Stories from the Field

I'm slowly updating my blog with missing time lines from my Peace Corps service in Rwanda. Here's a draft publication that I sent to my NGO following one of my work projects on the field. (original date July 24, 2009)

Access Project and GE Collaboration Brings Much Needed Equipments to Nemba
Hospital in Rwanda

Another successful collaboration between Access Project and GE Global Health brings
valuable instruments to Nemba Hospital, District of Gakenke, Northern Province,
Rwanda. Access Project through its partnership with GE secured the donation of new
patient Anesthesia monitors and other equipments worth more than ($ADD VALUE HERE). Nemba Hospital surgeons operate in two theatre rooms and perform up to 4 procedures a day. One of the two theatre rooms is equipped with old generation anesthesia monitoring system that is limited in capabilities. The second room lacked any anesthesia monitoring system and could only be used for minor procedures. Today,
surgeons at Nemba can perform up to 6 operations a day and include pediatric patients
instead of transferring pediatric cases to other hospitals.

With the new acquisition, the hospital now is has two theatrical rooms equipped with
essential patient monitoring instruments. In addition to the added operating room
capacity, the new GE Datex-Ohmeda 7100 comes with many bells and whistles. The
new equipment is outfitted with an intuitive user interface that displays all the patient information needed for assessing the clinical status of the patient. It also features the ability to set and personalize vital sign parameters appropriate for the patient age and gender. An intelligent alarm system offers preset alarm limits for different parameters and adjusts the alarms in critical situations by sensing the duration, severity and the combination of different alarms. “this new equipment gives me confidence. The surgeon is feeling more confident and secured being informed of the patient clinical status” says Marcel (LAST NAME and TITLE HERE), anesthesiologist at Nemba Hospital.

The new GE equipment empowers surgeons during operations and enables fast and
accurate decision making. It increased theatre throughput, efficiency, and improved
patient outcomes through comprehensive monitoring and automated administration of
anesthesia drugs.

My Assignment

So I have two more weeks left on my training then we go to Kigali, the capital for 1 week. Peace Corps has a graduation ceremony followed by a swearing-in ceremony for Peace Corps volunteer at the ambassador's house, which is awesome.

Following the swearing in, we all move to our sites. Mine is at a place called Gankeke (pronounced Gashenhh). It's a small village about an hour north of the capital and about 30 minutes from the second largest city in Rwanda, Musanze. Gakenke is known for some attractions mainly mount Kaboye, the tallest in Rwanda and one of the tallest in Africa it sits about 12,000 ft. My plans are to hike mount kaboye every chance I have. Musanze is actually a tourist attraction with many hotels and cool spots. The main industry is focused on the national parks and the forest where the gorillas reside. It's a popular area and was featured in the national geographic. They also have other large mountains and popular trails.

I'm looking forward to it for sure. Gakenke supports 2 district hospitals and 19 health centers.

The NGO I'll be working with is called Access Project (www.theaccessproject.org). They're affilisted with Columbia University and work in 4 regions around Rwanda in addition to their office in Kigali. They provide management and technical support to health clinics in meeting operations and quality indicators, improving services and access to care. One of their latet projects involves building a new health clinic and a youth center. The NGO staff is amazing and I'm very excited