Bringing Health Into the Digital Age

Our 2025 Fundraising Campaign

Dear Friends and Supporters of SAMC Bangladesh,

We just came back from visiting the SAMC clinic in November 2024 and are very happy to report that Suraiya Ataur Medical Center continues to provide quality care to a growing number of women and children in Chondipur and surrounding villages. In November we provided services to over 927 patients! Here are some highlights from our visit.

Electronic Medical Records:

We worked with our tech partner Thinkcrypt (https://thinkcrypt.io) on developing the EMR system from June 2024. They completed both the test phase of EMR and Staff training in October this year. All hardware and software have been installed and testing at the local level is ongoing. We are very proud to report the start of live EMR at the clinic starting January 1, 2025! This huge initiative would not have been possible without you! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts on behalf of our patients. This new system will help us better understand our patient health demographics and provide us with accurate raw data to continually improve our services.

Patient information Services:

Our first patient information and discussion series began October 2024. This is a monthly hour-long session where patients and their families hear directly from our female medical doctor and participate in Q&A time. The sessions were chosen by our medical provider based on the most frequent questions her patients ask. In October, our session was on Ante Natal Care. November was Post Natal Care. December was Reproductive Health. Topics coming up include general health, personal hygiene, blood pressure, diabetes, puberty, menstruation, child health and vaccination.

Lab Services:

Pregnancy test and Hemoglobin level tests will be offered to our patients. Both these tests are very important for reproductive health care. We are planning to start this by Jan 1st, 2025.

Eye Care Services:

This basic service is for our patients to be checked by an eye specialist. The Eye doctor will triage the patient according to the medical eye need. We will carry basic eye drops and ointment. Eye infection and other eye problems will be treated at the SAMC clinic. Patients who require secondary or tertiary care will be guided to nearby hospitals to obtain that. Recent political upheaval has delayed our start date from Q3 2024 to Q1 in 2025.

Scholarships:

At present we have a nursing student finishing her second year and a needs-based student starting her Bachelors. They continue to do well in their studies and are very grateful for the scholarship. For 2025, we hope to finalize five additional scholarships. Our scholarship process is usually completed with an in-person interview after the student has started her nursing or undergrad studies. Those awarded will have the financial set up directly between us and the institution they go to which typically occurs by Q2. Nursing scholarship for one student every year is $1800. Nursing diploma is 3 years and Nursing graduation is 4 years.

Collaboration with Rotary:

With climate change, Bangladesh has been severely affected. Temperatures this winter reached a historic low – it dropped from a typical range of 78-80°F down to a low of 40°F. This is dangerous for most of the population in Bangladesh – with those in rural areas most at risk of hypothermia. Most of our patients and their families live in houses with mud floors and no heating. This year again we distributed 100 warm blankets with Rotary for our patients and their families. Fifty blankets cost $200, so if you’d like to sponsor this project to provide warmth to families in the villages, please consider donating.

Sewing training:

SAMC is providing sewing training in 3 months sessions at an affordable cost. We currently have 6 students who are learning the basics of sewing and working on patterns. This training was started because of our younger patients ask. 3 of the students are from the village school.

What Patients want:

As with every year we asked our patients what they most look forward to us improving/adding to the current services. A very common ask was for a birthing center. Yes, a nursing school would be good but what they really need is an accessible, affordable and trustworthy birthing center with female providers. Please, said a patient, “empower us to take care of our own pregnancy and its outcome”! SAMC is guided by what our patients need the most. We are now working on a project plan and hope to share an outline at our upcoming gala!

Coming up for SAMC friends and supporters:

online campaign for our 2025 plans including birthing center (clinic expansion), scholarships, eye care development and basic computer training.

Saturday February 1, 2024- In person gala at Unity of Lynnwood, 16727 Alderwood Mall Pkwy, WA 98037 from 6pm-8:30pm. Tickets are available at Brown paper ticket link: https://bpt.me/6509719

ON BEHALF of the village women, children and their families, thank you so very much for your love and support! Your generous donation makes this a reality!

Dr. Aysu Rahman

Executive Director and Founder – Suraiya Ataur Medical Clinic (SAMC)