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From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
High blood pressure and high blood sugar are two silent killers commonly suffered by both the young and the old today. These health issues have sent many people to untimely graves. Some died of poorly managed cases or outright ignorance.
In Uburu community, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, a widow, Blessing Ngwu, died from a poorly managed case of high blood pressure. Another widow from the community also died of same condition, leaving her children, relatives and her neighbors devastated.
Worried by the growing number of high blood pressure and blood sugar cases in the community, especially among the aged, Tabitha Foundation embarked on a medical mission for widows in the area. Drugs were given to those who were diagnosed with the cases after they were counseled by doctors that attended to them.
Over 150 widows benefited from the medical mission. Rev. Edward Nwaze, a pharmacist and his wife, who organized the free medical outreach, said the death of Blessing Ngwu got them devastated and they resolved that they must organize the medical outreach to save widows from such poorly managed health condition.
“Tabitha Foundation is a non-profit and Christian charity organization. We are committed to care of widows; giving widows a holistic care and that is to say attending to their spiritual, emotional and physical needs as God helps us.
“So, in pursuant of our objective of providing holistic care to our widows, we assembled old widows from the 14 villages in Uburu autonomous community to come and have their health checked.
“We want to ensure that some of these preventable diseases can be nipped in the bud. Silent killers like High Blood Pressure (HBP) can be checked quite early.
“We had an ugly experience about two months ago when one of the widows, Blessing Ngwu, died from poorly managed high blood pressure. She died from stroke. It was devastating to us and we resolved that such thing should not happen to us again.
“Widows are entitled to good health. So, we gathered them to carry out medical screening for the widows. We want all of them checked for blood pressure, blood sugar and then their general health.
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“Over 150 widows benefited from this free medical check-up. We made provision for 150 widows and based on the results of the medical checkup, we will be able to follow up. The fellowship holds once every month. During fellowship days, we will be able to do follow up checks, particularly on those that we have identified to have high blood pressure or high blood sugar.
“We will monitor them when they come for the monthly fellowship to be sure that those parameters are under proper check. We gave drugs to those who doctors identified as having abnormal blood pressure and blood sugar. We will continue to give them drugs to make sure those conditions are controlled,” Nwaze said.
His wife, Prophetess Elsie Nwaze, described the medical mission as a programme God has put in their hearts to take care of the widows.
She said: “Actually, we started this in Lagos but along the line, we decided to take it to communities and now we are starting in Uburu, Ohaozara Local Government Area.
“God has helped us to take care of the widows the way we have physical strength and financial strength. We are doing this because the Bible tells us that the widows are the wives of God.
“This a a vision that God gave me in particular. In Lagos, the holy spirit told me to take care of aged women and I started with five women. I was able to buy wrappers for them just to make them happy because I have a passion for helping people, particularly women.”
One of the beneficiaries of the programme, Roland Favour, thanked the couple for taking care of the widows and prayed God to continue to bless them.
Her words: “I feel happy about this medical mission. This our mummy and our daddy have been taken care of us. I was not feeling fine before but I am getting better because of this medical outreach and we, the widows in this Uburu community, are very happy about it.
“Daddy and mummy have been taken care of us: feeding us, buying wrapper for us and so many other things. All of us are very happy because God has been using them to do wonders for us and our children.
“I am suffering malaria, waist and leg pains. Even, I have a broken leg and I pray that God will use them to heal me by undergoing surgery on my leg.”
Another widow, Christiana Nkemjika, said after being checked, she was told that she had no high blood pressure and blood sugar issues and thanked God for giving her good health. She commended Rev. Nwaze and wife for organizing the programme.
