South-Westshire Health Trust

I am Hon. Daniel Onadeko Onamusi, male, Christian, born on 20th June 1960 in Sapele Delta State of Nigeria. I hold a Higher National Diploma (HND Marketing) from Ogun State Polytechnic and a Masters of Public Administration (M.PA) degree from Olabisi Onabanjo University in Ogun State, Nigeria.

A recipient of the Ogun State Government award as the best self -employed graduate of the year 1987. A former member of the  House of Representatives at the National Assembly (1999-2003) The Chairman and Managing Director STANTON HOLDINGS (Stanton Limited, Stanton Engineering Limited and Stanton Manufacturing Limited)

I am the founder of the South-Westshire Health Trust, a nongovernmental organisation established in 2017 for the treatment and rehabilitation of people with severe mental challenges in Nigeria.

I am happily married and blessed with 3 (three) wonderful children.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates there are 40 million Nigerians suffering from one form of mental illness or the other. Unfortunately, there is no policy or legislation for the administration and treatment of people with severe mental illness in the country. There are less than 50 Psychiatric hospitals in Nigeria serving about 206 million Nigerians. Most of these hospitals are located in the cities while majority of Nigerians lives in rural communities, they have no access to medical care and in most cases are not diagnosed. There are over 6 million severe mentally challenged people, homeless and neglected by the government and society. 

The South-Westshire Health Trust is established to address this social problem; removing people with severe mental challenges from various communities into our facility for treatment and rehabilitation. We give hope to the hopeless, restoring their rights to medical healthcare and dignity. We Elevate Humanity.

We are passionate assisting people with severe mental challenges in Nigeria. In every community and most streets in the country; you will find people with severe mental challenges neglected by the Government and society to spend the rest of their lives in very miserable condition. The population of my community is about 110,196 at the 2006 census, there are 146 patients from this community with mental challenges who are part of the 226 registered and another 368 people with mental challenges on our awaiting list since the establishment of this Trust in October 2017.  

We remove people with severe mental challenges from various communities into the Trust for treatment and rehabilitation, provide them vocational skills and unite them with their respective families on full recovery.

The following are factors responsible for the high scale of people with mental challenges in Nigeria:-

1.) Lack of political will, policy and legislation protecting people with mental challenges

2.) Lack of medical facilities, access to medical treatment and diagnoses.

3.)The lack of accommodation for treatment of people with severe mental challenges also the unwillingness of property owners to let-out their properties for use as mental health nursing homes.

The South-Westshire Health Trust deals with the treatment and rehabilitation of people with severe mental challenges in Nigeria. Our streets are littered with people with mental challenges who have been abandoned by their family members due to superstitious or ignorance of mental health; we go out, pick these individuals, clean them up, give them a roof above their heads, provide medication, food and vocational skill for their rehabilitation.

We are located in a rural community in Ijebu-East Local Government of Ogun State. The people here are very traditional hence the superstition on mental illness.

A lot of mentally challenged are left on the street for reason stated earlier. We hold seminars in traditional town halls as well as schools on the issues of mental health, creating necessary awareness and access to medical healthcare and diagnoses. We are working with the community in providing treatment for families who ignorantly keep people with mental challenges under lock and key in their homes.

We are primarily established to assist people with severe mental challenges who are on the streets, members of the community report cases of these individuals sighted passing through the community to us for removal. when these mentally challenged have received the necessary treatment and are ready to be reintegrated back to the society, the community also assists us in locating their families.

Our primary objective is giving hope to the hopeless in our various communities.  Today, we are the only organisation in Nigeria removing people with severe mental challenges from communities, providing them free medical treatment an rehabilitation. We restore their rights and dignity, thereby elevating them. There are very few Federal and State psychiatric hospitals in Nigeria, most  of them treat people with mental challenges brought into the hospital by their families. There are over 6 million people with severe mental challenges in Nigeria, who are roaming the streets and motorway, these are the people we are serving in Nigeria. 

I had the privilege of working in a mental hospital in the UK as a nursing assistant. My experience and exposure to the administration and treatment of mentally challenged inspired me greatly to establish the Trust. The idea to establish a mental healthcare facility was conceived in 2011, however we needed accommodation for the clients we intended to assist. Unfortunately, most property owners are not disposed to letting out their properties for mental healthcare use for reasons of stigmatization. This has in actual fact limited our ability to expand to other States of the Federation. In October 2017, I was approached by some community leaders to assist 3 mentally challenged individuals within the community. It was at this point I resolved to dedicate my personal property and residence for their treatment. We started with these 3 clients and today we have assisted over 226 clients, most of them are removed from various communities into the trust for treatment and rehabilitation. We are supported by Consultant Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Nurses and Careers who help in the treatment of these patients.

There's a saying that  "you haven't truly helped someone until you do a good deed for someone who can't pay you back". In virtually every community and street you visit in Nigeria, you find people with severe mental challenges, homeless and rejected by the society. Some been left on the streets in the rain and sun, left to sleep by the road side, knocked down and killed by motorist. 

In my years 60 years of existence on earth, I have NEVER experience the joy I receive being part of those contributing to changing the lives of people with severe mental challenges, people whose lives are hopeless, wondering aimlessly on the streets and motorway, some walked hundreds of kilometers far away from their families to the point we rescued them into the Trust.

The joy of re-uniting them with their families. The father of a patient once said to me "Imagine your son missing due to mental illness for nine years, every mentally challenged man I see on the street in the last 9 years reminds me of my son with the hope of seeing him, you wiped away my tears over the last nine years"  We Elevate so many families.

An average Nigerian sighting a severe mentally challenged person is afraid to move closer for fear of being hurt. You must be bold and courageous to approach a mentally challenged person. It is very unimaginable for someone to help people with severe mental challenges in the country. Some think I am diabolical in removing them?

The passion, courage and sincerity of purpose to assist people with severe mental challenges is one key factor, it makes it so easy to assist so many off the street.

I worked briefly in a mental healthcare hospital in UK, I was trained and acquired relevant experience needed for the administration and treatment of patients. 

Our goal is to establish the South-Westshire Health Trust in various communities in Nigeria, consequently we are recruiting young Nigerians who are undergoing the mandatory National Youth Service Corps after graduating from the University, we train them with the view to encouraging them to establish similar project in their various communities.

It is very important I state that the achievements of this organisation in the last two and half years could not have been possible without the support of some individuals and staff who are responsible for the feeding and caring of all inpatients; without which we could not have achieved all we have done.

In our quest at expanding our facility to other parts of the country, we are positioning youths undergoing training, encouraging them to also go out into the communities to assist people with severe mental challenges. 

I am an advocate of change in any society or environment I find myself. Before establishing this Trust, I established the first private refuse collection enterprise in Nigeria as an undergraduate in 1984. The population explosion and lack of proper waste management policy created a serious environmental problem in the country. I introduced private refuse collection, helping the middle class citizens to dispose their refuse at a fee to support my self in the course of my study. This opened a window of opportunity for so many unemployed graduates who saw the need for such services and established  similar outfits collecting refuse for private residential homes and organisations. I received the Ogun State Government Award as the best self employed graduate of the year 1987 by the then Military Governor Col. Raji Rasaki.

Today, there is no single organisation or body caring for people with severe mental challenges in the country. The scale of this problem is VERY HIGH, there is hardly any community you visit; you will not find people with severe mental challenges eating from the garbage. Our achievements today are without the support of any government or donor agency. 

Over the years I have ventured into business, politics, activism and humanitarian works. In all of these, I have demonstrated my leadership ability. I am a successful businessman, Chairman and Managing Director STANTON HOLDINGS with over 35 staff on my pay payroll for over 20 years.

I am also a community leader who have earned the confidence of the people to represent them at the National Assembly as a member of the House of Representatives before retiring to give back to the society what we are currently doing.

I was elected to represent my community because of my principle for fairness, equity and justice. I have a zero tolerance for all of these.  

Today, we are opening a new phase in our quest at supporting people with severe mental challenges. Our activities and efforts at supporting various families with these challenges is changing the perception and stigmatization of people with mental challenges in Nigeria. There is no doubt that Nigerians will soon realise that contrary to speculations and fears associated with people with severe mental challenges; they are receptive to anyone who sincerely want to help them. 

We are a non governmental Organisation established to assist people with severe mental challenges in Nigeria, there is a very serious issue in the country in this regard. There is no medical care for our citizens, our hospitals are in very bad shape in a country with about 206 million people, there is no health policy or insurance for her citizens. The health sector is BAD to say the least, people suffering from mental challenges are the most neglected,they hardly find an hospital to diagnose their illness. The consequence of this is that millions of people become severely ill and are on the streets in Nigeria.

There is therefore the need to change how we perceive and treat people with mental illnesses. Removing and caring for them particularly those on the street is a new innovation in Nigeria. If anyone gets so ill to the extent of being on the street, there is 99.9% chances that he/she will spend the rest of their lives in miserable condition. Nobody cares.

We remove people with severe mental challenges from the streets into the Trust for treatment and rehabilitation. When they are fully recovered we locate there families and integrate them into the community they belong.

Our current facility can support 100,000 patients over the last two and half years with the support of the Government and other Agencies. Unfortunately, are yet to receive any form of support or assistance from Government with all we have achieved.

IMPACT: Mental illness is a very serious problem in African countries and in particular Nigeria with over 40 million cases of people with   mental challenge according to WHO. The change we desire is a gradual and systematic approach at solving this social problem; identifying people with severe mental challenges, removing them from our various communities and providing enduring treatment for them. It is a process and continued support that will eventually resolve and elevate humanity in Nigeria.

OUTCOME: The benefits to this project provides access for treatment of people with mental challenges in rural communities, providing diagnoses for mental illness, treatment and rehabilitation. We have registered 226 patients in the last two and half years with over368 others on the waiting list. With the support of Government and other donor agencies, our goal is to expand our facilities and extend our services to States of the Federation and other African Countries. 

OUTPUT: Since the establishment of this organisation in 2017, we have registered 226 patients and discharged 129 with 97 currently undergoing treatment as inpatients. With this achievement we looking for Government and other donor agencies support to establish our presence in other States of the Federation and possibly extending the services to Ghana and Liberia. With such support we intend to assist and serve 1.3 million people with severe mental challenges in Nigeria over a period of five years. 

ACTIVITIES: To achieve this goal, we need to provide Intensive Care Units (ICU) and treatment accommodation in States of the Federation for people with severe mental challenges. We also need to recruit and train our staff across the States, organise seminars and workshops that will promote mental health awareness, entrepreneurship and involvement of other Nongovernmental organisations.

INPUT: We have acquired 18 Hectares of land for our permanent site and headquarters. The design and layout of the facilities are ready for Government approval. There is also a design for the Intensive Care Units and treatment centres for the States of the Federation. The estimated cost for the construction works, equipment and other  operational cost is estimate about $5m Dollars.

Mental healthcare is a very serious problem in Africa and in particular Nigeria with over 40 million people with mental challenges. This project has the potential of serving 3,000,000 million people with the support of Government in the next 5 years. Unfortunately, we are limited by the capacity of our facility to accommodate more clients. Attempts at renting properties in other States of the Federation failed. Abandoned property owners; even in rural communities refused to let-out their properties for mental healthcare use.  

Today we are serving 226 patients with mental challenges (Inpatients/Outpatients) 

In the next one year we would be serving 700 patients with the  expansion of our facility that is ongoing

In the next five years, we are planning moving to our permanent site with the capacity of serving 2,000 inpatients every year.

Our short term or immediate goal for next year is to expand our current facility to accommodate additional   patients at any given time. Invest in training more Nigerians in social works, supporting more people with mental challenges in our various communities.

In the next five years, our goal is to establish the South-Westshire Health Trust in each of the six zones of the Federation with a 300 bed capacity treatment and rehabilitation centre. It is however expected that 60% of patients in  these facilities will recover within six months.  Those who do not recover within six months will be transferred to the permanent/headquarters for further evaluation to allow for treatment of patients on waiting list in the Zones. 

We would also be advocating, encouraging and supporting young Nigerians particularly  those who have been trained by this Trust to establish similar facility in other communities in Nigeria. 

We are extending our services to other African Countries. The woman in the video found on the expressway by a petrol station trekked from Ghana to Ogun State in Nigeria. We have identified the family who are so happy and are willing to also help elevate other Ghanaians by establishing similar project in Ghana. 

Our primary and fundamental barrier is the finance to provide the much needed facilities to accommodate people with severe mental challenges across the States of the Federation. We need to construct treatment and rehabilitation centre in each of the six Zones of the Federation and possible some States also. We also need finance for training and payment of Salaries for Consultant Psychiatrist, Nurses and other careers including other operational cost.   

There are no technical challenges except managing the construction project for the facilities in various Zones and States. We are a registered Non-Governmental Organisation and legally protected to practice with the support Psychiatrist Consultants.  There are no cultural or market barriers limiting our expansion and ability to serve  millions of Nigerians with severe mental challenges.

We have written to the Neuro Psychiatric Hospital for professional collaboration and assistance in the treatment of our clients.

The South Westshire Health Trust has acquired 18 Hectares of land as permanent site in a rural community, Itele in Ijebu East Local Government of Ogun State for treatment and rehabilitation of people with severe mental challenges. We need about $5m dollars to make an impact in the treatment of people with severe mental challenges in Nigeria. 

Our goal for the next five years is to build the Headquarters and Zonal facilities in the six zones of the Federation. We would also extend our services to two other African countries Ghana and Liberia. 

About $2m dollars is required to provide accommodation for our clients in Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia. Each of the facilities are designed to have an Intensive unit camp where these vagrants are first examined and a 300 bed capacity for treatment and rehabilitation. 

We also need to provide for professional consultations, staff training and development. There would be need to recruit and train Nurses, Careers and other operational staff that will be needed in addressing this social problem. An estimated sum of $2m dollars will be required over a five year period for wages and salaries, training and other operational cost including feeding of clients.

Most importantly is the medical examinations, medications and treatment of clients over the period of five years. We have estimated $1m for the procurement of examination equipment and medications for the treatment and rehabilitation of a total of 1 million people with severe mental challenges in Nigeria, Ghana and Liberia.

We have written to the Neuro Psychiatric Hospital for partnership on professional support to this Trust and we are in the process of formalizing memorandum of understanding.

Since every streets of the community is littered with mentally challenged individuals, these individuals are removed and being catered for. Also, the people of the community are being sensitized on mental health through seminars. Sometimes, individuals assist us financially in removing these individuals as their way of giving back to us what we have done for them.

People within and out of the community come in for consultation and medication, all at a fee. Also, people who come in to see what we are doing in their little way provide material donations some times financial donations too.

So far, we havn't gotten any funds for our project. We hope that when we win this, it will go a long way in funding our project.

We haven't applied for any yet.

OPERATIONAL COST

1. FEEDING = $547,500
2. MEDICATION = $109,500
3. CLOTHING =$109,500
4. TOILETRIES =$109,500
5. GENERAL MAINTENANCE =$80,000
6. MISCELLENOUS =$50,000

TOTAL =$1,006,000

PERSONNEL COST

1. CONSULTANTS/ PSYCHIATRICS = $4,200
2. PSYCHOLOGIST/OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS = $28,800
3. NURSES = $38,400
4. NURSING ASSISTANT = $38,400
5. HOSPITALITY = $9,600
6. ADMINISTRATIVE = $14,400
7. LAB SCIENTIST = $7,200
8. SOCIAL WORKER = $12,000
9. MANAGER = $3,000

TOTAL = $195,000

Firstly, the Elevate Prize will enable us create the necessary awareness to the public and government on mental healthcare. In-line with the policy of this Trust, we will be establishing our treatment facilities in rural communities thereby providing access to people in the rural areas.

Secondly, the Elevate Prize will enable us establish our presence in the various communities of the Federation to enable people in the rural areas access to mental healthcare.

Finally, with the funds from the Elevate Prize, we would be able to commence partly our ultra modern facility and also provide intensive care unit/resettlement camp for the examinations of clients removed from various communities with the capacity to accommodate 2,000 people with severe mental challenges.

FUNDING AND REVENUE: We will need fund to enable us carry out our project to another phase.

MENTORSHIP AND/OR COACHING: Also, we will need advice and mentorship from experts in mental healthcare.

MONITRING AND EVALUATION: Within the cause of our project, we would require monitoring and evaluations from experts to enable the easy flow of the project.

1. Neuro Psychiatric Hospital Abeokuta.

They can assist in the training of staff and also in providing us with more social workers.