The Staff of UMC Health and Maternity Center, Kissy

It is through the leadership of Dr. Dennis H. Marke that UMC Health and Maternity Center, Kissy has evolved into the community mainstay that it is today.

Dr. Marke is acutely aware of the great need in his country. “ Sierra Leone has the highest infant mortality in the world. Our poor water supply causes continued diarrhea. Malnutrition is rampant in children. Ignorance, poverty and the war increased HIV, and local drugs are really expensive and often fake.” Many doctors in Africa leave their home countries to seek a better life for themselves in countries such as the UK or Canada, but Dr. Marke, originally from the town of Mutoo, in the upper, more rural provinces of Sierra Leone, feels a responsibility to stay with and care for his people.

Now, as the Health Administrator at Kissy Center, Dr. Marke stresses the need for the holistic care of the patient and believes that prayer is incredibly important in caring for the sick. He is proud of his staff and the noted improvement in services and skills they have developed over the years, which has supported the strong reputation of the hospital. He looks ahead to continuing the expansion of the hospital, staff expertise and services for his patients and the Kissy community: “They rely on our care and it makes us proud to be able to help them.”

Dr. Eugene Muembo always wanted to be a doctor. After watching his mother grapple with illness and caring for her when he was a child, he knew he would grow-up and practice medicine. Dr. Muembo’s career as a general practitioner and practicing surgeon has taken him from his native Congo, where he and his family were forced to flee from civil unrest and war, to Kenya, where he spent four years at Maua Methodist Hospital; and now to UMC Health and Maternity Center, Kissy.

Dr. Muembo started operating in his Native Congo in 1985, and later in Kenya. Most recently, Dr. Muembo has been conducting minor surgeries, including hernia and abscess removals, for hospital patients. He recently had the opportunity to refresh his surgical skills during the visit of Person in Mission Dr. Walter Beasley, from Virginia . Before the completion of the operating rooms, all surgical patients that came to Kissy Center had to be re-directed to the local government hospital in downtown Freetown. Such travel is quite difficult and costly for a severely ill or injured patient.

Dr. Foday Sesay, a native of Freetown, is the newest and youngest doctor at Kissy Hospital. Before coming to the hospital Dr. Sesay worked for a year-and-a-half at a local government hospital in Freetown. He is happy at his new work site and especially appreciates the leadership of Dr. Marke and the organized nature of the hospital.

Janet Miu has delivered more babies than she can remember. A skilled and educated midwife, Ms. Miu was invited by Dr. Marke in 1996 to establish a Maternity Ward at the hospital to focus on maternal health while addressing the high rate of maternal morbidity in Sierra Leone. Today, it is now the busiest department at Kissy Center.

Ms. Miu starts each day by working her way through the ward’s small but overflowing units – prenatal, delivery and the new mother clinics. She knows the name of every mother and checks in on the latest additions to the ward. In a typical day she will deliver upwards of 10 babies, all within the confines of a small room that holds only two examination tables.

Ms. Miu loves children and relishes her job in the maternity ward. “I love my job. We have so many patients here, day and night but no maternal deaths in three years. I am very proud of this.”

Watching her family struggle with medical issues when she was young, Kadiatu “ Kadie” Sesay decided early on that she would dedicate her life to helping others. A missionary family in the US financially supported her dream of attending college, where she earned her nursing degree.

Ms. Sasey first worked in the maternity ward when she started working at Kissy Center. There she noticed weak mothers giving birth to sickly children, all because the mothers were poor, did not have enough food, and did not know how to provide a balanced diet of essential vitamins and proteins to their families. With the support of the hospital administrator, Dr. Dennis H. Marke, Ms. Sasey founded the Kissy Hospital Nutrition Program. She was determined to fight malnutrition and hunger, and aggressively began educating patients and the community about malnutrition. Ms. Sasey then created a protein-rich, lentil-based meal that she could give to her Nutrition Program patients, which would supplement their diet with essential fats and vitamins. Since that time Ms. Sasey has served- and saved the lives of hundre ds of sick children and their families.

Ernest Jusu, Coordinator of the Kissy Center Friends Unit* for HIV/AIDS patients, is passionate about his job. Since taking over the program in 2001, Mr. Jusu and his program assistant, Isata Mansaray, have counseled and supported more than 1,300 people living with HIV/AIDS in the Kissy Community.

The comprehensive Friends Unit program aims to combat the health threat, social stigma, and spread of AIDS. In addition to supporting individual patients, Mr. Jusu spearheads school-based AIDS education programs and community awareness campaigns. He works tirelessly around the clock, seven days a week, to do his part in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Sierra Leone.

*‘Friends’ refers to persons with HIV/AIDS