The Karen Hospital will be hosting a cardiac surgical camp from January 16th - 24th 2016 for patients requiring coronary artery by grafting (CABG). The procedures will be performed by a team of surgeons from Germany in conjunction with our local team.
If you need these services kindly visit our facility located along Langata Road. Share widely. For inquiries call Mercy on 0721775070

HYPERTENSION

Hypertension, otherwise known as high blood pressure is a chronic medical condition that is characterized by abnormal force as blood flows through the arteries. Medically, it is said that one has hypertension if they have a blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg. A single high blood pressure reading is not necessarily a sign of high blood pressure.

A number of reasons predispose one to high blood pressure. As one ages, their risk of getting hypertension also increases but this does not mean that young people are not affected. Recent times have had cases of children and adolescents who are hypertensive. This could be due to other predisposing factors that facilitate the occurrence of cardiovascular conditions such as poor lifestyle choices.

Obesity is another factor that could lead to hypertension. A diet with too much salt (sodium) and processed foods, consumption of alcohol and tobacco and lack of physical exercises are among poor lifestyle choices that expose people to illnesses. Chronic stress is another contributor. While stress is part of life, people are advised to stop worrying over things they have little or no control over. Genetics could also cause hypertension. People from families with a history of high blood pressure have high chances of developing it in their lifetime.

High blood pressure can also be an indication of other medical conditions such as kidney disease or overactive thyroid glands among others. Untreated, high blood pressure could lead to weakening of the heart, development of an aneurysm in the blood vessel, heart attack, narrowing of the blood vessels among other conditions.

Regular health check-ups

It is rather unfortunate that high blood pressure does not have symptoms, that is why it is popularly termed as the silent killer. Therefore, regular health check-ups are recommended in order to arrest certain conditions as early as possible before they damage the body.

The Karen Hospital recently carried out a study to assess the prevalence, awareness, management and treatment of hypertension in two main slums in Nairobi This research saw 5,194 residents above 18 years participate.

The survey established that the prevalence of hypertension was 12.3 per cent (12.7 per cent in women and 12 per cent in men). The level of consciousness concerning their hypertensive state having been told by a medical expert was 19.5 per cent (30.7 per cent in women and 10.8 per cent in men). About 47 per cent (44.9 per cent in women and 50.9 per cent in men) of those who were aware of being hypertensive state had been on medication for a year before the survey was carried out. Among those who had been on medication only 21.5 per cent (14.4 per cent in women and 35.7 per cent in men) had controlled blood pressure to levels below 140/90 mmHg. Hypertension control among all affected was below 3 per cent.

The research concluded that high blood pressure among slum dwellers was common. However, a majority of people sort treatment the moment the condition is revealed. This shows that huge strides can be made in the management of hypertension as long as there is awareness. There is a great need to put together strategies and policies that will influence prevention, early detection and availability of proper treatment of high blood pressure in such localities.

Once a diagnosis has been made, one is always advised on how to live a healthy life with minimum risks. For instance, one is advised to greatly reduce salt intake, reduce and if possible stop alcohol and tobacco consumption, increase intake of food and vegetables while limiting fat intake. Regular exercises will also do the body a lot of good. Reduction and maintenance of low body weight will lead to a reduction in blood pressure.

The Karen Hospital has wellness programmes. These are medical check-up comprising of a number of tests that give a “snapshot” of the functioning of your body. This helps to avoid surprises by medical conditions such as hypertension that are slowly creeping on us. There is also a hypertension management programme where patients with high blood pressure are comprehensively managed in terms of diet and treatment. Visit any of our branches and benefit from these helpful interventions.

The Karen Hospital Heart Run 2015

The Heart Run held on  May 16th 2015 at the Uhuru Gardens, was one of great success. Many thanks to our sponsors and supporters who came out in large numbers to Leave a mark on a child's heart.

Many Thanks to:
Our Host. The Uhuru Gardens

Our Sponsors:
Equity Bank, Unaitas, Kenya Commercial Bank,

Jkuat Noondles,Stima Sacco

The Students:

The Families and Friends:

The Volunteers:

The Karen Hospital:The Award Winning Department

The staff of the Karen Hospital Theatre Department welcomed me warmly in their blue scrubs and crock shoes. They are a strict department. They denied me access into their rooms without having first removed my worn out shoes and my already dusty clothes as it was 3pm in the afternoon. With a big smile, clean scrubs, crock shoes and a hair net, I was finally allowed to walk into the department to learn what makes them the award winning department.

 

Leadership

The theatre department was named the Department of the year with its 21 member team led by Cardiac Nurse Julia Kibe. The department plays host to four major surgery facilities that have allowed even the least hopeful, to wake up and walk again. The department that displays utmost cleanliness and perfection has much to tell of their day to day activities.

“We are 9 nurses and 12 technicians in this department. My team is small but each member is self driven to achieve the best results. The patients might not remember us but we deliver not for recognition but for God and the life of man. It is easy to lead this team, it has a strong foundation of team work and passion,” Team Leader Julia said

The team plays host and servant to the four major units/ operating rooms

·         The Theatre

·         The Catheterization lab

·         Endoscopy

·         The CSSD-Central Sterile Supply Department

“I am a hand on person; it is hard to find me sitting in an office, I like to lead from the front. I love to lead this team; they have high spirits and bond well. Teaching them, with my over 20 year’s experience, is the best way to give back to this industry “She added.

Theatre Environment…

The team has been known to display the best customer service in the hospital. Wesley Lemanyang is one of the students attached to the hospital, when interviewed he stated that, he would love to enhance his studies in Theatre nursing. He claims that after his experience in the department he learnt the most, as compared to other departments, and would love to come back after his graduation to further grow with the department.

Ms Julia attributes this kind of behavior to having a purposeful objective for the department,” There is great satisfaction from seeing a patient who was immobile, down and almost lifeless, get up and live life again. It fills us, it completes us.”

The equipment found in the theatre labs of the Karen Hospital are among the best in the industry. According to one of the team members, they have state of the art equipment like the microscope value 500 which is the latest in the market, high end monitors and aesthetic machines.

 “We are not expensive at all, for the kind of service we give, it is worth it. We have a great nursing team that values each and every patient, which is the reason why the organization chooses to reward us; we do the job because we love to serve the people,”  said another Team Member.

 Working in the department…

The department that has a small room for the staff to have their breaks also holds one of the coldest rooms in the hospital, the catheterization laboratory (Cath Lab), where patients are made well without having to undergo an open surgery.

Cath lab In-charge Samuel Kingori says that working in the theatre department has been one of his greatest life achievements. The opportunity to work with the various experienced doctors has allowed him to gain diverse skills and enhance his knowledge.

“I love this job. Patients come in at life threatening levels and in risky positions, and I am given a chance to be part of the team that helps save them. It feels great,” added Nurse Kingori.

Nurse Julia, a cardiac theatre nurse, takes her time to teach other younger nurses on the impact of cardiac surgery. Having worked in various hospitals and received her cardiac nursing experience from India, the theatre department team leader states that the department is a place of work and not a single person goes without doing something and learning.

“Sometimes the doctors get frustrated in the theatre room, they may make us uncomfortable, but we keep calm and hold our cool and continue doing the job. Operating on a person is not easy therefore we understand their frustrations. Every patient who comes through our doors is a high risk patient; we never take anything for granted. The surgical team most at times includes the doctors, the anesthesiologist and the theatre nurses. W e pray for all the patients that pass through our doors,” Nurse Julia said.

The team that sacrifices a lot for the success of the department has had some nurses on their feet for surgeries that lasted over 10 hours, Nurse Julia has been in an operating room for 12 hours with a heart patient, “ We stand until the surgery is over and successful. No eating, no resting, no washroom breaks just standing until the patient is well again.”

The biggest challenge according to the team members is the pain that comes with losing a patient. They say that they never want to feel the dissatisfaction that comes from failing in the operating room. The team also recognized the good work that comes from treating Heart-to-Heart Foundation beneficiaries, who are mostly children.

“We tend to be more emotional when a child is involved, because we want them to live their full life. We however have to put our feelings aside and attend to them. We love to help save their lives. We do our best for every patient.” Nurse Julia Concluded.

The department is on the first floor of the Karen Hospital Main Branch, and is open 24 hours for any patient, that will need their services.

MOTHERS' HELPLINE:Baby's Dental Hygiene with Dr Farooq Sorathia

Dr Farooq Sorathia Resident Dentist at Karen Hospital

1.When to expect the first tooth

•   The first baby tooth is expected to come out at 6 months
  
  

2.What to expect when teething

• Soreness and swelling on the gum before the tooth erupts
• Usually lasts about 5 days before the tooth appears
• Babies may bite on their fingers or toys to relieve discomfort on gums

3.Care of Teeth

• Before teeth Erupt

1. —  Use a soft moist gauze
2. —  Wipe your baby’s gums after each feeding
3. —  Wipe your baby’s gums atleast TWICE a day

• How to help your child during teething

1.  Use a cold teething ring
2.  Rub the baby’s gum with a clean finger – this soothes them

4.Care of teeth

• After teeth Erupt

1. —  Soft toothbrush
2. —  Baby toothpaste – use the size of a grain of rice
3. —  Make sure you brush your baby’s teeth until they are old enough to be able to do it themselves
4. —  Brush TWICE a day

 

5.How to prevent Decay

•  Baby bottle can be filled with

—  Formula

—  Breast Milk

—  Water 

1. This should be finished and baby’s teeth cleaned before sleeping or nap time
2.   DO NOT let the baby sleep with the bottle
3.   Avoid putting sugary drinks or fruit juice in the baby bottles

Dr Farooq attends to a patient

Renewed hope once again for Heart-to-Heart Foundation Beneficiary

15 years ago Levis Maina Njoroge met the one person that to this day gives him hope. He had been suffering from an unknown illness and after almost 8 years of back and forth from various hospitals in the country, he met a man that would refer him to what he still calls ‘My Hope’.

Levis meets Dr Betty Gikonyo 15 years after having open heart surgery

 

Levis at the age of 9 met Dr Betty Gikonyo, a paediatric cardiologist that at the time was working at the Kenyatta National Hospital. “For almost 9 years I had suffered. My hair was grey, I would cough all the time, I was always weak and sick. The other doctors would treat me for diabetes, malaria, malnutrition, but nothing seemed to work. I was referred to Dr Gikonyo by a doctor at the Moi Hospital in Voi” Levis said.

With only 2 brothers left, Levis an open heart surgery survivor says he regained his lost nine years after visiting Dr Gikonyo. Though now orphaned with no one to give him support, the 25 year old found refuge in believing that his one hope will give him hope again.

“I went looking for Dr Gikonyo at Kenyatta National Hospital, but I did not get her there. I decide to look her up on Google, just for me to see that she is now a CEO. I instantly felt the lost hope grow back in me. I quickly rushed to the Karen Hospital to get a chance to meet with her, I never got the chance instantly, but I got that hope filled call to come and here I am, with my hope.”Levis continued.

At that same age, Levis was diagnosed with a heart condition whose surgery at the time could not be performed in Kenya. With the help of his grandmother, some well wishers and the heart-to-heart foundation, he was among three that travelled to India for an open heart surgery. The surgery was successful and he recuperated in India for about six months and returned home in January of 2000.

Levis gets the chance to chat with his role model and mentor Dr Betty Gikonyo at the Nairobi Heart Clinic in Karen Hospital

According to Levis his grandmother was a fortress in the family. Having lived without knowing his mother, his grandmother played the role perfectly, nursing him in his illness and even selling all her investments so that he could get treatment in India.

“My grandmother had invested in a Kenya based airline and she had to sell all her shares to get sufficient funds to travel. The airline on hearing my plight assisted my father and I with tickets to Bombay, India. My family gave a lot for me to get treated; my brothers even gave up their education just so that we could get funds for treatment. I am in debt to them. When my father past away just two months after our trip, I was struck with a lot of worry. My grandmother was getting older and now had to be our sole provider. She gave a fight and managed to take me through both my O levels and A levels, but she could not fight anymore and just before my last exam she succumbed to illness and passed on. I felt a really big blow, because now it was clear, I was orphaned, with no one to fall back on and no one to look up to.” Levis added.

Levis gets a chance to meet Dr. A.K Gikonyo, Resident Cardiologist at the Karen Hospital

 

His quest to seek audience with Karen Hospital CEO and founder of the Heart-to-Heart Foundation Dr Betty Gikonyo saw the beginning of a new dawn for the aspiring musician. After having met with the team from the institution, Levis confessed that by this time he knew his orphan days were over.

“I just wanted to renew my hope again, and I felt that if she had done it before; given me the life that I had given up on, she could do it again. Life has not been easy since grandma went away. I have been subjected to harsh conditions even living on the streets of Mombasa with my brothers. We do casual jobs to survive and so far we have managed, but street vices have manifested themselves in my brothers. I almost went in that direction but that little light given to me by Dr Betty Gikonyo those many years ago, would not allow me to.” Levis reiterated.

Levis travelled to Nairobi from his home in Manyani in Coast Region in search of a reason to live; he said that he found it once he stepped into the Karen Hospital compound. The aspiring artist that has had his music played in a local radio station said that he ventured into music after giving up on drugs and overcoming depression. He further stated that after winning a rap competition in one of the promotional activities of a radio station, he knew that he had a talent that he could make use of.

Levis on arrival at The Karen Hospital with Communications Team Leader Mercy Nyakio

“When I remember how she encouraged me and gave me life again, I feel inspired. She told me that we will one day live to see our dreams come true, I feel like she has achieved hers, and she deserves to be where she is. Mine are still in progress and she remains my role model. I remember, I told her I wanted to be a doctor, and whenever she saw me in the ward, she called me Dr Maina, that has formed the foundation of my life. I am not yet a doctor but who knows, with this hope I have now, I believe in me.” Levis concluded after having had a short chat with Dr Betty Gikonyo at the Heart Clinic in Karen Hospital Nairobi.

Levis chats with his 'hope' Dr Betty Gikonyo