Thursday, May 23, 2013

Second Annual Career Fair is Happening Today.

Students, parents and teachers at the St. Ignatius Secondary School will once again participate in a career day organized with Remote Area Medical Guyana starting this morning.

Numerous businesses and agencies from the Lethem and wider Rupununi area have an opportunity to introduce themselves to the workforce of the future. The students, in turn are exposed to real-world organizations that they can see themselves working with in a variety of disciplines.

Pictured below are scenes from the event last year. Participants from the business community who contributed in that event included Namilco, Imon Wireless, Remote Area Medical, GNBS, and Air Services Ltd among others.

This year the youth program SKYE (Skills and Knowledge for Youth Employment) is a key implementing partner.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Horse Falls on Vaquero at Katoka.

Community Health Worker Jeff Marco gestures while helping manage the potential spinal injury adjacent the airstrip of his own village.

Katoka residents, with assistance from RAM Guyana, built the airstrip on a hill near the village some years ago. Access to emergency medical services is dramatically improved when a fifteen minute flight replaces many hours by boat and trail to the nearest hospital. The airstrip is maintained by villagers and hand tools with no government or financial assistance.

The neighboring community of Simooni has been identified as another priority location for RAM's next airstrip development project.

The injured Vaquero, or bearfoot cowboy, had recently delivered some live beef for a village feeding program, when his horse toppled and ended up falling on top of him. Transporting a spinal case in the RAM aircraft is straightforward with the removable seats and double clam-shell doors on the Cessna U-206 air-ambulance.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

RAM Team Action in Pictures

Dr Jim Shipley attends to a baby from Kwaimatta Village.











 Volunteer Paul Maresca pictured at work in Katoka Village. 















The RAM medical team tin the central and north Rupununi wrapped up a successful expedition in partnership with the Region 9 health department.  

The team was able to travel to nine remote villages by boat and deliver a host of critical health services and education sessions.  One highlight was the portable ultrasound machine that Dr Jim Shipley used to bring advanced diagnostics and care to these isolated communities.   

This technology proved useful in many ways including as an incentive for all the pregnant women to come in for other critical services and nutrition


The portable Ultrasound Machine in Action.

Other services included Dental care, rehabilitation services, eye screening, mass de-worming, diabetes and hypertension screening, and even minor surgeries.

One women for example had a foreign body (splinter of wood) removed from her arm after it had been lodged there for over nine years.   Many special needs, or SPAN clients, were also screened for follow up by the Ministry of Health and other partners.  Stay tuned for more updates.

RAM Guyana Chairman, Patrick de Groot had to fix the vehicle with a piece of wood (wheel center) to make it in to Karanambu  where the boats were launched.

Patrick de Groot, Salvador de Caires, Terrence Trapnell, Dr Shipley discuss strategy.



Dentex Atkinson Daniels, Jules Fredricks, Salvador, and Druanne Browne.



Health Education at Yupukari primary school with Dentex Daniels.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Medical Students Facilitate Hands-on Trainings with RAM Rangers.

UK based Medical Students, Sang and Stephanie conducted health trainings with Lethem-based volunteers on their recent stint with the organization.  Mental health was a training module that the two future doctors put together from scratch for the organization and presented at Lethem Hospital - due to black out conditions at the RAM shack.

They also facilitated hands on trainings for hypertension and diabetes screening for the youth affiliated with the RAM Rangers volunteer group.  New volunteers are always encouraged to come in to the office in Lethem to fill in a registration form and start making an impact.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Infection, Toxins, Demon Possession? ... or Something Else Entirely?

The RAM aircraft was called into action early Tuesday morning in response to a strange series of medical circumstances in the South Rupununi.   A group of secondary school students, mostly girls, from outlying villages have been experiencing a series of unusual symptoms.

Spells of fainting, leg cramping, and body convulsions interrupted by periods of apparent normalcy were observed and the parents, villagers and local health workers were naturally alarmed.
A response from the Health Department was flown in to conduct a full clinical, social and environmental assessment of the situation.  The team, including acting Regional Health Officer Dr. M. Ally, worked diligently throughout the day to treat the clients, speak to the families and care givers, and help determine the source of the problem.

Blood samples were taken and flown back in the afternoon to help determine or rule out certain conditions. Many of the teenager's parents had to travel many miles by bicycle and foot to reach into Aishalton to help care for the in-patients who overwhelmed the small nursing staff at the hospital.

Nearly a dozen students have been affected.  The students are normally housed in gender-segregated dormitories with a one house mother and one house father responsible around the clock, seven days a week.

A retired Nurse who spent most of her career at Aishalton Hospital said she had never seen anything like it in all her years of service.  Similar cases have recently been observed at other villages in the deep south.  Members of clergy from various sects have visited the patients and held prayer sessions and other religious activities aimed at assisting the persons involved.

Pictured here is a section of the Rupununi Savanna after a fire created an unusual pattern at the beginning of the dry season on a recent medical flight.

The second image shows a recent Medevac flight at Achiwib airstrip which featured a teenage girl suffering from similar symptoms.  In that case an underlying social issue may have played a role.  The family reported that the girl had her hair cut by unknown assailants while the parents were away at their farm.

The patient had been reportedly loosing consciousness prior to the emergency flight.  Due to the lack of communication infrastructure for this scattered and remote population, RAM is often asked to respond with far less than the ideal amount and quality information.

Mental health has also been identified by the organization as an area where very few services, if any are currently available in this district. Discussions were held with the village touchau (chief) and parents regarding the situation and the underlying emotional stressors at the time.






Saturday, September 22, 2012

Medivac at Sunrise

Special thanks to volunteer Nurse Marcy Gravesande for joining today's early morning evacuation flight from Ogle. The call came in from Yupukari Village last night - an eight year old boy with a compound arm fracture. The boy will be picked up from the Karanambu airstrip.

Pictured below is the reason the aircraft had to overnight at Georgetown: a fractured hip evacuated yesterday afternoon from the Rupununi along with two other emergency patients.

Friday, September 21, 2012

RAM Expedition in Progress.

Volunteering in southern Guyana with RAM can get interesting in more ways than one. Pictured here is a Speckled Caiman (Alligator) battling an Anaconda in the Central Rupununi a few days ago.

RAM expedition #682 is currently underway in this district and will be working their way, village to village along the Rupununi River through the North Savannas. The team is made up of overseas-based medical professionals headed by Dr Jim Shipley and features volunteers from Georgetown with support from the Regional health department. Dentex Atkinson Daniels and Rehab Assistant Druanne Browne of Annai health Center have joined the team.

Collaborating with, and supporting the work of the public health sector is an important feature of RAM's work in the interior. Pictured here is some of the medication supplied by the Ministry of Health - evidence of their partnership with the NGO.

Special thanks to Don Melville for contributing the featured photograph. Stay tuned for more updates.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

'Health Watch Sweepstakes'

Exclusively for Residents of the Rupununi. Find the white RAM tents at the football game this afternoon, or at Karengesh (City Boys) club tonight from 9pm for a chance to check your health as well as the opportunity to win a rugged, new wrist watch.

Tabatinga football club will be battling Snatchers on the pitch in St Ignatious from four pm this afternoon. RAM will be on hand to promote healthy lifestyle choices and offering tests for HIV, blood pressure, vision, and blood sugar.

For the late night crew, be there at Karengesh, also known as 'yellow shop' over the creek tonight for your final chance. Priority will be given to first time and male clients as the activity is designed to target those groups who are especially at risk for contracting sexually transmitted infections.

Only those tested for HIV today will be eligible to win the new watch donated by friends of RAM. Special thanks to all those who made this health promotion possible. Volunteering in your community is a great way to give back, build your CV, and make a difference at the end of the day. Visit our tents or the RAM shack any time for volunteer application forms.

Friday, August 17, 2012

The Adventures of Sang and Stephanie.

Two UK medical students from London are wrapping up two weeks of volunteering in remote southern Guyana with RAM. Stay tuned for more updates and tales of adventure.  

Friday, August 3, 2012

Movie Night Fund-raiser: This Saturday!




Have a great time at the big screen with the whole family. Come out and support the first fund-raising event organized entirely by the volunteer corps in Lethem.

All proceeds will benefit the community health and development activities of Remote Area Medical Guyana. Special thanks to Imon wireless for sponsoring this activity and putting together a great show.

Below is a totally random photo stolen from Noel's BBM profile recently showing some smiling members of the RAM crew.  Thanks Noel.





















Update:  This activity, organized by the RAM Ranger volunteer group, will go down as a great learning experience for all those who put in their time to support.  The good news is that the activity did make a profit, even if the amount was less then some might have expected.  Lethem is a developing town but even by Guyana standards is not well off - made up of residents who struggle every day to make ends meat.  Fund raising in these areas takes experience, patience and tempered expectations. Special thanks to all those dedicated volunteers who popped popcorn, made icicles and put up flyers.  Also special thanks to Imon for their invaluable support which made this activity possible.  Raising awareness about volunteer opportunities, and empowering today's youth to make a difference is always a worth while activity. 

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Youth Volunteers Rising


Special thanks to all the volunteers and businesses who came up big to combat illegal and harmful garbage dumping in the Lethem area.  Pictured here are some highlights of the recent volunteer activity.  RAM Guyana volunteers have organized themselves into a group complete with a leadership structure and fundraising ambitions.  Stay tuned for more activities from these rangers as this was there first community action.




Philbert and Jessica put the finishing touches on some of the signs aimed at helping residents do the right thing.  Up until recently it was impossible to know where the official dump was, and numerous makeshift sites began polluting the savannas.  These signs were made possible by generous support from Da Silva's House of Optics.



Believe it or not the picture above is not in fact the official Lethem dumpsite.  It is a convenient gravel pit about half way to the real location that has plastic bags blowing as far as the eye can see.



Apollo Kanhai is pictured here leading discussions with RAM and Red Cross volunteers prior to the collaborative action for environmental health.




Manager Andre Yhap of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Lethem Branch hands over three new bins in front of the RAM Guyana office while volunteers look on.   

Monday, July 16, 2012

The Winning Slogan - for Our Environmental Health.

Are you a resident, friend or lover of the Rupununi district? Are you also sick and tired of seeing the once pristine landscape being trashed?

Let us know what you think, what we can do at the grass roots level and click 'Like' to stay in touch on facebook. Show your support for a Clean, Litter-free, Environmentally Aware Rupununi.
This logo was developed out of a competition of local RAM volunteers to come up with a campaign slogan to address these urgent issues of environmental health. Check out fb/RAMGuyana for more pics of the initial activities.

After receiving numerous entries from the local volunteer corps and beyond - the winning slogan has been selected and unveiled at the recent clean-up campaign in Central Rupununi.

The winning entry was submitted by John Forde of Lethem and has since been developed into the logo above. We need your help to take the CLEAR campaign to the next level.

Special thanks to the Guyana Times Magazine for publishing a Sunday spread on the launch of the campaign.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Medical Outreach, By Air.

A Doctor, Dental technician, Physical Therapy Assistant, and a Vision Care worker all took part in the most recent collaboration between RAM and the Ministry of Health. Extending the agencies scarce human resources to reach the most isolated villages and settlements is what the aircraft does well.

Dr Torres, originally from Wowetta village and now working at the Annai Health Center, was able to visit the village of Apoteri for the first time to provide services alongside his colleagues. The team reached over one hundred clients including a boat full from the nearby village of Rewa.  Pictured above in the foreground is Dentex Atkinson Daniels unloading the boat after the ride from the village back to the airstrip.


One of the local teachers was identified by the team as having a critical eye condition and was airlifted that afternoon and subsequently flown to Georgetown to see the Ophthalmologist. Pictured above is a disabled, seven year old SPAN client who is being raised by his grandmother Maud, currently with no public assistance or support of any kind.


An aerial survey was also done on the airstrip development project at Rewa following discussions and a request for support from village councilors. RAM has repeatedly assisted villages with the development and certification process in collaboration with government authorities.

Friday, June 15, 2012

In Our Rupununi Savanna?

Meeting this evening at RAM Shack in Lethem to deal with this issue. Be there and/or let us know what you think on Facebook.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Flying Doctors Screen Dozens for Surgery.

In recent flight activity, Dr Irv Chan and Dr Arbib Godette (pictured above) took separate trips to remote villages to identify candidates for the upcoming surgery expedition in Lethem this weekend.

The former headed South wile the latter visited three villages in the Pakaraima Mountains during the course of a single afternoon. These isolated clients suffering from a wide variety of injury and illness now have a chance to get on the list for a surgical solution to their suffering.

While many more were screened, over two dozen were identified to see the team starting work on Saturday morning thanks to the Ministry of Health. RAM is committed to extending basic services in partnership to the most far flung communities in the interior of Guyana.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

World Environment Day Triggers Action.

Volunteers from the Lethem area will be combating illegal dump sites this Saturday morning with a unique clean-up campaign. A series of follow up activities have been planned for the Central Rupununi to address the issues of environmental Health.

Pictured here is Head Mistress of Arapaima Primary school receiving to donated trash bins from RAM driver Philbert Malcolm. Stay tuned for the launch of an exciting regional campaign to target this issue along with volunteer opportunities.