Clinic in a Box film

Check out this short film of the Clinic in a Box journey - from the donated veterinary equipment and supplies being loaded in the UK to the magical moment of the truck arriving in Malawi and all the equipment being used in the clinic. A huge thanks to everyone who made this happen!

Malawi's first x-ray of a pet!

Inglis vet team (Adam, Louise, Audrey) treating Scruffy

Little Scruffy the dog was involved in a road accident last month. He was obviously unaware of making history when he became the first pet to be x-rayed in Malawi! 

Dr Richard Ssuna viewing Scruffy's x-ray

Thanks to the wonderful team from Inglis vets and engineer extraordinaire, Mark from Max Fordham in Scotland, the x-ray generator (the bit that takes the x-ray) was carefully hung from the wall (Mark was so confident in the strength of the bracket holding it that he even swung from it himself...!). 


Scruffy had two broken ribs, so our new equipment is already making a difference and helping us to more accurately diagnose and improve the treatment of our patients.

Huge thanks to all our sponsors!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

LSPCA and RSPCA would like to say a huge thank you to all the companies and individuals that made the Clinic in a Box project happen. Thanks to your generosity the LSPCA veterinary clinic now has the equipment, medicines and supplies to treat many more animals and carry out procedures such as blood tests and x-rays. We also have lots of food to feed all our dogs looking for new homes and the LSPCA staff look very smart in their new uniforms! These photos show just a small selection of the many donations, but we hope they will give you an idea of why we were so excited about this project and how grateful we are to all who helped with it! 

Richard Ssuna (LSPCA) and
Donnamarie O'Connell (RSPCA) in the clinic theatre

Lots of dog food for animals rescued by LSPCA  (Mars Pet Food)

Richard with new surgical instruments (Henry Schein)

The anaesthetic machine will make operations safer for the animals (Burtons)

LSPCA staff in new uniforms (Co-op)

'Anna' on the new consult table (RSPCA Manchester animal hospital)

We will post more photos of the donated equipment as it is used in the coming weeks. For more photos of the equipment being installed (thanks to the help of our new best friends from Inglis Vets in Scotland!) check out LSPCA's Facebook page: www.facebook.com/lspca 

Clinic in a Box arrives in Malawi!

Pallets ready to load at RSPCA warehouse

Sorry for the long delay in updating this blog, but lots of things have happened since our last post!!! The container was finally loaded in March, and set off on its 2 month trip round west Africa and down to Port Elizabeth in South Africa. Then it went onto a new ship up to Mozambique and finally after a bit of a delay in the port it was on a truck and on to Malawi!!

Clinic in a Box - on the truck!

It has been like waiting for Christmas to come week after week, but finally the truck arrived at the LSPCA clinic to much excitement and LSPCA staff and friends were waiting eagerly to off load the contents and start opening boxes!

The container arrives!

Richard Ssuna with an open Clinic in a Box!

The truck arrived late in the afternoon and after a couple of hiccups - like it wouldn't fit through the clinic gates, and we struggled to get the seal off! - it was a great moment when we started off loading all the veterinary and office equipment, medicines and consumables that LSPCA have been waiting for. All went very smoothly despite the darkness outside as the sun set, and darkness inside the clinic thanks to a power cut... 

Lots of friends helping to off load!

Still off-loading...!

LOTS of dog food!

Thanks to everyone who came to help off-load, this was definitely a team effort! 
As you can see, it was a great moment when the container was finally emptied and we all jumped in for a photo! 

And computers!

The Co-operative Group have also kindly donated second hand desk top computers and a new lap top to LSPCA! These will be put to brilliant use at the clinic and in our programmes office, which focuses on community and education animal welfare projects. We really appreciate this donation which will ensure that every member of staff has access to a computer. There are also some spare computers, which we will include in the container and LSPCA will share with other projects in Lilongwe, which desperately need computers too. These computers will have a very productive second life in Malawi! Many thanks to Claire who organised this fantastic donation for us. 


Donna

New uniforms for LSPCA!

The Co-operative Group have generously sponsored new uniforms for all the LSPCA staff! We are so delighted with this fantastic support which includes polo shirts, casual shirts, trousers, caps, scrub outfits and fleece jackets - the staff are going to look great! The Co-op team have worked really hard to get the uniforms ordered and embroidered at very short notice and we think the t-shirts, pictured here, look beautiful! Huge thanks to Claire, Tracey, Holly and Sean for making this happen! 


Donna

Packing up a clinic...

This week is all about packing... packing all the donations we have had for the clinic onto pallets ready for loading onto the container in the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow I will be packing and stacking boxes and hopefully making sure it all fits onto the 14 pallets that will fit in the container - its going to be a huge 3D jigsaw puzzle! 

Then everything will be wrapped in spin wrap - like cling film - to keep it safe on its long trip to Africa. Not the most interesting of photos... but here's just some of the donated items all boxed up and ready to go... 


And a cute photo of a tiny kitten recently rescued by LSPCA to liven it up! Many rescued animals will benefit from the food, supplies and equipment in the container.


Donna 

Are we nearly there yet...?!

Yes, we are! As you can see from our posts below, we have had many donations for the new LSPCA clinic. We are very nearly there... and hope to be able to send the container out to Malawi in the next few weeks as the equipment is very much needed. We desperately need a couple more 'big ticket' items, including an anaesthetic machine. If you can help by donating towards these vital pieces of equipment, please donate to us via our Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/lspcamalawi or via text - details on the right hand side of this page. 



Every penny really counts now and the container will be leaving as soon as we can raise enough money for the last pieces of equipment. 


If you are a veterinary practice or supplier, why not make LSPCA your 2012 charity of the year and ask your clients to help you help us? The LSPCA clinic will provide excellent veterinary care to many hundreds of animals a year. Helping us to buy this equipment means you will be part of this exciting change for veterinary care in Malawi. Thank you! Donna

Fleas be gone!

Thank you so much to Virbac who have given us a HUGE donation of Fipronol flea treatment for dogs and cats. This will mean an end to fleas that come anywhere near an LSPCA patient! This supply will keep us going for a long time and will mean a more comfortable and healthy life for many animals; fleas are a real problem in Malawi, especially for animals who are already malnourished and in poor condition. Many thanks to Virbac! Donna

Post-op kennels

We are really pleased with these donated kennels which will be a huge improvement on our current eclectic mix of kennels and cages. LSPCA patients will be very comfy in here when we have added some cosy blankets! Donna 

We have a surgical table!

This second hand surgical table will make operating much more comfortable for our vets and animals as it is height adjustable so easier to operate on and move animals on and off. Also its stainless steel so it will be easy to keep sparkly clean. 


Donna