About 2 weeks before this trip, I was sitting in my boss’s (Dr. Leif Nelin) office, talking about the nurse training program, and updating him on the progress of the students. He mentioned that he was going to go down with Nar (Dr. Narenda Singh, Founder of Guyana Help the Kids) the first week of August to have meetings with the Ministry of Health and the CEO of Georgetown Hospital to discuss issues surrounding staffing, medical/nursing education, and to open the new NICU at West Demarara Hospital. So, naturally I looked at him and said, “this sounds like something I should be involved in” to which he replied, “Yep it is, don’t know why I didn’t think to ask you to go….do you want to go?” Much schedule rearranging, flight/accommodation booking later, I arrived in Georgetown on Sunday August 4th at 9:45pm to the swanky El Dorado Inn (when you go with Nar, you get class, baby!). The next 4 days passed in a blur with multiple meetings with about as many new faces as there were drinks of rum and coconut water (and if you know Nar, you know the man doesn’t like to see you thirsty!).
Here are some of the highlights:
Monday: My morning started off with getting to see all the faces of the nursing students and their educator, Cenise for a lecture on neonatal skin and some practical application to the NICU regarding skin assessments and positioning of patients. Dr. Mina Singh, a professor at York University in Toronto and board member for Guyana help the Kids, joined me mid-morning to discuss parent education and to start having the students develop teaching pamphlets that she will be printing and bringing back in November. I introduced her to Shanta’s amazing curry for lunch, though I’m not sure she was as excited as I was (ok, yes, I may border on obsession with the place, but the curry…oh the curry!). The afternoon brought my first meeting with the Ministry of Health with the health minister, Dr. Behri Ramsaran and his council which included different department secretaries, the director of the regional health service, Dr. Vachan, and the chief medical officer, Dr. Sham Persaud along with the secretary and coordinator of the Ministry of Local Government. The smell of diplomacy was in the air and, needless to say, I felt a little intimidated with all of these important players in the room! The main goal of this meeting was to discuss the sustainability of the Neonatal Network Program, which would link all 4 outlying level 2 NICUs in New Amsterdam, Linden, West Demarara, and Suddie with the main level 3 NICU in Georgetown. This will require improved communication and a transport system (I still think a speedboat is the way to go!) as well as buy-in from the government now to plan for complete ownership by the end of 2016 (the end of our grant funding from Grand Challenges Canada). It’s a long road ahead, and as with all diplomatic meetings, there’s usually more talk than action, but that’s why we are all here this week- Nar, Leif, me, and Mina- to provide a unified front from all aspects of Guyana help the Kids. The evening brought a taste of Guyanese dinner parties. My first lesson- when you tell people what time to come, plan on them being at least 1 hour late (fashionable, of course, but very late) with the last group arriving almost 2 hours after said meeting time. My second lesson- make sure to bring your fancy dress. My third lesson- dancing is an art form (and this little white girl just doesn’t have the moves!). The night led to much laughing and picture taking- as these pictures will show ☺
Tuesday- Meetings today centered around the nursing program and staffing of the NICU at Georgetown. We met with Mr. Michael Kahn, the CEO of Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the CNO (Chief nursing officer) Matron Audrey Corry. We had 2 separate meetings about the needs of the NICU, specifically staffing. Interestingly enough, by the end of the meeting we had the promise of a minimum of 6 nurses that would be pulled from other units and oriented to the NICU as well as the hiring of 5-8 patient care assistants, the first in the history of the NICU. This was a big win for us, as the unit currently has only 2-3 nurses on per shift to cover as many as 30 infants.
The evening brought an unexpected invitation to the closing ceremony of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission’s (GGMC) 2-day conference on selective explosives blasting. How you may ask? Well…..there are 4 brothers of the Kissoon family (I refer to them as the Kissoon boys) of Guyanese birth who are all successful businessmen in Toronto. They donated money to GHTK to help build the NICU at West Demarara hospital, which will open on Wednesday of this week. So they were all in town to celebrate the grand opening as well as to visit with family. One of their cousins is involved with one of the mining services in Guyana, and was in charge of the festivities at Pegasus Hotel, which we happened to pick as our dining spot of the evening. After a couple rum and coconut waters, we were practically family and were soon shaking hands with Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, listening to the steel drum band and digging into the appetizer buffet.
Wednesday- We all piled into Nar’s jeep and headed over the floating bridge for the opening of the NICU at West Demerara hospital. We were joined by the Kissoon boys, the Minister of Health Dr. Ramsaran and a frenzy of local media. As always, Leif tried to get out of speaking by telling me that the camera man told him he was too ugly to be on TV, and I HAD to go on instead of him. I responded with a “nice try….you’re not getting out of this!”(don’t worry, he got his revenge in October…stay tuned). After a short speech by Leif, some verbal diarrhea by Nar and Behri, and nice sentiments by brother Kissoon, there were many photos of the unveiling. What was most touching though, was one of the nurses in the maternity ward who sang the most beautiful rendition of “Heal the World” by Michael Jackson in honor of the opening. It was hard to find a dry eye in the place, as I believe that is what we are all trying to do, one day and one baby at a time.
The night brought my favorite night of the week- the traditional Guyana buffet at the Grand Costal Hotel. Amazing curry’s, rice, local veggies, what more can you ask for?!
Links to newspaper articles:
http://issuu.com/gytimes/docs/final_6274b8b0e44fa0/11?e=0
http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2014/08/07/west-demerara-hospitals-neonatal-intensive-care-unit-commissioned/?shared=email&msg=fail
Thursday- Mina and I attended a meeting at the Ministry of Health with tutors and members involved in educating nurses in Guyana. In attendance were Dr. Sham Persaud, Chief Medical Officer of Guyana, Mr. Medex Benn, Director of Health Sciences Education, Ms. Terramattie Barker, Chief Nursing Officer and Head of the Nursing Council, Sister Murphy, a nursing tutor from Georgetown School of Nursing, Sister Barkoye, Principal tutor at Georgetown School of Nursing, Brother Hillary Christopher, Principal tutor at Charles Rosa School of Nursing in Linden, and Sister Oslyn Hickens, nursing tutor at New Amsterdam School of Nursing (big shout out to Ms. Leiota Hutson, International Coordinatorr for Ministry of Health, who recorded all of our meeting minutes so I can keep all of these names straight!). The reason the education faculty wanted to meet was to discuss ways in which the schools of nursing can update their curriculum to fit with the new standards being set forth by the Caribbean Nursing Council and address the current low passage rate of the national nursing exam in Guyana. In the process of discussing ways Mina and I can help to educate tutors in curriculum development, test construction, and clinical teaching, I also used the time to bend their ear about getting our nurse training program accredited by the nursing council and having Georgetown School of Nursing assuming ownership of the program by the end of 2016. They were open to the idea (as long as I did all the initial planning), and I am optimistic that my proposal will be heard and discussed in upcoming meetings. We left for the day with a plan for Mina and me to do some faculty development workshops in November at Georgetown School of Nursing and Charles Rosa School of Nursing in Linden.
After the meeting Mina and I were given a tour of the Georgetown School of Nursing by Sister Barkoye and Ms. Barker. They showed us their classrooms, lab, and library and gave us some background on the nursing education in Guyana.
Nursing library at Georgetown School of Nursing
My last night in Georgetown was spent in the company of my amazing travelmates, Nar, Leif, and Mina along with the Kissoon boys and their cousin (from Tuesday’s party) at a great wine bar in Georgetown.
It was a quick trip, and quite a different one than I am used to, but it was a fantastic learning opportunity for me. From Nar I learned a lot about negotiating and navigating the see of global politics in a developing country. From Mina I received encouragement to finally get my article written about the pilot program and to submit an abstract to Sigma Theta Tau’s International conference in Puerto Rico this summer. From Leif I am reminded of our overall vision for our program and how to keep cool and steady despite the whack-a-mole slew of problems that the NICU and our program face every day. From the Kissoon boys I felt a connection to family, as they took me in as one of their own. From the nursing tutors and their schools, a realization that international faculty development is my passion- one that I am ready to pursue with a PhD application upon returning home. And as always, a renewed spirit for my calling to the nursing profession.
Until next time…
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