We’re back in Kapsowar!

After a six-week break in California and Florida over the holidays, we made it back to Kenya in early January. We loved the time with family, the adventures, the holiday celebrations, but we were ready to get back to work we care deeply about. Ready to get back into rhythm. And mostly… ready to get Judah on a sleep schedule again. Ha.

My New Year’s resolution is the same as last year: sharing shorter, more frequent updates — and sharing more of our everyday life on Instagram. I’ll be honest though — as someone with a background in putting together polished wedding films, the iPhone-edited nature of Instagram reels is a stretch for me.

But in an effort to actually share our lives with you (instead of overthinking it for six months), I swallowed my perfectionism and made a year-in-review reel. Yes, it’s February. And yes, it’s mostly my kids being cute — because that’s what my camera roll looks like. But it’s an honest snapshot of our days here!

There’s a TON going on, but in an effort to keep this month’s update shorter, I want to focus on Jack’s world this month.

Before we left for the U.S., the Medicine and Pediatrics wards were running very thin on staff. These two departments can together hold over 50-60 inpatients a day, and someone has to care for them around the clock. That load was being shared between Jack and three other African doctors — who were also helping cover outpatient, where 125 patients are seen daily.

We left, running on fumes, knowing help was coming, and now we’re so grateful to say it’s here!

Dr. John recently arrived with his family (pictured below) and has stepped into caring for adult inpatients — a tremendous gift that significantly lightens the workload of Jack and the other doctors. And thanks to a very generous donor, we were able to hire two new clinical officers to support Medicine (all adult patients) and Pediatrics (both children and newborn).

A clinical officer (CO) here functions somewhat like a physician assistant in the U.S. They have some medical training, but still benefit greatly from daily mentorship and oversight. Jack and John are pouring into them — teaching as they go, reviewing cases, sharpening clinical thinking. Dennis, one of our new CO’s, recently told Jack he’s learned more in these past few weeks than in the past year.

John’s arrival — along with the help of our clinical officers — came just in time, as another healthcare strike began in Kenya. With providers at other facilities on strike, Jack has been caring for 35–40 neonates and pediatric patients daily in recent weeks.

For context: in the U.S., a physician might see around 15 patients a day — supported by dependable systems, strong nursing ratios, specialists, reliable labs, pharmacists, and respiratory therapists. A whole team.

Here, Jack rounds on every patient himself. He reviews labs, weights, and medications. He teaches a group of nursing students as he goes. He writes a full note on every patient. And in between, he navigates constant crises — tracking down medications, ensuring orders are carried out, organizing ambulance transfers, and troubleshooting broken systems (including our ever-failing oxygen supply).

It’s a lot for one day.

So John stepping in to help with the medicine department — and clinical officers assisting with notes, information gathering, and daily patient flow — is not small. It’s massive. It frees Jack to focus on projects, quality improvement, mentoring, and simply staying afloat during strike seasons.

The wild part?

A clinical officer’s salary is about $4,000 a year.

Honestly — some of the best money we’ve ever spent.

New Blog Post

Coming soon…

Much of my (Regan’s) time and energy has been dedicated to sharing stories from the hospital through our new, US non-profit, Friends of Kapsowar. In our next newsletter, I’ll share more about that, and also lots of stories that center around Jack’s work that I’ve been sharing on that platform - but I want to make sure you hear too!

Well, so much for short newsletters. A few pictures before we go, because let’s be honest - those are the best part. 🙂

A special thank you to the donor who funded the clinical officers — and to so many of you who give faithfully month after month. You make all this possible.