Physical Health Uganda Project #20108

Save Lives with Emergency Care in Uganda

by Global Emergency Care

Save Lives with Emergency Care in Uganda

Project Report | Apr 9, 2018
Announcing the 2018 Little by Little Campaign!

By Tom Neill | Operations Director

Dr. Annie lecturing the ECP Diploma students

I just returned from a trip to Uganda where I was able to visit several project sites and meet with our incredible team members working on the ground. I arrived around midnight Saturday. The following morning I traveled to Mbarara about 5 hours southwest of Kampala. In Mbarara, I visited the Emergency Department at Mbarara University Hospital and met with the four emergency medicine residents to hear about their first year of specialist training. They are a dedicated and talented crew working with limited resources to provide the best emergency care available, while studying and learning the skills necessary to be emergency care physicians. Being the first class of emergency medicione residents in Uganda, they are well aware that they are pioneers in emergency care development in their country. They realize their success will not come without struggle. From my perspective, Uganda is extremely lucky to havce this intelligent and dedicated crew of professionals leading the way as the emergency medicine pioneers.

From Mbarara, I traveled to Masaka where I was able to see the entire Masaka team in action from Program Director to ECP Trainers to Research Team to ECP Diploma students. Across the board, the team is functioning at a very high level. I was lucky enough to sit in on a few lectures and simulation exercises with the ECP Dipoloma students and was very impressed at the high level of engagement and learning that. was occurring. Now well into their second semester, the ECP Diploma students have settled into their new roles and are focused on learning, both in the classroom and clinically in the ED.

Having just returned invigorated by the successes of the teams in Uganda, I wanted to share our next fundraising opportunity that will help us continue to grow and train more lifesaving healthcare providers. Because we believe that there’s strength in numbers and that small donations add up to BIG change, we're participating in Global Giving's Little by Little Matching Campaign!

Starting at 9am ET on Monday April 9th through midnight on Friday, April 13th, Global Giving will match donations up to $50 at 50% while the $50,000 in matching funds remain. That means if you donate $50, GEC will receive $75 to build our emergency care education programs in Uganda.

Your donation will directly contribute to:

Recruit and train a new Emergency Care Practitioner Diploma class of at least 10 students
Support the current ECP Diploma students during their 6-week advanced topics course at Mbarara Hospital
Support the Emergency Medicine residents to continue their 3-year specialty training
Build GEC's Research Program empowering our Research Team and documenting the success of our programs

Can we count on you to dave lives with us today?

Links:

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Mar 8, 2018
It's time to dust off your sneakers

By Tom Neill | Operations Director

Mother and child in Emergency Department

GEC is partnering with the World Health Run and some pretty awesome organizations for the 1st annual run/ walk event on April 7, 2018 to raise awareness and advocate for health equity around the globe.

Who?
We are a bunch of community-minded, sports-loving, everyone-welcoming peeps – you know the type. We are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, Rotarians, and Global Health project managers and academics. We may (or may not) be runners, but we ARE community advocates. We also happen to believe in health equity.

What?
You can sign up for a leisurely 5K stroll or run your heart out in cities and towns all across the U.S.

How?

Go to World Health Run, find your city, and sign up
You can sign up for a run ANYWHERE (yes, ANYWHERE)
After you sign up, send out a message like this to all of your friends and family. -- Make them feel like they should be doing this, too!
For our GEC supporters in Chicago, you can donate directly to GEC at signup HERE

It's time to raise awareness about HEALTH EQUITY!

Let's run, people!

Dr. Stacey Chamberlain, GEC Development Director & Co-founder, wrote a great piece on the importance of emergency care as a strategic public health initiative. In Emergency Care is a Neglected Public Health Challenge , she asks you to imagine being in a car accident, and you break your leg. There are no ambulances, no paramedics. You somehow make your way to the hospital, but when you get there, there’s no doctor. You don’t get any pain medication, splinting or washing of your wound initially. You are placed in a hospital bed, but you don’t actually get seen by a provider for over a day. This is the reality in many parts of the world. Read on to learn why emergency care is an ESSENTIAL part of any health system.

In other news, the second semesters have begun for both the ECP Diploma program at Masaka Hospital and the Master of Emergency Medicine (MMed) program at Mbarara Hospital. The students in both program are voracious for knowledge and have been committed to their both their studies and their clinical work. At the same time, we are working with our Ugandan partners to determine the best path forward for recruitment of new classes for both programs.

Emergency Care - Neglected Public Health Challenge

Master of Medicine Students at Mbarara

Links:

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Dec 8, 2017
Let's Celebrate This Landmark Achievement

By Tom Neill | Operations Director

First-Ever ECP Diploma Class

2017 has been a banner year for GEC. Not only did we celebrate our 10th Anniversary, but after 10 years of hard work we implemented both the government sponsored ECP Diploma program and the Master of Medicine emergency physician training program. None of these important successes would have been possible without YOU!

You have enabled this landmark accomplishment that will greatly improve the sustainability of our programming as it truly integrates our training program into the local educational system. Thank you!

Imagine if you went to nursing or medical school, and at the end, you didn’t receive an actual diploma and a nationally recognized degree. You wouldn’t be able to use your life saving clinical skills because employers would not recognize your expertise without that piece of paper.

So after many years of fine-tuning our curriculum and working with our Ugandan partners including Masaka Hospital, MUST, and the Ministry of Health, this roll-out is a big step in the creation of a workforce of Ugandan emergency practitioners that will have the skills to treat acutely sick and injured patients. All because of you!

We are thrilled to welcome and present your first class of ECP Diploma trainees (pictured above): Joyce Nakajja, Winifred Auma, Mohammad Kyambadde, Edward Kasiira, Henry Kagaba, Harriet Ijangolet, Jane Frances Birungi, John Twesigye

To build on 2017's successes and begin preparing for 2018, we have kicked off our annual Year End Fundraising Challenge. This year, our goal is to raise $25,000 by Dec. 31st to fund 8 ECPs for the 2018 class. We are off to a great start having reached 54% of our goal, but we need your help to cross the finish line.

Can we count on you to educate new, local leaders committed to saving lives throughout their careers?

Wishing you and yours a happy and health holiday season!

Best regards,
Tom

GEC team at Masaka Hospital

Links:

Attachments:

2016 Global Emergency Care Annual Report (PDF)

3 Attachments

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