MHOP becomes mobile! Meet "Jesse" our health taxi.
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Feb 8, 2009 Posted by Christopher Moynihan
Helen Shariatmadari left London five weeks ago in a shiny-grey sticker-covered 1991 Volvo with about 105,000 miles named "Jesse". Despite the fact that Jesse is almost as old as some of our interns, the car runs marvelously and made it all the way to Bamako, where Helen and David kindly donated her to MHOP to be our first "health taxi". Jesse cannot be a regular ambulance because of her size and lack of room for equipment. That said, our clinic is located in a place where taxis do not go; We will use her to transport non-emergent patients to the regional health center to get healthcare that we cannot provide at our clinic such as care for AIDS, diabetes, and pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia.
Additionally, MHOP recently purchased a moto for our director to use for work-related travel and visiting collaborators. Motos are a marvelous form of travel in Mali because they permit you to escape the terrible traffic and get through roadways that are otherwise not passable. Modibo Niang's mother named the moto "Here Damine" (Jumpstart Happiness).