...Workers view!
A day in the Life of Open Arms Infant Home
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The day is split into two shifts.
7.00 am: The office opens and the night shift hands over to the day shift. Mrs Phiri presents the night report and a programme for the day is formulated. It is ensured that all the staff are on duty and well (Open Arms has a policy of providing medical care to its staff).
The babies’ feeding charts are checked to see how they have been through the night. The day’s needs such as hospital visits or medicines are discussed. If there are children who have been admitted to Queen Elizabeth or the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, plans are made to visit them. This may extend into the night. Because of a shortage of nurses a guardian provided by Open Arms stays with the baby in the hospital.
8am: Open mail and deal with the day’s correspondence. It is at this point that reports are made on progress of the new buildings plus any of the host of things that often can and do go wrong such as broken telephones, water pumps, electrical fixtures, vehicle and maintenance. Running repairs are made where possible.
Daily activities include:
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Open Arms Infant home rears its own chickens on its premises ( approximately 300) and the eggs delivered to local supermarkets for sale.
The giving out of stores for feeding 50 babies and food for staff meals. Disinfectants and cleaning materials are also given out.
Harvesting produce from the garden, for example sweet potatoes, beans, spinach, tomatoes, paw paw, mangoes, avocado pears and bananas (depending on the season).
Supervision of building work, repairs, and any maintenance that needs undertaking.
To give interested groups and individuals in-depth insights into our work. Groups have included local and international Parliamentary Delegations, church and school groups and interested individuals.
The shift changes at 5pm. Again it is checked that all staff are present and well.
Weekly activities include :
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Weighing the babies; recording their weight gain or loss and checking for rashes etc. This and other information is available to the Doctor on his weekly visits.
Weekly in house clinics conducted by a visiting Paediatrician from Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
At least two days a week Neville and Matron Rose Phiri do their outreach visits. Infants who have been returned to their villages have their progress monitored. They might travel up to 100 kilometres to visit returnees, often on extremely difficult roads.
Rose conducts classes in primary health care and holds a clinic for returnees and other vulnerable children and their carers. Sometimes the ill are brought back for admission into the hospital at Blantyre or taken to the nutrition clinic.
Open Arms also helps with the delivery of maize when food is short. Some of the villages may be up to 100 kilometres away and can only be reached via a track and four wheel drive during the wet season. Currently Neville and Rose can spend sometimes three days a week on outreach matters.
The day is split into two shifts.
7.00 am: The office opens and the night shift hands over to the day shift. Mrs Phiri presents the night report and a programme for the day is formulated. It is ensured that all the staff are on duty and well (Open Arms has a policy of providing medical care to its staff).
The babies’ feeding charts are checked to see how they have been through the night. The day’s needs such as hospital visits or medicines are discussed. If there are children who have been admitted to Queen Elizabeth or the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, plans are made to visit them. This may extend into the night. Because of a shortage of nurses a guardian provided by Open Arms stays with the baby in the hospital.
8am: Open mail and deal with the day’s correspondence. It is at this point that reports are made on progress of the new buildings plus any of the host of things that often can and do go wrong such as broken telephones, water pumps, electrical fixtures, vehicle and maintenance. Running repairs are made where possible.
Daily activities include:
Open Arms Infant home rears its own chickens on its premises ( approximately 300) and the eggs delivered to local supermarkets for sale.
The giving out of stores for feeding 50 babies and food for staff meals. Disinfectants and cleaning materials are also given out.
Harvesting produce from the garden, for example sweet potatoes, beans, spinach, tomatoes, paw paw, mangoes, avocado pears and bananas (depending on the season).
Supervision of building work, repairs, and any maintenance that needs undertaking.
To give interested groups and individuals in-depth insights into our work. Groups have included local and international Parliamentary Delegations, church and school groups and interested individuals.
The shift changes at 5pm. Again it is checked that all staff are present and well.
Weekly activities include :
Weighing the babies; recording their weight gain or loss and checking for rashes etc. This and other information is available to the Doctor on his weekly visits.
Weekly in house clinics conducted by a visiting Paediatrician from Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
At least two days a week Neville and Matron Rose Phiri do their outreach visits. Infants who have been returned to their villages have their progress monitored. They might travel up to 100 kilometres to visit returnees, often on extremely difficult roads.
Rose conducts classes in primary health care and holds a clinic for returnees and other vulnerable children and their carers. Sometimes the ill are brought back for admission into the hospital at Blantyre or taken to the nutrition clinic.
Open Arms also helps with the delivery of maize when food is short. Some of the villages may be up to 100 kilometres away and can only be reached via a track and four wheel drive during the wet season. Currently Neville and Rose can spend sometimes three days a week on outreach matters.
