Ambulance brings hope in Ghana

Lansing donates vehicle to deliver medical care to its needy sister city

An ambulance donated to Lansing's sister city in Ghana is helping desperate people.

And an improved suspension system could mean it will serve even more.

The emergency vehicle was put in service a year ago in the Akuapem South District in the west African country.



"The ambulance is ... a mobile health clinic and goes out five or six days a week," said Barbara Roberts Mason, chairwoman of the Lansing Regional Sister Cities Commission. "It brings health services to villages that have never had them available before."

State Rep. Paul DeWeese, R-Williamston and a physician, was in Ghana last October when the ambulance was delivered.

"The people were overwhelmed by the generosity of the Lansing area and they are actively using the ambulance day-to-day to serve a desperately needy population," he said.

Mason, who visited Ghana and rode in the ambulance earlier this year, said a better suspension system is critical.

"The roads are bad and there are no roads into some villages," Mason said.

"Some roads have potholes big enough to swallow the ambulance whole. It may take hours to travel five miles."

Sister Cities Commission member Janice Gross, who went to Ghana when the ambulance was delivered, said its visits offer hope.

She recalled a visit to the village of Panpanso, which is a long walk from the main road where villagers could catch a bus to the hospital in Nsawam, the government capital of Akuapem South.

"A grandmother said she has buried 12 of her 13 children," Gross said. "They died at ages from infancy to their late 20s. She hopes her grandchildren live longer than their parents did."

Children are vulnerable to malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, malnutrition and measles, Gross said.

"Visits from the new mobile clinic will help make the village elder's hopes for her grandchildren come true," she said.

Another major problem there is children with Buruli ulcers. Without early treatment, the ulcers destroy massive areas of skin and sometimes bone. Mason said the effect can resemble leprosy.

With the mobile clinic, Gross said, nurses can identify victims early and dress the wounds of patients, saving them long weekly walks to the hospital.

Mason said the idea of getting an ambulance for Akuapem South was born when she and Maxine Hankins Cain of Lansing saw two men there with burns over 90 percent of their bodies. The men waited hours for an ambulance.

When the women returned to Lansing, Mason said, she learned of a used ambulance for sale by a company in Cadillac. Fund-raisers helped buy the vehicle and $4,000 more was raised to ship it to Ghana.

Volunteers made sure it was roadworthy, stocked it with medical supplies and painted it.

Mason said alcohol swabs, gauze, bandages, tissues, antiseptics, hypodermic needles, cotton swabs and latex gloves are constantly needed to help stock the mobile clinic.

Contact Hugh Leach at 377-1119 or hleach@lsj.com.