Passion for care: Austin doctors, nurses find renewal at Ubuntu Life clinic in Kenya

When Beth Hadi arrives at a clinic in Maal Mahiu, Kenya, she is greeted with "Miss Elizabeth! Miss Elizabeth!"

"They are running across the road to say hi to you," said the cardiac nurse practitioner at Dell Children's Medical Center.

Recently, she took care of a 15-year-old named Martin who had not walked his whole life. They got him on some medication to help his tendons.

"In May, he came up with his mom and said, 'I'm walking!' and he stood up with braces and walked across the floor," she said. "He waited in line for four or five hours to come to my lane to get vital signs," she said, just so he could show her he was walking.

A dozen years ago, Hadi traveled to Kenya as part of a group of co-workers at Dell Children's Medical Center on a medical mission spurred by Austin-based Ubuntu Life Foundation.

That first mission has turned into a three-times-a-year trip by Austin doctors and medical staff to provide specialty care for people as far as 10 hours away as well as to educate the Kenyan medical staff and the parents.

Ubuntu Life offers a school in Maal Mahiu, Kenya, for children with disabilities. Next door, their mothers make bracelets, bags and shoes for Ubuntu Life, the for-profit business that sells the items online and in Whole Foods to fund the school. Many of the kids have epilepsy, heart problems and need clinical care not available in Kenya.

Many of the kids were having seizures all day until they started taking medication. They couldn't walk, talk or attend school. When the Austin practitioners return after the kids have been on medication, "they are singing and walking and talking," Hadi said.

The Austin medical community's commitment has grown into a physical clinic with a Kenyan doctor. On Thursday, Ubuntu Life Foundation is hosting its annual Tribe Party in Austin to help fund the mission.

Jeremiah Kuriah, executive director and co-founder of Ubuntu Life, who lives in Kenya, said in a video about the new clinic that the support Ubuntu Life has gotten from Dell Children's and Austin clinics has been essential.

"With the resources in place and many more being needed, there is a plan for Ubuntu Life Foundation to reach its full potential," he said. "We are looking forward to serving many more children."

Doing things differently

Hadi became a nurse with the idea of doing global health, but "I had been on other mission trips that felt like it didn't help, there wasn't an ongoing role or a focus."

After that first Ubuntu Life mission, "We didn't just want to go and make this a one-time trip," Hadi said. "How can we make this long-term for these kids?"

Hadi and Dr. Jeffrey Kane, a now-retired pediatric neurologist with Pediatrix Specialty Care of Austin (formerly Pediatrix Child Neurology Consultants of Austin), set up the partnership with Ubuntu Life in 2012.

Kane and Hadi knew the medical care had to be led by the people in Kenya and be what they wanted.

The foundation's board governs with the mission, "What the Kenyans need, we do," Hadi said.

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Ubuntu Life Foundation partners with a local pharmacy to order medical supplies. It financially benefits the Kenyans and ensures that the medications are ones that can easily be reordered and administered when the specialists aren't there.

The last day of the clinic is always used to teach local doctors the specialists' techniques. They also teach families, midwives and community health workers about nutrition, managing seizures, maternal care during pregnancy, sickle cell disease, wound and scar care, and CPR.

The Austin doctors have made it sustainable, said Dr. Karen Keough, a neurologist with Pediatrix Specialty Care of Austin, who took her sixth trip to Kenya this summer. "If we disappear, there's still a lot that continues," she said. "It's become a long-term project that all of us feel very passionate about perpetuating."

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Growing clinical care

For the first decade, when the Austinites arrived, they would set up a tent on clinic days or rent a government clinic. They relied on hand sanitizer because there was no running water.

The clinic now has a full-time Kenyan doctor who consults with specialists in Austin using telehealth. The clinic also has a dietitian and a social worker.

Last year, Ubuntu Life Foundation opened its permanent clinic building in its new Children's Wellness Center. They have running water, oxygen machines, a laboratory, pharmacy, a physical therapy space and exam rooms.

In the new space they will be able to expand to 120 kids in its school from 70 now, up to 100 in its therapy program from 50, and up to 1,000 people a month in its clinic, which now serves 250 a month.

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Commitment to care

The people keep the Austin practitioners coming to Kenya. The trip costs each practitioner about $2,000 to $3,000 in air fare. They also must use vacation time and don't have billable hours for the 10 to 12 days each trip takes.

The doctors get energized by being in the field and in a place so grateful for specialty care.

"It renews your commitment to providing medical care," Keough said. "You don't get bogged down in the stress of the job and conversations with insurance companies and documentation."

When she comes to Kenya, it's all about the care of the children.

Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Toshia McKeon, who works at Pediatrix Specialty Care of Austin but runs the epilepsy program for Ubuntu Life Foundation, said, "My soul is definitely happy after going."

Ubuntu Life Foundation Tribe Party

7 p.m. Thursday

Fair Market Austin, 1100 E. Fifth St.

Tickets: ubuntulife.foundation

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin doctors make decadelong commitment to Ubuntu Life in Kenya