February 16, 2017
www.thermopir.com PAGE A7
Opening medical facilities halfway around the world
Randy Bakers mother, Dar-
lene Warren, grew up in Ther-
mopolis and her parents lived in
East Thermopolis, across from
what was known as the buffalo
patch. Baker noted he had two
aunts who also
lived here nearly
their whole lives
Marie Enis and
Sally Stanton,
known by many
as Aunt Sally
so he was quite fa-
miliar with Ther-
mopolis.
Recently, his
mother passed
away, and Baker
came to town to
settle some busi-
ness, which led to
his living in his
aunts old house in
East Thermopolis
and later deciding
to stay for a while.
Almost 11 years
ago, Baker and his
two friends chose
to journey from
Longmont, Colo.
to the base camp
of Mt. Everest. As
they prepared to
make the trip, Clinic staff inventory supplies alongside Jagat Lamas, Randy Bakers tour guide cal women were trained
they knew they to Nepal and the inspiration for the facility.
would need a
guide. After sending out emails
to several potential candidates,
Baker received a call from a man
who welcomed him to spread his
footprint over the holy Ever-
est region. Before the call was
over, Baker would hire the man,
Jagat Lama, as their guide.
The journey through Nepal
began the following year, in
2006, and along the way Lama
shared with them a story of how
is father had fallen ill and a trip sentence When my father
to the nearest hospital would
take a day. After five days,
Lama went to see his father,
who at that time had nearly
passed away; though he tried
to take him to the hospital, it
was already too late.
Lama felt if he could build a
hospital he could provide treat-
ment to others. The guide fur-
ther noted his father told him
to be a good man and try to help
those in remote regions with
educational and medical needs.
He said his dream was to do
something for his village and
fulfill his fathers dying wish.
It was a story Lama shared
with hundreds of other trek-
kers, Baker said, then he told
my friends and I, and things
began to happen. I wish I could
say it was my lifes dream to be
a philanthropist. It wasnt, but
when things began to happen I
said I can do that. young people in the education
Baker and his friends kept in
touch with Lama, and consid-
ered the possibility they could
help him fulfill his dream to
provide medical help for his
community.
Though it was a huge un-
dertaking to consider, Baker
learned the head of the com-
pany he worked for was tired of
hearing how things couldnt be
done and was looking for those
with big dreams who believed
they could do great things. As
building a hospital in Nepal cer-
tainly fit the bill, Baker submit- sponse, and there was even time
ted the idea. It was selected for
a program through which the
company provides funding and
time off for people to reach their people volunteered to help with
goals, and with the help of peo-
ple he worked with Baker took
the first step in turning Lamas
dream into reality.
Location is everything
In a return trip to Nepal,
Baker and others scouted a lo-
cation for the hospital but were
shocked by what they found.
They knew Nepal was a third-
world country, but the Kumari
region is backward even by
the countrys standards. They
learned the people of the Ku-
mari are from the Tamang tribe,
considered the lowest social sta-
tus in Nepal, and suffered from
prejudice, neglect and extreme
poverty.
The group found the Kumari
people were not only without a
medical facility, but they also
had no electricity, no water, no
road and no toilets. The children
didnt have enough to eat, their
clothes were ragged, few wore
shoes and many were sick. They
saw a schoolhouse with no roof
and were told about 250 chil-
dren attend there; still, with
no bathroom.
They saw a boy with an in-
fected finger crawling on the
ground, and the doctor with
them wrote down the medicine
the boy needed and they sent a
man to the nearest town to get
it; he returned the next day
with antibiotics that saved the
boys life.
Believing this to be a bit dra- dedication of the womens edu-
matic, they asked what might
have happened if they hadnt
come along. They were shown a
demonstration of the local doc-
tors work, more drums and tough year. The economy was
bells than anything else. It was
a nine-hour hike to the district
hospital, and they heard stories
of children who died along the
way when their fathers tried to
take them. Lama assured them
the stories were true with one
to the Kumari and continued to
took my sister to the hospital,
he came back alone.
First steps
While they found there were
many obstacles to building a
health facility in the Kumari,
they also knew they were the
only hope for the people.
The first steps were to ad-
dress the infrastructure. Elec-
tricity, water, and a road were
essential to the running of any
medical facility, and the group
offered to purchase the materi-
als if the people would supply
the labor. They agreed enthu-
siastically.
Staffing was the next big
problem. Like any remote ru-
ral location, it is very difficult utes. Lama began to tell his sto-
to attract qualified professional ry and the people from the foun-
people, so the group set to look- dation stayed and listened for
ing in the community for the
answer. The plan is to support
finish the clinic in the Kumari.
in medical fields. Support was
offered with an agreement that
the students return to the Ku-
mari for three years to serve
the community.
A trip to America
In order to launch the pro-
grams in America, Lama was
invited to come to Longmont
to speak with supporters and
make a presentation to the
Board of Directors for Health
& Ed 4 Nepal, to reach a larger
audience. They had a great re-
for Lama to have some fun, jet
skiing among other activities.
After Lama spoke, over 70
the project. The volunteers or-
ganized into groups to support
education, fundraising, website
development and many other
committees.
First medical camp
On March 26, 2009, they
were able to sponsor the first
medical camp in the Kumari.
They saw over 1,100 patients,
sponsored surgery for 26 women
and one man, saved lives of a
young girl with meningitis and
a heart attack victim. Baker
stated they touched the lives
of everyone in Kumari.
Between the team of 19 from
the U.S., the Nepali medical
team and Lamas Kumari team,
over 100 people supported the
camp. The doctor from Nepal,
who had been to many camps,
said theirs was the best he had
ever attended.
After the close of the camp,
they broke ground for the clinic.
Several high-ranking govern-
ment leaders attended the cer-
emony, praising the work and
agreeing to provide more pipes
for the water project and to fund
road extensions to the road built
to the medical clinic site.
During the week they group
met with the 25 children they
sponsored for school that year.
In a presentation at the school,
they delivered 250 kits of school
supplies.
They also conducted a formal
cation center.
The work continues
Baker stated 2009 was a
arrival was accompanied by
down, as were donations. They
lost corporate support and
though private donations were
also down, the work continued.
They did a significant amount of
construction on the clinic, pur-
chased poles to bring electricity
support medical students.
Things began looking up in
2011. The week before July 4,
they set up a fireworks stand in
Longmont. In addition to fire-
works, there were prayer flags,
posters of Nepal, and a Hima-
layan mountain guide, Lama,
ready to talk about trekking to
Mt. Everest. They sold so many
fireworks that we had to close
up midday on Independence
Day.
After a week of selling fire-
works to Americans, Lama went
to Salt Lake City to meet with
representatives of the Sorensen
Legacy Foundation. They said
they were short on time and
could only give him a few min-
almost an hour. In the end they
agreed to give Lama a grant to
The footprint grows
Dr. Jill Pritcher and Cami-
elle Bently led a group of phy-
sicians and students from the
Rocky Vista University who
spent a week in the Kumari
seeing patients. Lama went
to Portland, Ore. to meet with
Les Zollbrecht from the Moun-
tain Leadership Institute, and
a group traveled to Nepal and Though the 2015 earthquake in Nepal severely damaged the clinic, local Baker noted. I can-
helped build the first lavatory and worldwide support helped rebuild the facility within two years. not express enough
in the Kumari.
Students from the Univer-
sity of Utah chapter of the En-
gineers Without Boarders won
a grant to introduce a vented
fireplace construction to the
Kumari. Doctors from the 2009
health camp said that the large
number of respiratory problems
they saw was a result of the open
fireplaces in the homes.
The group went to the Ku-
mari to test their stove design.
In most cases testing with ex-
isting stoves or three-stone
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fires, they measured carbon
monoxide concentrations in
the home above 100 ppm, and
in some cases as high as 500-
600 ppm OSHA permissible
exposure limit is 50 ppm for an
eight-hour period. The
Kumari 1.1 stove could
achieve about 20 ppm
room carbon monoxide
if operated properly.
To help improve the
plight of the Tamang
girls, Health & Ed 4
Nepal (H&E4N) sup-
ported two young wom-
en in a bridge program
to prepare students
to become nurses and
midwives. One woman
moved to Kathmandu
with her husband to at-
tend this school.
A sewing cooperative
was opened to provide
income for the women
of the community.
The cooperative do-
nates part of their profit US Naval academy. His name
to support the hospital.
In addition, the women
of the Kumari are train-
ing groups of women
from neighboring com-
munities. Over 350 lo-
in the womens center.
Opening the Sukman
Memorial Polyclinic
On March 21, 2013 they
opened the polyclinic. Their
the traditional flowers, girls in
traditional costume, the local
band and a crowd of about 500
people. As soon as they arrived,
Baker stated, it was his great
honor to throw the switch and
bring electricity to the Kumari.
A road built had the most
impact. They could see a higher
standard of living, which Lama
confirmed, letting them know
the people of Kumari could now
grow cash crops and take them
to market.
Hours before the grand open-
ing celebration was about to be-
gin, there was a wind storm. It
blew down the cook tents, and
the stage. But it didnt stop
Lama. A makeshift cover was
put on the stage and they went
ahead with the celebration.
The best moment for Bak-
er came the day after the cer-
emony. They went to Lamas
old house where found Sailo
Tamang, the boy that had the
infected finger back in 2008.
Baker stated he is alive and
well and appears to be quite a
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rascal. I liked him a lot, he
stated. I expect great things
from that boy.
The world comes together
In the years following the
opening of the clinic, several
have donated to project, in-
cluding those in Longmont
and those who have sent their
proceeds from company sales.
Baker said he wouldnt have
believed how everyone began
coming together if he hadnt
experienced it.
His favorite story is when he
and a friend were visiting with
student in a leadership program
in Longmont. In the program,
students create and execute ser-
vice projects. In 2015, a young
man in the program named Mo-
hammad Aziz approached them
and said he wanted to help by
creating first aid kits and send-
ing them to Nepal.
A few weeks later Baker got
a call from a midshipman at the
was Rahul Singh and his par-
ents were from India. He said
he spoke Hindi and thought that
would help. Though not versed
in construction, Singh had first
aid knowledge, and Baker put
him in touch with Mohammad
and staff at the Kumari clin-
ic. A few months later Singh
was in the Himalayas teaching
first aid using the first aid kits
made by Aziz. Singh would go
on to teach advanced CPR to
clinic staff.
Groundbreaking of
a deadlier sort
On April 25th, 2015, a mas-
sive 7.9 earthquake struck
Nepal. The main shock was
followed by quakes of local mag-
nitude greater than 4.0 within
the first 45 days.
Rural areas like the Kumari
suffered nearly 100 percent
damage but received little to
no assistance. Mapping of the
quake zones showed both major
earthquakes occurred outside of
Kathmandu in more rural ar-
eas, which have continued to
receive large aftershocks even
months after the original quake.
In the Kumari, thousands
of homes were destroyed. The
schools were completely gone.
The clinic was severely dam-
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aged and the womens center
crumbled.
Lamas home in Kathmandu
was damaged severely in the
earthquake. So much that he
and his family were living un-
der a tarp in the street. Baker
stated it was heart breaking to
text or chat with him and Lama
being forced to stop because his
hands were too cold to continue,
as it was raining and cold un-
der the tarp.
Again people came together,
flying halfway around the world
to set up medical camps, writ-
ing stories and setting up dona-
tion sites. Among those helping,
Baker noted, were a rock band
from Milano, a church group
in England, a group of Asian
Americans, the Berkeley Chi-
nese Community Church and
a medical group from Mexico.
The womens center was too
badly damaged to be saved and
was completely torn down, and
children had to attend school in
temporary buildings. As soon as
the monsoons ended the road
repairs began. When the work
was completed, materials need-
ed to rebuild the clinic were de-
livered to the Kumari.
Continuing the journey
Since the earthquake,
Baker said, we have rebuilt
the clinic, and the clinic is open
and operating. The womens
center and school have been re-
built as well. Baker noted the
school has some updated con-
struction and is now virtually
earthquake-proof. Lama was
very proud of the gate to the
compound that was salvaged
from a building destroyed by
the earthquake.
On Feb. 19, there will be an
official re-opening ceremony
for the clinic, which Baker will
attend. Following the ceremo-
ny, Baker plans to spend the
next couple of months in Ne-
pal. Among the work he will
be doing is getting people to be
comfortable with taking own-
ership of the clinic, school and
womens center. That has al-
ways been the plan,
he noted, but things
got a bit interrupted
by the quake.
From that sur-
prise phone call in
2007 to the grand
opening of the hos-
pital in 2013, and
through the terri-
ble 2015 earthquake
and its aftermath, it
has been an amaz-
ing journey, Baker
stated.
I have had the
great honor to have
been able to work
with an incredible
man, who had a
dream, and he let us
share the dream. He
expressed great ap-
preciation to Lama.
But, my greatest
joy has come from
the people who have
journeyed with me,
gratitude to those
that have made this
wonderful experience, the
greatest of my life.
Those who would like more
information, or to make a dona-
tion, can visit www.healthand-
ed4nepal.org.
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