Research Center for Analytic Diagnosis and Imaging Trends (RECEADIT)

RECEADIT's main mission is to serve humanity. RECEADIT is a non-profit, non-governmental, apolitical Common Initiative Group (CIG/NGO), whose main mission is to serve humanity. RECEADIT's humanitarian efforts are directed primarily toward: 1) research for community health care; and 2) focused medical training. However, in order to raise necessary funds to support its activities, its efforts have also expanded into information technology, eco-tourism and transportation. RECEADIT is located in Belo-Kom, a rural community, with a total population of 300,523 inhabitants, in the Belo Sub-Division, within Boyo Division in the North-West Region of the Republic of Cameroon in West Africa. It serves the population of the Belo, Njinikom and Fundong Valleys and surrounding areas. RECEADIT is the product of a tragic personal experience, my own personal experience. I strongly believe it is important to share this tragic personal experience with you in order to: 1) establish RECEADIT's credibility, legitimacy, and genuine humility; and 2) provide you with a better perspective on RECEADIT's origin, mission, accomplishments, struggles, limitations, challenges, and vision for the future. I am a Cameroonian, born to Cameroonian parents, Ngwainmbi Ekui and Ndeh Abela, at Aboh village, Belo-Kom. My late parents, simple and honest farmers, struggled a great deal financially, as many do in this village, to put me through primary school and then secondary school, at the Cameroon Protestant College (CPC) Bali, Cameroon-West Africa. After graduating from CPC in 1974, I struggled on my own (without attending high school), while teaching at the primary school level, and then obtained my General Certificate of Education (GCE) advanced levels. I then went on to the University of Yaounde, Cameroon-West Africa, in 1976 and graduated in 1980. I taught English at various High Schools and then saved enough money to pursue further studies in the United States in 1986 at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where I graduated in 1992, with a Ph. D in Sociology/International Studies and Rural Community Development. On one of my trips back home, while on my way to visit my father and family, I met a group of young men carrying my very sick father on an Indian bambu stretcher down a hilly road, trying to get him to the Mbingo Baptist Hospital, about 15 miles away. I accompanied them and because of movement difficulties imposed by the bad, hilly road, he died before we arrived at the hospital. Upon deep reflection, I recalled many similar experiences of fellow villagers prior to this of my father. I felt very sad and depressed about the situation and then I started dreaming and imaging what I could do in future, in this small village within the Belo valley, to ensure that another father, mother, sister, brother, uncle, in short any fellow village person, Cameroonian, or human being would no longer have an experience similar to that of my father. RECEADIT is the product of that dream and imagination. Inspired by this dream, RECEADIT is here today and it is housed in a four storey structure, built and modestly equipped with used medical equipment entirely from my nineteen years of painful, personal financial struggles and savings. Its Community Health Care unit is equipped with the following: Two X-ray machines; two ultrasound machines; and a variety of laboratory equipment. Its Computer and Information Technology unit has twenty computers and an internet service. To ensure full community participation and empowerment of the entire community, the whole structure and its operations were transformed into a Community Common Initiative Group (CIG/NGO) in 2007. In order to strengthen RECEADIT's research-driven medical practice, we forged an important partnership with the Phytobiotechnology Research Foundation (PRF), operated by Dr. Kenneth A. Yongabi. Dr. Kenneth A. Yongabi, the chief medical officer at RECEADIT, is a researcher and physician with a strong naturopathic approach to medical practice, extensive research experience, a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and a board certified member of the American Naturopathic Medical Association. Based on our experiences with the Community Health Care Component of RECEADIT since 2006, experiences which consist of major challenges presented by the lack of Community Health Workers, we decided to open a medical training school, the School of Health, Biomedical and Computer Sciences (SHBCS) in 2011. SHBCS has the following Departments/Programs: 1) Laboratory Technician Program; 2) Nursing and Midwifery Program; 3) Pharmacy Program; 4) Radiology/Ultrasound (Medical Imaging) Program; and 5) Computer Science Program. The school started with a total of twenty-eight (28) students. The total student enrollment for 2012-2013 academic year is eighty-six (86) students. The first batch of twelve (12) students will graduate on December 20, 2012, with nursing certificates. We are very excited about this number of graduates and we hope they will certainly assist in making our Community Health Care Unit more successful. Associated with SHBCS, is the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Intensive Evening Classes. These classes are based on very specifically identified subjects and the classes are designed specifically for the students who have been admitted with only the First School Leaving Certificates (FSLC). The main goal is for each of these students to be prepared academically to write the GCE Ordinary Level and obtain a minimum of five (5) GCE Ordinary Level subjects, which will then provide them with the necessary qualifications to write national examinations set by the Government. RECEADIT's Stories of Success Since August 2006, we have been conducting free screening for malaria, HIV/AIDS, cancer, and hepatitis. RECEADIT's maternity unit provides prenatal, natal and mother care for its community members. The School of Health, Biomedical and Computer Sciences (SHBCS) is now training qualified health care personnel for RECEADIT's Community Health Care Unit and for surrounding rural communities. Its Computer and Information Technology unit is providing computer training and internet service for adults and youth. Its Eco-tourism and Transportation unit provide eco-tourism opportunities to its volunteers and other tourists and transportation services to patients and rural farmers in the hinterland, which has very bad and difficult roads. This unit has proven to be very helpful for the following two reasons: 1) patients with life-threatening cases are rushed to the health facility within a very short space of time; and 2) rural farmers and their produce are transported to urban markets, where they sell their produce at higher prices and faster, thereby empowering them economically and financially, and consequently, making it possible for them to afford basic health care, improve their nutrition and general health status. RECEADIT, through its Outreach Education and Disease Prevention Program, has succeeded in eliminating the stigma and shame associated with certain illnesses and diseases, especially, HIV/AIDS and cancer. Over 50 HIV/AIDS cases have been diagnosed and the patients are receiving medication. RECEADIT currently provides employment opportunities for: 1) six community members within its health care service unit; 2) twenty-three instructors in the School of Health, Biomedical and Computer Sciences (SHBCS); 3) ten community members within its computer/internet unit. Many who have graduated from the nine months Intensive Computer and Internet Training Program have found jobs with computer/document reproduction businesses and government agencies and others have started their own computer/document reproduction businesses; and 4) six drivers within its transportation unit. For more information and details, visit us at: http://www.meditech-group.org. It is clear from the brief history above that RECEADIT has made considerable progress toward achieving its primary mission of serving humanity. However, it still faces some major challenges and limitations. At this point, we are unable to meet the increasing health care needs of people within the Belo, Njinikom, and Fundong valleys and surrounding rural communities. We need both financial and material support to: 1) improve and continue our Community Health Worker Project; 2) expand our maternity section; 3) continue screening for malaria, HIV/AIDS, cancer and hepatitis; 4) provide fees assistance to students in our medical training programs; 5) complete our clean water project for the community in which RECEADIT is located; and 6) expand the Computer and Information Technology unit, as well as the Eco-tourism and Transportation units. Organization's Tax Status, including an IRS Letter of Tax Determination RECEADIT has been approved as a non-profit, non-governmental organization by the state of North Carolina, with a Tax Exempt ID of 1065947. It has also been approved by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), with a Tax Exempt ID of 26-3424529.