Tragedy strikes...

We are very sad to report the unexpected sudden illness and death of our Nurse Tutor Goretti this week who suffered a catastrophic blood clot to her lungs.  She was a gentle and much-loved member of the Kisiizi community and leaves a huge gap.  She will be greatly missed by Staff and Students.

We are comforted to know that she herself knew the reality of the hope of the Easter message.

Child Health Newsletter article

for those interested, I have written an article for the International Child Health Group newsletter which is available to view by clicking on the link:

International Child Health Group Winter 2013 Newsletter

Re-creation

Amidst periods of intense activity where the on-call rota seems interminable and the list of "urgent to-do"  items expands rather than contracts and yet another email arrives asking why we haven't replied to their previous one, we have occasional oases of re-creation.

And Kisiizi and the region is a wonderful place to enjoy when we open our eyes and just pause to take it all in... from the astronomical, with the amazing stars at night, to the minute with insects on the dusty path in front of us.

 

Then, of course, there are the birds, amazing in their variety and beauty both at rest and in their aerobatic contortions that leave us breathless....

Ross' turaco in our garden

One of our favourite species is Ross' turaco - we have a pair that are often heard and seen in our garden.  They eat guavas and sit in the jacaranda tree and are stunning  when they fly and reveal the colour of their wings...

 

We had a wonderful break away at Lake Bunyonyi with visitors Dwight and Sandy Mcleod who were with us for three weeks.  Dwight is a physician and Sandy a health visitor and they are praying about their future and whether they are to serve in Africa longer term...

whilst on Bushara Island we were thrilled to unexpectedly bump into Chris and Polly Barton who have had an amazing ministry setting up dental services in our area and in Rwanda and Burundi.  We hadn't seen them in years so enjoyed a meal together and a chat around a blazing fire catching up...

 

Polly & Chris, Dwight & Sandy, Hanna & Ian

As well as the usual amazing mix of birds, butterflies and otters, we were amazed to see a "linear sunset" where the colour of the sky was divided as if a shadow was present in front of a projector... 

... and then we realised that it  must have been the setting sun's rays blocked by the massive volcano Muhavura not too far away on the border between Uganda and Rwanda...

so we thank God for the beauty of the world around us... and the people He sends our way... including those who inspire us:

The remarkable Joan Hall with Alice from Rukungiri

one such is Joan Hall, a remarkable lady who has given her life in missionary service to Uganda and is much loved by many.  We visited her in her new home in Kabale and then she came to visit Kisiizi a few days later so it was good to catch up with her and friends....

Another inspiration has been this young boy on our ward who has been in traction for a few weeks but remains full of fun exhibiting great patience.  He had fractured his right femur but here demonstrates that he has no problem at all  with  mobility of his left leg!  He doesn't need much to make him laugh and when he does it is infectious!  Good to have at least one positive transmission on the ward....

African Partnerships

We were delighted to welcome four colleagues from Zambia to join us for our African Partnerships for Patient Safety conference we ran here last week on behalf of World Health Organisation.

They arrived in Kisiizi on Sunday having flown to Entebbe via Nairobi.  Ndola is a large teritary hospital with a medical school in a large town so it was quite a contrast coming to Kisiizi but they fitted in extremely well and enjoyed their time with us.

They all made valuable contributions to the conference and we learnt much from one another.

They returned ready to implement some changes and progressions especially relating to the use of the Safe Surgery Checklist.


We do hope to meet up again at some time in the future...

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The Conference included  presentations, role-plays and the use of videos we had made in Kisiizi that were well received.

role play by Kisiiz theatre staff of use of surgical checklist

Practical demonstrations of the manufacture of alcohol based hand rub and assessment of the effectiveness of handwashing technique using ultra-violet light techniques were appreciated by the 30 or so delegates who came from the hospitals and larger health centres in our neighbouring region.


A range of presentations were shared on topics including Healthcare Associated Infection reduction, Safe Prescribing, Waste Management, Surgical Checklist, How to Teach etc.

Alia and Sr. Moreen

Alia Fry, our US Peace Corps volunteer; Sister Moreen Ahimbisiibwe, our Infection Control Sister; Dr. Gabriel Okumu, our Consultant Surgeon, and Ian gave the main presentations supported by Sr Jovita and our trainee pharmacy technician, Sandra who demonstrated the  production of hand rub.




We broke the group into three parties to tour the relevant parts of Kisiizi which they appreciated.

 The evaluations have all been encouraging, now we all need a rest, then work on putting into practice all that was shared.  We pray it will make a real difference to the safety and quality of care patients receive across the area... and even in Zambia!

look on the bright side...

we are sometimes inspired by our patients who show extraordinary fortitude...

this little boy has epilepsy and it had not been well controlled in the community.  He had a fit and fell into a fire and was badly burnt on his face.

He ended up in Kisiizi and was stabilised on anti-convulsant treatment and had dressings to his burns followed by skin grafts....







Through it all he kept his sense of humour, laughing very loudly if Ian played peep-bo around one of the pillars on the ward and always maintaining his sense of humour.

Training

We hold weekly audits reviewing the work of our Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology,  General Medicine and Paediatrics Departments.

Maternity Department Audit Presentation

We are pleased that recently the National Intern Committee approved us moving up to two interns in each specialty in which we have Specialists: Surgery, Obstetrics & Gynaecology and Paediatrics.

We are also pleased to have Drs Simon and Samantha Hardman with us for a few months, Simon working in Paediatrics and Sam in Medicine.

As part of the induction process for our new interns they have helped us run some training scenarios:

Intern Doctors Patrick, Gotharido, Francis and Bruce as practical scenario

Intern doctor Henry with registrars Dr. Simon and Sam Hardman, visiting medical student Simon and Medical Officer Dr. Albert

World Health Organisation links

Kisiizi Hospital is one of 3 English-speaking hospitals linked to the WHO African Partnerships for Patient Safety programme  [APPS].

 The Kisiizi link was recently highlighted on the WHO main international website including a photo of our previous Principal Nursing Officer Sister Esther Kobusingye:http://www.who.int/features/2013/uganda_patient_safety/en/index.html

Dr. Gabriel Okumu, Consultant Surgeon, lecturing

We ran a APPS Sensitisation Day here on 12th February attended by Medical Superintendents and Principal Nursing Officers from hospitals in our two local districts and the in-charges of the major health centres. It proved very successful and will be followed up by a two-day training seminar on 12th and 13th March which we hope will be attended by a small group from Zambia sponsored by WHO to come to Kisiizi.