Emergency flight early to Aishalton for a stabbing case - the wound is 3 cm from the spine of the patient. Had to navigate through a low cloud layer over the Lethem area adjacent to the Kanuku mountains which made for a memorable site indeed but required a home-made instrument approach on the way home.
Back in time to help the RPH team set up the dish and projector screen at the Brazilian restaurant for the grand drawing of the 'test your team' HIV tournement at halftime of the WC Final.
Thank you to Mr. Carlton P. Beckles of the Guyana Football Federation for coming out to officiate the Grand Drawing. During the world cup promotion we more than doubled our previous monthly VCT record thanks to positive peer pressure and the grand prize from Coulors on Robb Street.
Although she has yet to be notified in person and remains anonymous we do officially have a winner!
Special thank you to Mr. Milton Bradford, Managing Director of Colours who generously came on board the 'test your team' promotion to provide an innovative incentive for health awareness in Region 9. With the main store located at 70 E Robb St in Georgetown, Colours is the official national distributor of the Converse apparel brand in Guyana.
The lucky winner will pick her own outfit from the showroom and be looking sharp with new gear valuing over 30,000 guy dollars. Her name was picked out at random by our GFF representative, Mr Carlton Beckle from among hundreds of of 'contestants' who became eligible by taking an confidential and free HIV test with Remote Area Medical.
Responding to a Rupununi emergency from Georgetown does happen from time to time as we are occasionally in the city for meetings or maintenance on the aircraft. On saturday nurse Fiona Johnny (originally of Karasabai) served as the flight nurse when we picked up an appendicitis case, a snake bite (labaria), and an young man with a painful abdominal mass all from the South Central airstrip. With the current level of high water, vehicle transportation is all but impossible in many parts of the region.
A team including doctors and volunteers from Guyana, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Oxford University loaded onto the RAM Bedford truck, pictured above departing Lethem Public Hospital, to provide HIV testing and education services along with a multi-disciplined medical clinic.
Activities included:
Village council meeting
Community-wide 'edutainment' event including video presentations.
Confidential HIV testing and counceling
GYN services including pap smears and pelvic exams
General Medical clinic
MOH administrative review of village health post.
'Marundoi' listening and review session with primary school.
Documentation of special-needs children.
The RAM women's health team had a full schedule with a couple of 14 hour days at the Lethem clinic and following the Yupukari mission an early departure to the Upper Mazaruni district of Region 7. Using the organization's aircraft and boat assistance from the Kamarang Hospital, they were able to follow up with previously screened women in every community for the prevention of cervical cancer.
Wednesday morning was the big day for the launch of our first RPH mission in the interior of Guyana. The RAM Bedford truck departed Lethem with a team of twelve on board including Eye Care Guyana's nine person crew. Vision and hearing screening are to be coupled with HIV testing and counseling in villages of the Deep South of the Rupununi.
The RAM 4x4 Bedford truck is officially on the road here in Guyana. It was dispatched from Georgetown to our base in Lethem on Saturday morning early with a load of supplies and equipment as well as a large shipment of drugs and related boxes from the Ministry of Health for Region 9.
The truck has been recently outfitted with a new canopy featuring zippered windows and end panels, an AC inverter to run critical appliances and chargers as well as upholstered seating for the tray. The truck will be serving some of the most remote villages in country with a variety of health services packaged with HIV testing, counseling and education.
The RAM Bedford truck is pictured here loaded and ready to depart the capital city for the interior of Guyana. Our first RPH mission is scheduled this week in partnership with Eye Care Guyana. A team of nine eye specialists will be transported with the RAM Bedford to the deep south of the Rupununi district. The mission will additionally serve as an initial test run of sorts as we continue to develop our team and network to deliver an increasing diversity of services.
By Partnering with health workers from the public and private sectors in Guyana, Remote Area Medical has served 3,125 patients with their airborne medical service during 2009. A specially equipped [six-seat] Cessna 206 aircraft is based full time in Lethem to provide both emergency and outreach services.
The numbers recorded include patients flown [in Regions 7,8 and 9] for emergency treatment, and those reached by flying doctors, medex, dentists, dentex, vaccine nurses, and HIV testers and councilors and health professionals. Many interior villages are not accessible by road or are many hours or even days over rough terrain from the nearest Doctor. The figure is expected to grow further as statistics from the eye care and spectacle programme are compiled.
As the primary partners, the Ministry of Health and LethemHospital provided the majority of the specialists to extend the health services to the most isolated communities in southern Guyana. The schedule was established early in the year based on discussions with regional health authorities and .
To maximize the use of the aircraft a multi-discipline team typically traveled together to provide a variety of services in one visit. The team would leave early in the day and usually be home to their families the same evening or the following day. “The aircraft allows us to maximize the sparse human resources in the hinterland regions to reach many more outlying communities” said RAM founder Stan Brock, who has first hand experience living in the South Rupununi for many years.
While the majority of medical missions were flown in Region 9, outreaches were also conducted in Regions seven and eight. In addition to its’ local airborne operations, RAM Guyana facilitated visits from nine medical and veterinary teams during the course of the year which provided services such as major surgery, cancer screening, and general medicine in Regions 1, 7, 8, and 9.
The work was constrained by the aircraft being unavailable due to maintenance for the entire month of December and half of November. In 2010 RAM plans to partner further with local providers to offer not only airborne outreach programs but add a 4x4 Bedford Army truck to reach communities best served by ground transportation.
RAM Guyana is a registered non profit company in Guyana, South America. We are administered by a local Board of Directors and based in Lethem, Region 9. Our objective is to save lives, relieve suffering and improve the quality of life of persons living and working in the most remote and isolated regions of Guyana.
We are an independent, non-governmental, humanitarian organization without religious or political affiliation.
Our parent organization is Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps based in Knoxville TN - www.ramusa.org
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