Malawi Visit Update

Hello friends,

So, here's a little update on our Malawi visit.

Tuesday, we saw our good friend Marjorie Ngaunje, and had dinner at her house in lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, our home base in Malawi. She told us about the recent elections, and her disappointment that they seemed to have been rigged. According to Marjorie, and another friend of ours, this election had many folks convinced that things were rigged. Marjorie was a member of Parliament up for reelection, and while she had the support of her hometown region (which should have meant she would be reelected), and unknown outsider came in and supposedly "won" the election. Marjorie is going to fight it in court, but doesn't think she will get anywhere with it. She is doing it as a matter of principle.

Wednesday, we went to a government sponsored hospital in Lilongwe. Our 15 year old daughter Giovanna was with us, prepared to take pictures if the opportunity presented itself. The system in the hospitals here is radically different in many ways from ours. One of the most noticeable ways is that here in Malawi, when you check into a hospital, you must have a "guardian" check in with you. The guardian will be responsible for many of the things we expect our hospitals to provide for us: she will wash you, change your bedsheets, clothes, bandages, cook for and feed you, and alert the nurse if you have a medical need. Since one nurse may be responsible for 50 to 100 patients, the guardians take over the basic caregiving needs for the patient. The guardians have their own area where they live, do laundry, cook, etc. Laundry is done by hand, and hung out to dry in the air. Food is cooked over wood fires, with the wood being carted in on the women's backs or heads. When our friend took us to see the guardians quarters, Giovanna was hesitant to take any pictures, afraid to bother the women. Speaking from experience, I assured her they would love it, especially once she showed them the photos she was taking. This proved to be true, with the women and children laughing and posing for pictures as we went through their quarters.

While the guardian system is so unlike ours, it actually has some benefits when you think about it. The patient has a friend or family member readily available at all times, and they don't have to feel like they are alone in facing a difficult and stressful situation. They get to eat food that is familiar to them, and have a caring face wash and tend them. So many people are uneasy in the hospital, and it is the same way in Malawi, if not more so. The guardians make a difficult situation a bit easier to handle for the patients.

That's all for now! Hope you enjoy the photos that Giovanna took.
Mary

In Africa - Almost :)

Hi Everyone!

We are sitting in a cafe at the Sheraton Hotel in Frankfurt Germany at the Airport. Sunday was the travel day from hell ;0

We arrived at the airport in SF on Sunday and all seemed well. We were about to board and the plane was delayed and finally canceled. So we spent the next 6- yes 6- hours trying to get rebooked at the airport. 350 crabby people from the canceled flight and many not very capable airline employees- Too much to recount- I did make the announcement to all around that "if you like this then by all means vote for a government-run health system."

So, we are going to lose a day in Malawi, but it may have a silver lining- At the hotel Sunday night in SF I heard from my friend Philippe who runs Madonna's Foundation in Malawi. He will fortunately be there during our stay and we will meet for a talk about how our medical education efforts might help the girls in the school that Madonna has started there.

We leave here in about 7 hours, fly overnight, and arrive in Johannesbug, South Africa tomorrow AM at 830. Then a 1 pm flight on Air Malawi (safety record ?) and then to our Hotel in Llongwe the capital city. So we will arrive in Malawi Wednesday afternoon, having left Napa Sunday afternoon ;)

More when we get to Malawi, hopefully with pictures or a video.

Napa Valley"s Rocca Family Vineyards Partnering With Mayo Clinic For African Health Care

Grigsby-Rocca Foundation to Travel to Malawi, Africa November 9th–22nd, 2008 to Offer Palliative Health Care and Community Development

(November 10, 2008)—Dr. Eric Grigsby and Dr. Mary Rocca, husband and wife founders of the Grigsby-Rocca Foundation and proprietors of Napa Valley’s Rocca Family Vineyards, have partnered with the Mayo Clinic on their Malawi Health Initiative. The Mayo Alumni Association has adopted the Malawi initiative as their primary effort of their “Serve the Underserved” program. In addition, the Mayo Clinic Department of Medicine Program in Underserved Global Health is partnering with the Grigsby-Rocca Foundation to explore opportunities for education, advocacy and patient care in Malawi with an emphasis on palliative care.

The Grigsby-Rocca Foundation was founded in 1997 to support health care and community development in underserved communities around the world by promoting education, advocacy, increasing the availability of pain medications, and palliative, end-of-life care for AIDS patients. Much of the foundation’s work thus far has focused on The Republic of Malawi, a small, land-locked country of about 12 million people in Southeast Africa. The foundation’s next scheduled trip to Malawi is in November of 2008.

“Mary and I moved to Napa with the dream of owning vineyard land, but we never lost sight of the larger international community,” comments Dr. Eric Grigsby. “Malawi is in dire need of our help. They are a very poor country and nearly 20% of the population is affected by the AIDS virus. Mary and I consider ourselves fortunate to have some medical expertise and we’ve made it our mission to establish the necessary medical infrastructure around the world to offer palliative, end-of-life care,” he adds.

Currently ranked the number two hospital in the nation by US News & World Report, the Rochester, MN based Mayo Clinic’s mission is to provide the best care to every patient every day through integrated clinical practice, education and research. Dr. Eric Grigsby was trained in Anesthesiology and Pain Management at the Mayo Clinic. After five years of post-graduate training, he was invited to join the medical staff and teach at the Mayo Medical School until moving to California in 1989. The Mayo Clinic’s partnership with the Grigsby-Rocca Foundation marks Mayo’s first significant outreach to African health care.

About Rocca Family Vineyards
Vintners Mary Rocca and Eric Grigsby are crafting some of the most elegant, complex and intensely-flavored Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah in the Napa Valley today. Rocca’s wines have consistently finished ahead of more established and expensive Napa Valley wines in high-profile tastings, and they are poised to enter the ranks of Napa’s most coveted cult names.

The true heart and soul of Rocca Family Vineyards lies in Mary Rocca and Eric Grigsby’s passion for land, community and family. They are a dynamic couple who have applied their business experience towards the pursuit of excellence in winemaking. Before becoming a vintner in 1999, Mary ran her own dental practice, while Eric is a Pain Management Specialist based in Napa. Mary is also the proprietor of the Palace Market, a small grocery store in Point Reyes, and together with Eric, runs the Grigsby-Rocca Foundation, which promotes health care and community development in underserved communities around the world.

About the Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy of "the needs of the patient come first." More than 3,300 physicians, scientists and researchers and 46,000 allied health staff work at Mayo Clinic, which has sites in Rochester, Minn., Jacksonville, Fla., and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, the three locations treat more than half a million people each year.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT JARVIS COMMUNICATIONS AT 310.313.6374

Grigsby-Rocca 2008 Malawi Dates: November 9th to November 22nd