Photo By Sgt. Dustin Roberts | Col. Gerald Gibbons, a native of Honolulu, who serves with the Embedded Provisional...... read more read more
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By Spc. Dustin Roberts
2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
BAGHDAD – An anticipated project in northwest Baghdad designed to power a clinic with the sun's rays was officially completed and marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony Jan. 15 in the Ameriyah neighborhood of northwest Baghdad.
The staff at the Ameriyah clinic is now capable of treating patients and delivering babies at any time of the day.
Although the clinic has been running on solar power for a few weeks, the clinic staff and supporters of the project wanted to display the project in a ceremony.
Before the installation of the solar panels, which were installed in late November, the clinic could only operate in daylight hours and relied heavily on the national power grid.
That meant if Ameriyah citizens needed urgent care or expecting mothers went into labor in the middle of the night, they couldn't go to their local clinic but had to be transported to a location further away.
"A few weeks ago, there was an explosion out on the street [in Ameriyah] that the insurgents were trying to set up; it went off early, and two civilians were actually injured in the blast," said Capt. Michael Nau, a native of San Diego, a joint project management officer with 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.
"Instead of trying to take them some place else, like another clinic or another hospital, they were able to bring them to the closest care facility to be treated, which is the Ameriyah Clinic, at hours the clinic would normally be closed. That's a victory right there; that's exactly what we wanted to get out of this project."
Dr. Wafa Ibraheem, director of the clinic, cut the ribbon in the doorway of the clinic's power room.
"I'm thankful for all of the elements that supported this project to provide the electricity needed for this clinic," said Ibraheem. "This is really going to help with running the vital parts of this clinic."
The 32 solar panels installed on the clinic's roof provide power to the key portions of the clinic, to include the labs, the birthing section and the refrigeration units for vaccines and other medical supplies.
Because the clinic staff did not have refrigeration for vaccines, the items had to be kept on ice. When the vaccines started to go bad, the staff had no choice but to destroy them without use.
"We want to provide the best services for the residents of this region," Ibraheem said. "This project has proven to be successful."
"Since this is the only clinic available for the citizens of Ameriyah, and Ameriyah is one of the safer places in Baghdad, it was ideal to start a project like this here," said Mahdi Johnny, electrical engineer and advisor for the project. "This is a critical area that serves about 500,000 people."
Johnny said many of the people are very satisfied with the clinic, and there have not been any technical problems since it started running on solar power.
"This event simply reveals what the Iraqi people are capable of," said Nau. "This was an Iraqi-led and Iraqi-run project, and this event was really to show that the clinic is open and providing care to the people 24 hours a day."
| Date Taken: | 01.17.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 01.17.2009 04:32 |
| Story ID: | 28951 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 236 |
| Downloads: | 210 |
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