Meet the Patients of Nyadire United Methodist Hospital

Beatrice Tome

Posted: March 21, 2005

Small map of Africa showing location of Zimbabwe and UM Cross and Flame. Deep within the rural landscape of Zimbabwe, Nyadire United Methodist Hospital strives to deliver quality health care services to the community. The spirit and dedication of the staff is inspiring, however, the hospital's real impact is best conveyed through stories of the patients who are so well served.

Beatrice Tome spends her days sitting on the sandy dirt earth under a stout baobab tree with her sister-in-law, occasionally jumping up to shoo away the family's two cows when they get too close to the vegetable garden. The garden lies just outside Beatrice's small round thatched-roof home, where she resides with her brother and sister-in-law.

Food is in short supply in her small community, a village close to the Nyadire United Methodist Mission Station. A recipient of corn meal from the United Nations World Food Program before President Robert Mugabe ordered it closed in September 2004, Beatrice and her family now have only the farm's vegetables to rely upon for sustenance.

Beatrice suffered from her first bout with tuberculosis (TB), a respiratory disease characterized by fatigue, fever, night sweats and weight loss in 2000. Though she was isolated and thoroughly treated at Nyadire United Methodist Hospital and successfully recovered, Beatrice experienced a TB relapse in February 2004. In addition to heavy coughing and wheezing, she felt the familiar soreness in her chest and a weakening of her knees. Wanting to return to the nurses and medical staff who took care of her in 2000, Beatrice, not even having the strength to walk, was taken again to the hospital. Once admitted, Beatrice stayed for two months under the continual surveillance of the nurses.

Though Beatrice's health has improved since February 2004, she is still battling TB. Her legs are very achy and she must travel to the hospital once a week for medication. A long-time patient at Nyadire (both of her children were born there), Beatrice appreciates the skilled and loving care she receives from the staff and is confident that they will help her beat the disease once and for all.

Photos: Beatrice Tome (left) sits outside her rural Nyadire farm. Nyadire United Methodist Hospital doctors are working very hard to treat her recurring tuberculosis. Photo by Amy Squires 2004.

Read another inspiring story about Nyadire United Methodist Hospital.