Better Care through Clean Water
Dusingizimana Jonas, Leonilla Mukagasana, and Télesphore Ntaharaye are all staff members at the Rukumberi Health Center. They know the importance of clean water in maintaining the health of the people that they serve; but providing that access to clean water has been a struggle. In the past, they would add disinfectants to the water that they collected to provide to patients.
But, allocating those funds from their budget was difficult. And so, sometimes, care providers asked patients to buy their own clean water in order to take their medicine.
Then, as Jonas, who is in charge of the staff at the health center told us, “This facility is in an area where it is surrounded by lakes and the people have no access to clean water.” And so, Water Project volunteers selected the health center to receive a SAM2 Community Filter.
To keep water constantly available, the health center has a bucket for clean cups and one for the used cups. A staff member is responsible for cleaning the cups and monitoring those drinking water. One of the staff members who takes that job on is Télesphore. He explained, “Sometimes it is hard for the patients to immediately tell that the filter is there to serve clean water. We get asked questions and direct them to the filter. We first give them hand sanitizer to clean their hands before they take a cup, and then give them water to drink.”
This is especially important for the patients who need to drink water immediately with their medication. Leonilla is responsible for patient care at the facility, she told us, “Daily, the health center services at least 100 people, and if any of them wants to drink water or to use it to take their medicine, then they have a cup to drink water.”
