Fontem, Dschang: LECUDO-USA, Life Bridge lnt'l offer free health campaign to IDPs.

Beneficiaries included IDPs from Lebang in Fontem Subdivision, Lebialem Division of the South West Region.

It took place in Nveh, Fontem from March 15-17 and in Dschang, Menoua Division of the West Region, from March 20-22, 2023.

According to the organisers, the medical campaign cost the partners not less than 80,000 dollars in all expenses. 

Through the medical campaign, the organisers provided free treatment to more than 2,500 people and completed about 27 surgical procedures. A 90-day follow-up was done by Healing Beyond the Horizon for patients with conditions requiring post-campaign follow-up.

Atem Terence, Chief Executive Officer, CEO of LECUDO-USA, said: “This medical mission is the second that we have carried out since I became CEO in 2020. Once I became the CEO, I set a vision for the organisation and I had four pillars to be able to help our people, which were health, education, cultural preservation and community development, which includes roads and all of that”.

LECUDO-USA and its partners have promised to continue supporting their population by providing free healthcare services. 

“The beauty of our programme is that, after three days, we can help patients and use a criterion that we’ve set to then move patients who have the most chronic conditions into a 90-day programme which we call the 90 days chronic disease management and monitoring programme,” Atem Terrence added.

On his part, Richard Nkweta, Founder/CEO of Life Bridge International, said: “We believe in partnership, that you cannot do it all alone. When we formed that partnership, it is so that we can better deliver those services. The leadership of LECUDO-USA, is dynamic and I think with their leadership skills, it allowed us to be able to work with them and provide these services”. 

The medical campaign by LECUDO-USA and its partners, has been attracting accolades from beneficiaries and others. 

Nkemkafu Miranda Patience, a mother, whose son was operated upon, recounted: “I don’t know how to start expressing myself seeing my seven-year-old boy operated for hyena, for free, by LECUDO-USA. It is an exceptional gesture. I am so delighted that our sons and daughters have brightened up our faces with large smiles”. 

Another beneficiary, Nkemnyi Helen Nkafu, said: “If I don’t say that I am grateful for this campaign, then I am an ingrate. I thank LECUDO-USA and Life Bridge lnternational for thinking about us this far. Just after receiving my health solutions, I feel light and strong, which was not the case when I came here. I thank our children for coming, because, I especially, have benefited a lot from this good quality health campaign and I will never forget this gesture”.

After the medical consultations, some of the patients who had complicated or more serious conditions were referred for a 90-day follow-up programme, while some surgical cases were referred to the Kumba Regional Hospital for their procedures.

Meanwhile, the partners; LECUDO-USA, Life Bridge International, Healing Beyond the Horizon, Fiangep Polyclinic and Mary Health of Africa Hospital are working on a much better partnership in order to organise more comprehensive medical missions in the future. They are hoping to get funding opportunities to help with these projects.

It should be noted that LECUDO-USA is a nongovernmental, non-profit organisation representing the interest of the Lebang people of Lebialem. The organisation was founded in 1982 for the development and improvement of the Lebang people.

The American affiliate, created in 1994, is a 501c, non-profit organisation. LECUDO-USA, with the mother branch in Cameroon, has chapters and representation in twenty-one countries, including the USA, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, Canada, The Republic of South Africa, Nigeria, and other nations. The organisation is dedicated to promoting the social, cultural, educational, and developmental wellbeing of the Lebang dynasty in the Diaspora.

On its part Life Bridge International was founded in 2019 with the objective of helping to provide: education and training of the community on common life-saving interventions such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid; evidence-based education and training; empowerment of the community with the resources, knowledge and capacity to provide life-saving evidence-based practices to save lives and improve quality of health in the community. It also has as objectives assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental health illnesses and stigmatisation of mental health illnesses through education and sensitisation.