On the 12th February 2021, Ryculture Health and Social Innovation through the partnership that was initiated in 2020 with the Kasarani Health Center to improve access to quality healthcare services to patients living with diabetes and hypertension in the community hosted their monthly clinic day. In line with Ryculture’s commitment to drive meaningful engagement of patients in their care, Odhiambo David educated the patients on stress management covering the key drivers as outlined by them while also acknowledging the role of social challenges patients contend with.
Other than disease-associated stresses which include challenges accessing care, inability to comply with care, poor control of their disease condition i.e. sugar levels of blood pressure, patients noted the challenge they face in taking care of the youthful generation who happen to put undue pressure on them through their behaviors which in certain cases are wanting. This coming after the media reported incidences of a son killing both parents and siblings, the parents were concerned which was justifiable but beyond the worry and concern it was noted that it’s important for the patients to be partners in their children’s development. One key feature that was highlighted was the fact that most parents deal with their children as strangers thus may not be able to address the challenges their children are contending with in life. This gap then pushes them to act out or involve in unwelcoming behaviors that put extra strain on their parents.
It was also noted through the discussions that for patients who may not be able to contain the behaviors of their children, considering their disease state they are better off seeking help on behalf of their children through alternative mechanisms e.g. youth support groups, youth friendly community safe spaces, church groups and counsellors who are in a better position to help. Additionally, they were urged to consider focusing on their wellbeing by either prevention, avoidance, adaptation to or acceptance of the stressful factors they contend with in life to mitigate the impact of the same on their health.
Faith Lelei a Clinical Officer at the Kasarani Health Center also trained the patients on general healthy living with a focus on promoting healthy lifestyle by the patients driven from a point of collaborative design of individual feeding habits, adopting an active & mobile lifestyle and weight management.
Following on the educative sessions, patients were reviewed, offered contextualized guidance and dispensed their medications as per their treatment plans. These were procured through the ongoing plans to ensure patients never miss any of their medications as they are supposed to considering there had been challenges in accessing these.
Through this partnership, we envision a future where no patient living with diabetes or hypertension will go without their medication and to ensure patients play an active role in the management of their conditions. To make this a reality we are looking forward to more collaborations with life-minded organizations to safeguard the health of our people.