Health Care Projects
Rural Community Clinic and Outreach
The critical need for improvements in the availability of rural (primary) health care in impoverished areas of the world have been well documented (click here and search “rural health care” for information.) The Blue Valley Foundation continues its fund raising efforts to maintain the newly opened traditional Community Health Care Clinic in Golog State. The quality and accessibility of healthcare at the village level, where about 80% of Tibetans still live, is much poorer than at the municipal level.
The high cost of healthcare, even where facilities do exist, is a principal limiting factor for access – particularly in rural areas. In these heavily agrarian areas, as many as 50 percent of farmers who fall ill do not seek healthcare for economic reasons, and half of all children who die in rural areas have not received medical treatment. Access and distance to hospitals is another major limiting factor for rural Tibetans seeking care. Township health centers and county clinics are located at considerable distance from the villages causing many families to not seek health care or wait until an illness is critical before seeking help. The establishment of an accessible village health clinic eases the need to resettle nomads and disrupt their lives. The Qinghai Gesar Foundation aims to bring medical services to them instead. As nomads choose to continue pursuing lifestyle patterns which have been integral to their way of life for millennia, we make every effort to support that choice. With proper planning and effort, medical care and education can be brought to nomads even in the most remote regions.
Most of the Tibetan medicines are used at the clinic are locally sourced and easily attainable. The clinic will eventually have up to 35 beds available for in-patient care. Our clinic will provide cost effective, linguistically and culturally appropriate health care services to the local people who have had only limited access to medical care in their areas.
The health of Tibetans in rural Qinghai province is among the most critical in all of China. The clinic will focus on the 5 major causes of death in rural areas, which are infant and maternal mortality (death during childbirth), gastro-intestinal disease, respiratory illness, and infectious diseases.
A salient need for rural Tibetans is community health education and outreach. With special emphasis on women and children we can make a difference in the lives of people who lack basic access to preventative medicine, such as vitamins and immunizations. By providing knowledge of the role that good personal hygiene and proper nutrition play in limiting disease we can help stem the tide of preventable illness. Such outreach will be a key feature of the hospital. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Comprehensive services include healthcare outreach to the elderly and families in outlying areas, as well as provision of vital services to the newly established Multi-Disciplinary Vocational School.
A great advantage of working with the Qinghai Gesar Foundation is its founding Director, Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche. His decades of commitment, existing ties to the community and role as unofficial diplomat to the State and Prefectural government put him in a unique position to successfully oversee management of the clinic.
Rural Community Health Care Hospital: Newly Opened
The Blue Valley Foundation continues its fund raising efforts to help maintain the first traditional Community Health Care Hospital in Gande County. We continue our partnership with the Qinghai Gesar Foundation, which provides medicines and care for underserved Tibetan people, to help support the new Community Care Clinic opened in 2016 on 7 acres of donated land. The Rural Community Health Care Clinic and Outreach provides medicines to thousands people each year and serves patients with a combination of traditional Tibetan Medicines and allopathic (Western) medicines and treatment. Traditional medicine will be our emphasis. Our initial focus will be on women, children, and dental care.