Here come the Americans...

Randy, Kate, and I descended on the unit today ( flight of the Valkyries playing).  We were greeted by 22 babies, 2 nurses from the previous training group ( yes, they were the only nurses for all the babies on the unit) and 17 students. Randy took his tools and got right to work fixing all the CPAP and ventilator humidity chambers and alarms.  We had our first intubation of the day in the first 30 minutes there (quite a welcoming ceremony!).  Luckily the baby did quite well and I was impressed to see how far the unit has come in taking care of ventilated patients in the NICU (they used to ship them over to the adult ICU).

After our initiation to the unit we got to know the fabulous group of new students.  They were very excited to learn and have great enthusiasm for sharing their new knowledge with colleagues from their base hospitals ( we have a few students each from New Amsterdam, Suddie, Linden, and Diamond along with Georgetown). 

I was fortunate to get a meeting with the 

Director of nursing for GPHC, Matron Curry.  She was very happy with our program and hopes to get more nurses involved in the future.  I appreciated her input and suggestions for improvement ( a 6 month internship) along with her vision for the future.  I also scored a contact from the University of Guyana to hopefully get a certification program established to ensure sustainability of the program.

The rest of our afternoon flew by..Kate provided a little comfort to a very sick Trisomy 13 baby, Randy worked with Bennett, our biomedical guy, Dr. Mike helped with rounds and ventilation, and Cait set out to developmentally position every baby in the unit!  We finally came back around 6pm, tired but excited for our week ahead.

 Ventilated patient

Melissa and Shivani, nurses from our first program

Randy

Kate

Cait with Matron Curry and Sister Lalckecharan

A view of the front room of the unit 

Church, cows, and cook up...the full Guyana experience

This morning started bright and early with  an Anglican Church service at St. George's cathedral, the tallest wooden cathedral in the world.  The breeze blew off the ocean into the open air church and light steamed through the stained glass above.  We were announced as distinguished guests and awarded a keychain for our visit :)  Our second church service was just down the street; we met Michelle, a nursing student Randy met though his church before our visit in August 2012.  

"Cook up" was the lunch of choice which blends rice, coconut milk, black eyed peas, chicken, veggies, and spices.  Delicious!  We even got Kate to try Roti, an Indian bread, and finally found a non American food she liked :)

Back on our balcony at project dawn we watched cows and goats being herded from the field next to the CARRICOM (Carribean Community) Convention center across the road.  2 hours later they came back for the goats.  Interesting mix of old and new customs at work!

As we wait for our Chinese takeout (hey, we have to have a little American normalcy in our lives!), Randy and I are going to teach Kate how to make plantain chips :)

Inside St. George's cathedral

Outside St. George's

Cook up

The view from our balcony with the ocean in the distance

Cows grazing beside the Carribean Community secretariat center

Woman herding the goats and their cute kids!

Good morning Guyana!

Kate, Randy and I arrived at 545 am this morning and greeted the strong Guyanan sun as we made our way into Georgetown and our accommodation place, project dawn; a dorm style facility with a large kitchen and living room and private bed/bath for each of us.  After settling in we went to market to gather fresh tropical fruit and veggies (Randy gave us all a lesson on the cooking and eating of each one) before heading to the Pegasus hotel for a little R&R and dinner. Perfect end to a long overnight flight and perfect beginning to our 2 weeks of work with the nurses and residents at Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC)!

Come along on our journey

Welcome to our blog! We want to share our trip with all of you so you get a better idea of the nurse training program in the beautiful country of Guyana!  Check back daily as we post updates and pictures from each day!

The bags and babies are packed... Would love to see the face of the TSA agent who has to look at luggage as he sees the silhouette of an infant!  Thanks to Gail for donating 4 mannequins for NRP training!   Thanks also to Nationwide children's hospital for the 45 lbs. ( and that's just what Cait brought!) of supplies...I now know why we haven't had a raise in 5 years :)