2015 what a year!
Thank you to all our Friends and supporters.
Friends of Chitambo SCIO: registered charity number SCO44337 Our primary aims are to support health projects, including the hospital, ambulance and nurse training school. However, we also hope to be able to provide some support to other community oranisations such as the orphanage, schools, and the church, where possible.
Monday, 21 December 2015
Chitambo School of Nursing: Update
It's not so long since Chitambo School of Nursing's 2nd Intake received their first stripe on their caps and/or uniform lapels, at the Capping Ceremony in September 2015. This was 6 months into training and marked their initiation into the profession.
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| Capping Ceremony |
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| Capped students |
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| End of year exams |
Amongst these students are the 2 new candidates for the Friends of Chitambo Nurse Training Scholarship, one male, one female. Further details of the background reasons for their selection will follow. However, meantime, we wish them all the very best with exam results and on-going training.
The first 2 students whom we supported graduated in September, at the spectacular Graduation Ceremony (the day after the Capping Ceremony). Hearty congratulations to them and to all their fellow graduates. We wish you all very well in your future careers, serving Zambia's health care needs.
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| Chitambo School of Nursing Graduation Ceremony, September 2015 |
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| 'Our' first Friends of Chitambo Scholars! |
Thursday, 17 December 2015
A wrap around the world?
Thanks to our 3 recent fundraising events (our Patron Julie Davidson's talk at the Scottish Government's 10th Anniversary of International Development
Celebrations; Hilary Mitchell's Edinburgh Quiz Night; and our regular Penicuik Christmas Street Fair stall, masterminded by our Trustees Margaret Coul and Gillian Little) we have raised enough to purchase around 12 Life Wraps (non-pneumatic ant-shock garments) for controlling haemorrhage in childbirth: http://www.safemotherhood.ucsf.edu/
These have been expressly requested by doctors at Chitambo Hospital and we hope to be able to provide one to each of the 12 Chitambo Rural Health Clinics (2 based at Chitambo Hospital itself):
http://u.osmfr.org/m/60291/ (Map courtesy of OpenStreetMap.org).
Post Partum Haemorrhage is all too common in this remote area where transport and communications are challenging and women often have to travel long distances by bicycle or on foot to obtain help in childbirth. Of course, prevention is better than cure and we are investigating whether additional supplies of high quality Misoprostol, offered free of charge by Life for African Mothers (http://lifeforafricanmothers.org/), are needed at Chitambo Hospital.
However, doctors are certain that, meantime, the Life Wraps will save lives.
It has been an interesting 'round the world' tour to find the suppliers of the garments but they have been tracked to a company called Blue Fuzion, based in Hong Kong. Assuming reasonable shipping costs, we hope that the garments will soon be winging their way to Chitambo. In the words of lady doctor-in-charge, Dr. Telo Siame: 'That would be awesome!'
Thank you everyone who has given their support on this.
Here are a few photos from the fundraising events:
During the evening, we sent the WhatApp wave (below) to Chitambo, along with a voice over, and received thank you messages in reply. Technology is indeed a wonderful thing!
Raffle ticket sales were boosted by help from Duncan (pictured)
, grandson of our Honorary President Janet Knox. Duncan was visiting from Australia and put his excellent sales skills to work!
As usual, Penicuik Mayos (Mothers) Margaret and Gillian, did the lions share of the work, including providing vast quantities of home baking and other goods for the cause.
Celebrations; Hilary Mitchell's Edinburgh Quiz Night; and our regular Penicuik Christmas Street Fair stall, masterminded by our Trustees Margaret Coul and Gillian Little) we have raised enough to purchase around 12 Life Wraps (non-pneumatic ant-shock garments) for controlling haemorrhage in childbirth: http://www.safemotherhood.ucsf.edu/
These have been expressly requested by doctors at Chitambo Hospital and we hope to be able to provide one to each of the 12 Chitambo Rural Health Clinics (2 based at Chitambo Hospital itself):
http://u.osmfr.org/m/60291/ (Map courtesy of OpenStreetMap.org).
Post Partum Haemorrhage is all too common in this remote area where transport and communications are challenging and women often have to travel long distances by bicycle or on foot to obtain help in childbirth. Of course, prevention is better than cure and we are investigating whether additional supplies of high quality Misoprostol, offered free of charge by Life for African Mothers (http://lifeforafricanmothers.org/), are needed at Chitambo Hospital.
However, doctors are certain that, meantime, the Life Wraps will save lives.
It has been an interesting 'round the world' tour to find the suppliers of the garments but they have been tracked to a company called Blue Fuzion, based in Hong Kong. Assuming reasonable shipping costs, we hope that the garments will soon be winging their way to Chitambo. In the words of lady doctor-in-charge, Dr. Telo Siame: 'That would be awesome!'
Thank you everyone who has given their support on this.
Here are a few photos from the fundraising events:
- Scottish Government 10th Anniversary of International Development Celebrations (7th November 2015)
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| Friends of Chitambo Patron, Julie Davidson, author and journalist, peaks at the Scottish Government 10th Anniversary of International Development celebrations, Edinburgh, 7th November 2015 |
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| Celebratory music! |
- Hil's Edinburgh Quiz Night (3rd December 2015)
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| Raffle prizes |
During the evening, we sent the WhatApp wave (below) to Chitambo, along with a voice over, and received thank you messages in reply. Technology is indeed a wonderful thing!
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| Quiz night goers give Chitambo a WhatsApp wave |
- Penicuik Christmas Street Fair (5th December 2015)
Raffle ticket sales were boosted by help from Duncan (pictured)
, grandson of our Honorary President Janet Knox. Duncan was visiting from Australia and put his excellent sales skills to work!
As usual, Penicuik Mayos (Mothers) Margaret and Gillian, did the lions share of the work, including providing vast quantities of home baking and other goods for the cause.
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| Supersalesman Duncan |
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| Janet and Margaret preside over our stall |
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| Trusty Trustees, Margaret and Gillian, preside over the Friends of Chitambo stall at the Penicuik Christmas Street Fair |
Thank you to EVERYONE who has contributed.
Friday, 27 November 2015
Chitambo District Emergency Care WhatsApp Network
Remarkable history has been made at Chitambo this week. ICT Workshop leads have established 2 Facebook pages, one open (Chitambo Hospital Facebook Group) and the other for closed and confidential discussion of emergency cases and issues.
They also established a WhatsApp Emergency Care support network. This is to enable isolated staff in Rural Health Clinics to obtain help and support from peers and experts, in managing serious emergencies.
2 such emergencies were reported within the first 24 hours.
Case 1: This was a case of an abortion in a 15 year old girl. Highly experienced medical and nursing staff were able to guide the clinic nurse in how to handle the case asking questions such as was it a complete or partial abortion?; how much bleeding was there?; was the patient anaemic?
They then instructed the nurse to initiate intravenous fluids and antibiotics and to keep them updated. If the bleeding was excessive, the patient would need to be referred to hospital. However, with the advice given, her condition improved and this was not necessary.
Case 2: This was a road traffic accident and the hospital team was summoned to prepare an ambulance and prepare to receive 2 road traffic accident victims. Road traffic accidents are all too common on the Great North Road (GNR), which runs from Cape to Cairo and passes by Chitambo. Any initiative which speeds up handling of such cases will save lives.
These are very innovative and creative responses, by our Zambian and Chitambo partners, to improving emergency care communications in the Chitambo District. We are all so proud of them.
Gifts from Maternal and Childhealth Advocacy International (MCAI)
Scottish charity MCAI donated 3 copies of their huge textbook, International Maternal and Child Health Care (Click here), to Chitambo and these were delivered there in September 2015. At least one copy is for the new emergency care resource room established as part of our current Scottish Government-sponsored project on 'Strengthening emergency care communications in the Chitambo District.
Professor David Southhall, MCAI Medical Director, has now offered Chitambo Hospital staff copies of 2 new pocket books:
- Pocket Book of Hospital Care for Maternal Emergencies Click here to see this book
- Pocket Book of Hospital Care of Neonates and Infants: Click here o see this book
In addition, he has forwarded a vast e-library of Maternal and Child Health resources (books, papers, guidelines, videos etc.) on a USB stick (pictures below). All this is completely free of charge and simply for the sake of improving care of women and children in the Chitambo District, and contributing to saving lives.
Thank you MCAI, for these very generous gestures. We are very grateful.
Thursday, 26 November 2015
Chitambo computing workshop
Zambian project partners have been running an Information and Computer Technology (ICT) workshop at Chitambo all of this week (November 23rd to 27th). This as part of our Small Grant project on 'Strengthening emergency care communication in the Chitambo District'. This project is sponsored by the Scottish Government and has covered a lot of valuable ground in the first 6 months.
The aim of this November workshop was to enable Chitambo Hospital and Rural Health Centre (RHC) clinical staff to make best use of the emergency care resources supplied by the project and to communicate for support on emergency are matters.
Chitambo Hospital Information Officer, Mr. Vincent Kole, created this Facebook page to initiate dialogue: Click here to see
He and Mr. Consider Mudenda, ICT Expert and In-country Project Lead, have now initiated a further, closed emergency care discussion group and a WhatsApp discussion/support group. The workshop students have been introduced to all these groups and have been chatting on them today.
Click here for the workshop photos: Workshop photos
The aim of this November workshop was to enable Chitambo Hospital and Rural Health Centre (RHC) clinical staff to make best use of the emergency care resources supplied by the project and to communicate for support on emergency are matters.
Chitambo Hospital Information Officer, Mr. Vincent Kole, created this Facebook page to initiate dialogue: Click here to see
He and Mr. Consider Mudenda, ICT Expert and In-country Project Lead, have now initiated a further, closed emergency care discussion group and a WhatsApp discussion/support group. The workshop students have been introduced to all these groups and have been chatting on them today.
Click here for the workshop photos: Workshop photos
Life for African Mothers are also offering to help
It is raining offers of wonderful help for the Chitambo emergency care project. The latest offer is from Life for African Mothers: Click here to see more
This organisation was started by Angela Gorman, a retired nurse from Wales, who was appalled by the high rates of preventable maternal mortality around the world. The charity supplies Misoprostol and other anti-haemorrhage drugs to hospitals around the world and has offered this to Chitambo. Just 3 Misoprostol tablets can prevent haemorrhage in childbirth and make the difference between life and death for Chitambo District mothers.
Thank you very much Angela, for this wonderful offer. We hope that Chitambo contacts will be able to link with you so that local mothers can benefit from this generous initiative.
This offer came about as a result of a message on the HIFA Network (HIFA) requesting help with sourcing Non-pneumatic Anti-shock garments for management of post-partum haemorrhage in childbirth: Click here for more information
Doctors at Chitambo Hospital indicated that these garments could save lives. They are like wet suits and can help to control the bleeding once it has happened, whereas Misoprostol and other drugs can prevent bleeding in the first place.
Clearly prevention is better than cure. However, both are likely to be needed and our forthcoming fundraising event, a pre-Christmas Quiz Night, will focus on raising funds to supply the 'wet suits' to as many Chitambo clinics as possible.
This organisation was started by Angela Gorman, a retired nurse from Wales, who was appalled by the high rates of preventable maternal mortality around the world. The charity supplies Misoprostol and other anti-haemorrhage drugs to hospitals around the world and has offered this to Chitambo. Just 3 Misoprostol tablets can prevent haemorrhage in childbirth and make the difference between life and death for Chitambo District mothers.
Thank you very much Angela, for this wonderful offer. We hope that Chitambo contacts will be able to link with you so that local mothers can benefit from this generous initiative.
This offer came about as a result of a message on the HIFA Network (HIFA) requesting help with sourcing Non-pneumatic Anti-shock garments for management of post-partum haemorrhage in childbirth: Click here for more information
Doctors at Chitambo Hospital indicated that these garments could save lives. They are like wet suits and can help to control the bleeding once it has happened, whereas Misoprostol and other drugs can prevent bleeding in the first place.
Clearly prevention is better than cure. However, both are likely to be needed and our forthcoming fundraising event, a pre-Christmas Quiz Night, will focus on raising funds to supply the 'wet suits' to as many Chitambo clinics as possible.
Mapping Chitambo District
Bob Kerr of OpenStreetMap.org (Click here) is doing wonderful work to start mapping Chitambo Hospital and its Rural Health Clinics. This will prove very useful to hospital and ambulance crews who will then be better able to track progress and distances between health care facilities, with implications for streamlining of emergency care delivery.
Have a look at this: Chitambo District Hospital and Rural Health Clinics
Saturday, 7 November 2015
The Virtual Doctors are offering help
Virtual Doctors is a Zambian registered NGO which is doing wonderful work in Telemedicine: Click here to see more
They want to offer their services to Chitambo. They have a new App, tablet pcs and a team of medical advisors who could help to answer tricky emergency questions. This is a simple, practical system and is working well elsewhere in Zambia. What do you think?
They want to offer their services to Chitambo. They have a new App, tablet pcs and a team of medical advisors who could help to answer tricky emergency questions. This is a simple, practical system and is working well elsewhere in Zambia. What do you think?
Thursday, 29 October 2015
Our Patron is a Saint!
Our Patron, Julie Davidson, Scottish journalist and writer, is a saint! She has been invited to speak at the 10th Anniversary of International Development celebrations, in Edinburgh. She will be speaking at the 'Culture Day' on Saturday 7th November, and is taking the opportunity to mention our charity. Thank you Julie.
Here are some more details of the event:
Saturday 7th: “Culture Day” – this event is open to the public, and takes place in the Grassmarket Centre, in Edinburgh:
Julie will be speaking about her book “Looking for Mrs Livingstone” Click here for details
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