasks considering that there are over 30 clinics and traditional addresses in Kenya are rare so directions will have to be based on landmarks. This information will be available to call receivers so that clients can be informed of clinics they can visit in the area they are working.
Another task is to create medical cards for all enrolled clients that may use the hotline. This way when a client is referred to another clinic, that clinic knows the client’s allergy information, latest CD4 count, current medications, and co-morbidities.

Once we create the clinic list and medical cards we will hold a focus group with fisherfolk and role-play how the hotline will work so that we can get feedback, make adjustments, and publicize the line. This is not an exhaustive list of what needs to take place in order to implement the hotline but these are our focus at the moment.

Our work-day pace tends to go like this: motorbike from our home stay to the clinic, help with vitals and client triage in the mornings, take lunch with FACES staff, work on our fisherfolk hotline project in the afternoons, and then taking a 1 hour walk back to the home stay.