2016 April Mission – Kabala Government Hospital
As we engage rural communities like Kabala, we aim to collaborate, support, and improve their healthcare systems. Our primary focus at Kabala Government Hospital is to improve the delivery of healthcare by mobilizing the power of volunteer medical professionals in the United States to assist in providing the training needed. This first surgical mission (April 2016) serves as the vehicle to establish a long-lasting relationship with the key stakeholders in Kabala and Freetown.
Goals include:
- Promote a clean and healthy environment with sustainable medical equipment and training that would help to achieve our objective of improving healthcare delivery.
- Acquire medical supplies and equipment suitable to support our initiatives.
- Organize and facilitate surgical/medical missions.
- Implement training programs to improve healthcare delivery.
The plans for this mission were initiated through Mr. Peacemaker Kargbo, who informed both Dr. Charlie and Dr. Moses (DMO) of Saving Lives intentions for the people of Kabala. We also informed the Chief Medical Officer in Freetown, Dr. Brima Kargbo, of our intentions. In February 2016, Malik Jalloh-Jamboria traveled to Sierra Leone and met with stakeholders, which included Dr. Kargbo, Dr. Charlie, Dr. Moses (DMO), and the Kabala Hospital staff. Malik also met and made the accommodation arrangements with Mr. Peter Conteh, who confirmed the dates and reserved his guesthouse for our stay in Kabala. Mr. Peacemaker, with DMO’s approval, announced the mission on the Kabala radio. A week before the mission, Badara Kamara (BK) traveled to Sierra Leone to finalize all the logistics of the mission. He was able to meet with other stakeholders that were very instrumental in the success of this mission.
Pre-mission objectives:
Patient Care planned:
- Perform 60 Major operations in 5 operative days.
- Fact-finding/needs assessment
- Deliver medication & equipment
- Medical Consultations
Teaching planned:
- Teach local staff informally at the bedside, on the ward, and in the OR.
- Teach local staff via lectures in a classroom setting.
Special Projects Planned:
- Visit Kabala School for the blind and make a financial donation
Travel To Mission
We flew from Washington Dulles Airport on Brussels Airlines, transiting in Brussels, where we encountered a 4 hour delay and had to be re-routed to Monrovia for another 2 hour delay and finally on to Freetown.
Main Event (14 days)
- April 7: Depart DC in the afternoon for Brussels.
- April 8: Arrived in Freetown and took a bus ferry bus to the guesthouse in Sussex.
- April 9: AM: Team Building day
- April 10: Travel to Kabala by bus and check in at Mr. Peter Conteh’s guest house
- April 11: All day patient triage, OR set up, and did surgeries in the afternoon
- April 11-15: Surgery and triage all day for five (5) days.
- Friday April 15: At night “thank you dinner” for the hospital staff.
- Saturday April 16: Travel by bus to Freetown. Stopped at the “big market” for shopping and later Lunch at Lumley Beach, arranged by Mohamed Serry. Check-in at The Place/li>
- Sunday April 17: Drove by bus via Port Loko directly to airport for overnight flight to Brussels.
- Monday April 18: arrived at Dulles, early afternoon.
Summary Of Mission And Accomplishments:
Patient Care planned:
- Triage : 100 plus patients
- Performed 72 cases (68 major, 1 emergency, and 3 pediatric cases).
- Delivered medication, supplies & equipment donated to Kabala Hospital.
- Collaborated with local staff assigned to help the Team during the mission.
Teaching planned:
- Bed side teaching every day in OR, at the bedside and on the ward (local CRNA and nurses)
- Bed side training of local nurses on pre-operative preparation (IV, Abx..)
- Bedside training of local nurses on post-op recovery (Vital signs, report.)
- Teaching of local medical student Samba Jalloh
Special Projects Planned:
- Support “Women Against Poverty”, a local charity organization: They prepared our meals
- Visited the school for the blind; donated musical instruments and 2 million Leones.
Summary Of Mission And Accomplishments:
- Kabala Government Hospital for welcoming the SLI Team and sharing their facilities.
- Dr. Francis Moses and Dr. Charlie
- The Paramount Chief Bawuru 3rd for welcoming us to Koinadugu.
- NATCOM and NASSIT for their financial support
- Mr. Peter Conte for hosting us
- Dr. Brima Kargbo (CMO) for helping with the preparations
- Mr. Peacemaker for his continuous support, patient triage, and follow-up.
- All CHOs, nurses, and hospital staff for working hard with the Team.
- Merrah and Hawah: From “Women Against Poverty” for preparing our lunches and dinner.
- Special thanks to Abdul Jalloh, Maxwell, Yasin Jallo-Jamboria, Allie Conteh, Pa Amara, DAN, and Mohamed for all their support.
- To all volunteers who did an incredible job under some trying circumstances
- International Surgical Health Initiative (ISHI) for their continuous support
- Meritus Medical Center
- Trivergent Health Alliance
- Brenda Griffith: for ordering, collecting, and packing mission supplies
- Dr. Ziad Sifri: For providing us with Anesthesia monitors, a hernia mesh cautery machine, and pens.
- Dr. Michael Staley : for providing us the much needed medications for the entire mission
- To all our donors and volunteers who help make this mission successful, Thank you!