Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre
Our first day in Tanzania started with breakfast, and then we drove a very short drive from our hotel to the Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre. This hospital is supported by many ELCA churches, and its current status as one of the finest hospitals in all of Tanzania is a result of many people, but the leaders in this effort are Drs. Mark and Linda Jacobson. Pastor Glenn had met them several times, and his congregation in Austin supported the ALMC financially. We hoped to get a chance to meet them, but we found out they were out with other ELCA mission teams at the time. Nevertheless, we were given a grand tour by a man named Simba, who is responsible for the facility. We saw the IT area, the Ob/Gyn area, the imaging labs, one of the many laboratories, the ICU, the Emergency department, and probably more that I've forgotten. The single most impactful area we saw was the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We learned that the leading cause of death for ch...