Only 1 out of 160…. this was the number of Kelly’s Ugandan students who wanted to be nurses. Most of those who sat in her Fundamentals of Nursing class had chosen medical school, dental school or veterinary medicine on their government application to university. In Uganda, as in many African countries, nursing is not always valued or recognized as a respected profession and, as a result, is frequently at the bottom of the career choice for most students. Kelly, a Global Health Service Partnership nurse volunteer in Uganda, helped to change this. Everyday for the past year, she taught class, role modeled on the wards, and shared stories of how nurses can change lives and make a difference.
Kelly was part of the inaugural class of the Global Health Service Partnership (GHSP), a unique public-private partnership, launched in 2012 by Seed Global Health, the U.S. Peace Corps, and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This innovative program focuses on education by sending US physician and nurse volunteers for one year placements to serve as adjunct faculty and clinical mentors at medical and nursing schools in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. These physician and nurse educators work alongside local faculty to help strengthen institutional capacity and enhance clinical knowledge.
The first class of 31 volunteers completed their journey by gathering in Tanzania this past June at a closing conference, having traveled from their 11 academic sites in across the three countries. These talented GHSP volunteers who collectively taught more than 2000 trainees, over 1000 of which were nursing students, gathered to share lessons learned and some of their extraordinary experiences. While they all acknowledged a range of challenging circumstances, to hear them recount their innumerable successes was unbelievable. (Click here to see photos from the first class of GHSP volunteers.)
One of the many memorable stories from this year was from Kelly, who wrote:
When we first arrived in Uganda, we quickly learned about the patients referred to by the staff as “the destitutes”—those who arrive without attendants to care for them. Hardly our only destitute patients, there are two men who stand out from the early days of our tenure here. They were different because of paralysis. One man was a peasant farmer who, over the last few months, developed back pain and leg weakness. Finally, when he was no longer able to work in his fields due to paralysis of his legs, he found his way to the hospital. He was diagnosed with HIV and a compressing mass in his lumbar spine. The other destitute was also newly diagnosed with HIV and progressive paralysis, his of a different flavor, without a mass, but with profound fatigue and a rash. Without attendants to care for them or nurses with the time to check on them, these patients often went hours and days without any care. Paralyzed, they lay in their excrement and soiled clothes. Their skin broke down from the pressure of their own wasted bodies and the continued moisture from urine. They lacked any access to food or drink. For weeks, our GHSP volunteers brought food to these patients, but in the end, they both died. In those last days, my nursing students, led by a senior student, took turns caring for these men. Every clinical shift on the wards, two students would clean the patients, change their sheets, and even wash their clothes. They provided a bit of dignity to these declining patients during a time where no one else was paying them any attention. When the students were with them, the men smiled, engaged, and, I think, felt human once again. Their prognosis had been poor; and their chance of survival in the community without any support even poorer. But, because of nursing, they, at the very least, ceased to be “destitutes” and ended their lives with a bit of pride and self worth
….
Everyday in class, I sing the praises of the nursing profession to my second year nursing students. I try to demonstrate what nurses have done and what nurses are capable of doing, for patients, for health care, and for Uganda overall. As our semester comes to a close, I recently asked for evaluations. One student wrote: “you have made me feel that I have chosen the best profession in the world.” They are finding their sparks and lighting the fires that will change the field of nursing, and in so doing are refueling my flame. I am nurturing them so they can nurture others. These students will graduate to become nurses who will care, cure, and fully tend to the needs of their patients. They will have pride in their profession, see the beauty even in the grotesque, fight to preserve human dignity, and ensure that no one is destitute. (Read more.)
What Kelly and her colleagues have done is remarkable and transforming.
My hope is that there will be a day when we are not facing a critical shortage of human resources for health and that there will be a time when there are enough nursing educators with sufficient resources even in the most constrained settings. We are not there yet, but the powerful GHSP stories shared this year reaffirmed my belief that sustainable change will come out of every seed planted, every relationship built on trust amongst students, faculty, and leadership at nursing institutions…….and that the key is through education. As Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
As our inaugural year ends and our second class of 23 nurses and 19 physicians prepare to set sail, we are excited about the accelerated start they will have with the groundwork laid by the 2013-2014 class and relationships already started with their Malawian, Tanzanian, or Ugandan colleagues and students. I am humbled to be a part of this remarkable partnership program and incredibly proud of its volunteers.
Learn more about the Global Health Service Partnership by tuning in to the Google+ Hangout on August 5, 2014 at 12 pm EST to hear from GHSP volunteers currently in the field. Click here to join today!
To apply to be a GHSP volunteer, click here! Applications close December 5, 2014.
For more information or questions, please visit Seed’s website or contact info@seedglobalhealth.org.