The health center team at Umpiem Mai work really hard with limited resources – but always with an eye on how they can do things better. So when we asked the team what other changes we could make inside the health center itself, one problem came up right away. “With how narrow the doors to the bathrooms are,” said Wai Htoo, the Director of the Health Center and resident of Umpiem Mai. “Patients with a wheelchair can’t get in.” On top of that, the existing toilets hadn’t been replaced in over ten years. It was time for a change. So the team got to work knocking down the bathroom walls, and purchased new metal doors. Then, they added a coat of paint. Being wheelchair accessible – as well as having an updated, clean space for all patients to use – is incredibly important. It allows even the most vulnerable, sick, and weary patients some dignity, some privacy. “I’m happy to have a change like this,” said Wai. “Because our hospital is treating not only the disease, but the … [Read more...] about Access for All

In the hustle and bustle of daily life at the Umpiem Mai health center, life can get stressful. But Dr. Kyaw has a solution – yoga. He’s a big believer in the power of yoga to heal, to bring people together. He’s seen it firsthand. “In my experience, doing yoga as a team helps people come together,” he said. “It helps everyone relax.” Dr. Kyaw is in charge of the ARC team at the health center, a team that is comprised of camp residents – refugees themselves. And he wanted to bring the power of yoga to his staff, to help them de-stress in the face of the often difficult situations they find themselves in, both at the health center and in the camp. Yoga is free – that’s part of the beauty of it. But, in order to do it right, Dr. Kyaw needed just a few things to get his idea off the ground. We gathered yoga mats, some yoga-appropriate pants, and a speaker to play calming music during class. Dr. Kyaw really emphasized the importance of having yoga pants available – … [Read more...] about Staying Centered

Inside the walls of the hospital at Umpiem Mai, things can get really hectic. But it can be just as busy on the outside. Ambulances come in and out, big trucks drop off supplies, people come by on their scooters and motorbikes. There are so many vehicles, in fact, that sometimes there are accidents in the cramped and bumpy space that's intended for such activity – it’s difficult to navigate. “Sometimes it can take 13 turns to get out of it,” says Wai Htoo, the director of the Health Center. So he had an idea – to create a nice place to park, with smooth cement so that people can navigate their motorbikes and other vehicles with ease. So on Day 161, that’s just what we did. The team was anxious and excited to get to work. And it was a big job – they worked all day and until the early morning hours. But, says Wai, it was worth it. “I stayed up so late because we wanted to make sure we could get it done,” he said. Having a smooth and functioning car park may not seem like … [Read more...] about A Place to Park

Dr. Thaung works at the health center’s in-patient department at Umpiem Mai. He has a consultation room where he sees as many patients as he can each day. But the resources at the health center are limited – Dr. Thaung’s office was missing something essential. Electiricty. “There’s no power in there,” said Dr. Thaung. “It makes it difficult to get work done.” Since there’s no way to charge his computer in his current consultation room, Dr. Thaung either has to handwrite his medical notes or see patients for as long as the battery on his computer lasts. As a result, he can’t get to as many patients as he’d like. So on Day 160, we’re bringing power to Dr. Thaung. It didn’t take long, and soon the consultation room was abuzz with electricity. The simple act of connecting his office to a power system will make a huge difference to the way Dr. Thaung works – but it could be life-saving too. Dr. Thaung was excited. “If I can work longer on my computer,” he said. “I can stay … [Read more...] about It’s Electric

The in-patient department at Umpiem Mai sits on a slope. And when it rains, the earth underneath slowly erodes away – just a little further each rainy season. There’s a roof overhead – meant to protect this from happening – but the roof is old. The poles holding it up are rotting away, the corrugated tin roof has holes. “The roof is very old,” said Wai Htoo, the Director of the Health Center. “More than 10 years.” Having a sturdy roof to keep the rain away is important for erosion of the foundation underneath. But it’s also important because when there’s laundry to be done, the team needs a spacious area to leave out clothes to dry. We saw an opportunity to solve many problems by solving one – getting a new roof. The old, rotting roof and poles pulled were pulled down, and the new was put up. And Wai Htoo couldn’t be happier. “There were so many holes,” he said. “This is great for people’s clothes to dry, and to keep this building safe.” “I think this will … [Read more...] about Shelter from the Storm

At the Umpiem Mai health center, there’s a space dedicated to folks who need some extra time to heal. Sometimes, throughout the day, these patients may need to go to the restroom, the doctor’s office for checkups, or just simply to walk around. But – many of them have nothing to help them walk. As we visited the ARC team and the patients around the hospital, we saw a lot of people having a hard time getting around. “Sometimes, especially the elderly folks, they have no energy,” she said. “Sometimes they’re really weak, they can’t walk, they can only hold on to a shoulder as they go. They use bamboo sticks, but it’s not enough – they can fall down at any time.” There are a lot of difficult things at a hospital like this primary health center – like diagnosing and treating tuberculosis and malaria. But getting up and down to go to the restroom shouldn’t be one of them. So that’s why, on Day 158, we decided to give these patients something to lean on. We purchased walkers and … [Read more...] about Somebody to Lean On

Yesterday, the Primary Health Center at Umpiem Mai got a facelift – a fresh coat of bright white paint. The center is looking fresh, clean, and more professional than ever. So the team wanted to do more. “Patients should be able to see beauty when they come here,” said Ajjima, our leader in Changemaking at Umpiem Mai. “This hospital shouldn’t just be a place of emergency, but a place of healing that happens in the heart as much as it happens in the body.” We couldn’t agree more. So on Day 157, we’re beautifying the health center with some greenery. At first, Ajjima wanted to plant some flowering plants in only a few spots, where she thought they could use it most. But because of these additional resources, she was able to plant flowers throughout the entire hospital. Now there are plants in the welcome area, in the walkways, by the latrines – everywhere. And, she picked out hanging plants to place over the parking lot and inside the space itself. Now everyone who comes … [Read more...] about Going Green

Lots of important things happen on the inside of the Primary Health Center at Umpiem Mai – it serves as the health hub for the camp, a trusted source of treatment and healing. But the outside was a different story. “The Health Center hasn’t been painted in years,” said our friend Ajjima, ARC teammate who works hard to make improvements at the camp. “We could really use a new coat of paint.” The team at Umpiem Mai was inspired by what the Changemakers 365 crew had done in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda – how a simple coat of paint can mean at fresh outlook for patients, nurses, and camp residents alike. So with paint brushes and paint buckets in hand, they decided to do the same of the Health Center in their neck of the woods. As the walls were cleaned and fresh paint slowly added, it became clear to the community that real change was happening. Originally, the team had talked about just painting the front – but soon everyone started getting excited. Now, they … [Read more...] about From the Inside, Out

The Primary Health Center at Umpiem Mai provides incredible services. They help refugees at the camp get access to important care to keep their families healthy – treatments for devastating diseases like malaria. It’s a health hub for the thousands of people who live there. But, explained our friend Ajjima, actually getting to the Primary Health Center – which sits atop a hill - is one of the biggest problems. She walked us up the steep path toward the center, pointing to the sides of the path that drop off dramatically on either side. “This is so dangerous!” she said. “When the raining is coming down, you can just slip and slide right off.” Imagine someone who’s sick, injured, in pain, or elderly. For those folks, coming back and forth from the hospital can be an especially dangerous task – there’s nothing but the ground to guide their way. “I’d really like to build some hand rails,” said Ajjima. So on Day 155, we did. We hired some carpenters from the community to … [Read more...] about Steady as We Go

One of the things that makes Umpiem Mai unique is our team – the vast majority of ARC nurses, lab techs, community service providers, and counselors are refugees themselves. They’re the rock star residents of Umpiem Mai. And over the past several decades, we’ve worked with the refugee community there to build up their skills as professionals, gearing them up for their eventual transition back home. Ajjima, who we first met on Day 152, is their champion. She believes in the power of people to turn their lives around, in the idea that sometimes, a little boost to lift someone up can change their lives forever. And at the Primary Health Center in Umpiem Mai, her talents in training the staff there shine through. On Day 154, Ajjima brought the lab staff at the health center together to kick off a one month training on lab management and malaria and tuberculosis. But there was one problem – she didn’t have a budget for notebooks and a flipchart – the kinds of materials that help … [Read more...] about Knowledge is Power