Health Assistance Group

Helping Families Help Their Own!

 

 

Beginnings

The Health Assistance Group (HAG) was founded in 1975 by a group of expatriate women living in the city of Bandung in West Java, Indonesia. From there, a new branch has opened, as a unit of SNT, in the smaller city of Tasikmalaya, about 2 hours southeast of Bandung.

 

 

 

A Need

Unfortunately, Indonesia has been one of the countries hardest hit in the economic crisis which recently swept Southeast Asia. People who were once capable of meeting most of their family's basic needs before the crisis now live in poverty. The cost of medicine has always been high for the poor in Indonesia but, since the crisis, prices are even more out of reach for many families in Tasikmalaya.

HAG assists these families with the costs of medicines, diagnostic tests, surgery, long-term treatment programmes, medical equipment, and other health related problems. By working with a select group of caring and trusted doctors and pharmacies we are able to assure that patients receive quality care and medicines at a reasonable cost.

 

 

Health Care Training

Prevention is, of course, better than cure.  With this in mind, and with the arrival of Christie, our nurse, in June 2001, we have begun to try and address some of the causes of disease amongst the people with whom we are working.

Christie brings with her extensive experience in health care delivery in both the Philippines and in the United States — augmented by over 2 years of previous involvement on the Indonesian island of Lombok.  She now focuses the bulk of her attention upon primary health care training: whether this is at-large in the Tasikmalaya region, conducting classes with groups gathered for training as part of our micro-credit programme, TIASA, or in the village where our agricultural and appropriate technology unit, TEPAT, is operating. 

With her knowledge of health delivery systems, and her own personal understanding of Asian contexts, Christie brings to us a valuable perspective in our efforts to improve health care in the Tasikmalaya region.

 

 Left: Christie (far right) following a training session, in the village where TEPAT, our agricultural development unit is working

 

 

Case Studies

Here are the stories of some of the patients we have helped.

 

Case Study – Lina Marlina

In August 1996, nine-year-old, Lina Marlina noticed a small boil on her lower leg which seemed to be slowly getting worse. A doctor told her that it was an infection and she needed to go to a bone specialist for surgery. Lina’s mother used to work as a servant for a rich Chinese family and she went to them to ask for money. They gave her around US$85; however, this was only about half of what they needed.  Even when Lina’s father sold his trishaw (his only source of income), the family still didn’t have enough for the surgery. Four years passed and Lina’s sore became even worse, causing her leg to become deformed to the point where she could no longer walk. The only treatment she received was antibiotics — that is, when her parents could afford them. The family knew that Lina was slowly dying, but they were too poor to pay for additional medical care. A former recipient of aid from HAG told Lina’s parents that help might be available. After following HAG's procedures for receiving aid, Lina was able to see a qualified doctor who diagnosed tuberculosis of the bone. Lina quickly went through a successful surgery and is now recovering beautifully. A nurse visits regularly to make sure the wound is kept clean while it heals. Lina’s parents are overjoyed, as are her friends in the surrounding community.

 

 

Case Study – Maesari

Fifteen year old, Maesari, began to experience seizures and by the time her parents admitted her into the hospital, she was already unconscious.  Her father=s income as a cycle rickshaw driver was barely enough to  feed his large family twice a day.  Maesari=s family spent all their meager savings and borrowed what they could from relatives. 

Unfortunately, it was still not enough to continue receiving medical help and finally Maesari had to be taken out of the hospital.  She had been diagnosed as having TB (tuberculosis) in her lungs but the disease had traveled to her brain causing her to develop meningitis.  When she left the hospital she started showing signs of peritonitis (due to the TB travelling to her intestines). 

 This particular case was referred to HAG by a loan consultant who works for our foundation=s micro credit office.  By the time Christie, our community health worker, visited Maesari=s home, the family had given up all hope.  When Christie offered to take Maesari back to the hospital, her mother refused stating that the hospital did not help and her daughter would only die if she returned.  

Instead Christie escorted Maesari and her mother to a specialist in town.  With Christie=s help in explaining to the doctor, and with financial assistance from HAG for medications, Maesari=s life was saved.  We also discovered that two of Maesari=s sisters have TB as well and they are now being treated.  Maesari is now completely healthy and is all smiles.  

Right: Maesari (left) with her sister and mother.

 

 

Dying from Ignorance

Tuberculosis is extremely infectious and often quietly spreads throughout entire families — even throughout whole communities — most adversely affecting the very young or the old, those least able to fight it. This disease, however, is very easy to treat with a course of antibiotics. These medicines must be taken for 6 months before an X-ray is usually taken to confirm that the patient is clear. However, symptoms can clear up very quickly and patients will often cease taking the medicine if they think they no longer need it, only to have the disease return. One factor is the cost of the medicine.  The Indonesian government recognises the importance of treating TB, and so sufferers can receive treatment from local health clinics extremely cheaply. Unfortunately, many local people do not know this, and if a doctor presents them with an impossible bill, they often will simply do without.

We have already produced leaflets about ‘Dehydration’ and ‘Diarrhoea’, and have just finished the preparation of another about TB. In it we describe the symptoms of TB so as to help sufferers identify the disease early, and explain how and where they can get low cost treatment.

Above: An illustration from our health information  leaflet, about Tuberculosis.

 

 

EIDIOR - Emerging Infectious Diseases of the Indian Ocean Rim

A representative of SNT was a guest participant and speaker at a workshop held in Perth, which had as its aim the development of an international primary and community health care network focused on vulnerable communities located in Indian Ocean rim countries.  We are extremely optimistic about the opportunities this network could present, and we hope to be able to profit from the experience of a number of doctors, all with a particular concern for health problems in our context.  See http://www.e-tiology.com for an explanation of this nascent network. 

 

For more information, contact: hag-snt@mrds.org