Many residents in Gituamba delay basic health screening simply because the nearest facility offering free blood pressure or blood sugar checks requires a half-day round trip and a queue that can stretch past closing time. On a Saturday in mid-March, we brought that screening directly into the neighborhood instead.
Working with nursing staff from Kasarani Health Centre and a visiting optometry outreach team, we set up four screening stations at the community hall: blood pressure, random blood sugar, basic eye examination, and a referral desk staffed by a volunteer social worker who helped attendees understand next steps for any flagged condition.
Over the course of the day, 312 residents were screened. Seventeen were identified with blood pressure readings requiring follow-up care and referred to the health centre with a simple referral slip our volunteers helped them complete, and 41 residents received free reading glasses donated by the visiting optometry team.
“I had been having headaches for months and assumed it was just stress from work. The volunteers at the camp found my blood pressure was dangerously high and walked me straight to the referral desk. I am now on medication and feeling much better.”
— Camp attendee, age 54
This is our second health camp since the program pillar was formalized in 2024, and demand consistently outstrips what a single volunteer-run day can screen. We are exploring a partnership with a second facility to run camps twice yearly instead of once.
If you are a health professional willing to volunteer a Saturday, or an organization that can donate basic screening supplies, we would love to hear from you via our Contact page.
Your donation or volunteer hour goes directly into work like the story above — not overhead.
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