Honor and Health
By Sukhjit Purewal
Posted: Saturday, 25 February 2006

On his last visit to Nigeria, Richard Anyanwu became a chief. Residents of the town of Umueze decided the most sincere way to honor the Seaside resident for all he has done for them and their health care was to crown him.


Anyanwu, a nurse at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, has been operating a makeshift medical clinic in his native Umueze in the state of Imo.

He tests hundreds of residents for diabetes and high blood pressure during monthlong visits. Anyanwu, 40, gives them free medicine and antibiotics donated by Community Hospital, Peninsula pharmacies and area doctors.

The information he provides is more important than the finite supply of medications he hands out. Anyanwu makes residents aware of their conditions and teaches them to make healthier choices.

It is the type of information that wasn't available to his mother. When she came from Nigeria five years ago to visit Anyanwu and his family, she had a stroke and died. Had her chronic diabetes been diagnosed earlier — Anyanwu believes the disease likely exacerbated her chances of a stroke — she might have returned to Nigeria.

As Anyanwu considered his mother's death, he wondered how many more Nigerians are suffering, ignorant of deadly triggers. That is when Anyanwu decided he and his wife, Gertrude, who is a nurse, would take their medical abilities to their people.

On their annual trip to Nigeria the next year, they packed bundles of diabetes-test strips and testing equipment. They also took blood-pressure cuffs.

The Anyanwus began testing residents for diabetes and high blood pressure. People began talking about the exams and started lining up.

It isn't that the townspeople don't have access to doctors, Anyanwu said. They do. What they don't have access to is real medicine.

"The drugs are fake," Anyanwu said. "I give them real medicine."

He gives out care at no cost, the ultimate incentive.

Supplies are donated by Community Hospital, local pharmacies including Ordway Drugs and Medical Supplies, Ralph's supermarket and several doctors.

Anyanwu isn't sure why medicines in Nigeria are fake. Corruption and lack of strict regulatory standards are part of the problem, he said.

On a recent visit at his Seaside home, Anyanwu answered the door in a printed dashiki. On a corner table sat the beaded headpiece and staff given to him by the people of Umueze when he was named an honorary chief in December.

Anyanwu opens a notebook filled with rows of blood-pressure readings. He points to a particularly high reading, 203/80, and says that person is a candidate for trouble.

Sometimes when the residents return to see him, often within the week, they and Anyanwu are pleased by rapid improvements.

Just getting some residents to recognize their conditions is a victory. In Nigeria, people are likely to attribute symptoms of diabetes or other ailments to superstition, Anyanwu said.

"They still believe evil spirits are invoked by someone to explain conditions," he said.

Anyanwu advises residents about their diets and other potential stress factors. Though the Nigerian diet is healthier than the American one, he said, forms of sugar can still be a problem.

A church in Umueze has taken to promoting Anyanwu's visits in its newsletters. A line of residents starts forming even before daybreak for an opportunity to be seen by him. A photo album laid open on Anyanwu's coffee table shows residents standing in the open in a courtyard of Anyanwu's African home. The Anyanwus are using their own money to finish a clinic attached to their home.

Doctors and nurses in Umueze help examine residents. One year a nurse friend of Anyanwu traveled to Nigeria to help.

Two years ago, Anyanwu turned his effort into a nonprofit, christening it Africare. As information about their project spreads, the Anyanwus hope to widen the scope of their mission.

The Anyanwus usually travel to Umueze at the end of the year, but this year's travel date has yet to be scheduled.

Anyanwu, a deeply religious man, is a deacon at his Marina church and believes people are assigned missions in life. His reason — making positive changes in the lives of Nigeria's people — was planted the day his mother died.

Gertrude Anyanwu said Africare fills her with joy.

"I feel so good and proud that my husband does this for our people," she said.

For information about Africare, call 915-1076.

Sukhjit Purewal can be reached at 646-4494 or spurewal@montereyherald.com.

To learn more about the Anyanwus' Africare project, call 915-1076.


All contents ©2006 MONTEREY COUNTY HERALD and may not be republished without written permission.

Copyright (c) 2006 The Monterey County Herald

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