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In This Issue:
Empowering Local Communities in Africa
BWH medical and nursing staff have been leaders in frequent humanitarian efforts around the world. But who cares for the sick and injured where the routine care is poor or non-existent? The answer for the Institute for Emergency Medicine Health (IEMH) in the BWH Department of Emergency Medicine lies in improving and expanding emergency training for developing countries.
According to Mark A. Davis, MD, director, International Emergency Medicine and Health, “We are working in partnership with local leaders to improve clinical programs and provide training so that whatever the emergency, the sick and injured can receive the care they so desperately need.”
One of the programs, The Ethiopian Humanitarian Mission, has been active for over five years and was developed in partnership with the World Health Organization. “We are building capacity on the front lines of healthcare. This includes training village health workers in areas where there may be a five-day walk to a hospital, as well as doctors and nurses who work in urban areas,” Davis said.
Through IEMH Train the Trainer seminars, staff enlist the support of local leaders and health care professionals to train trainers. These in turn teach critical skills to a large number of people, both medical and non-medical, to contend with life-threatening injury and illness. “Our workers train traffic police and taxi drivers, so they can provide medical care in the emergencies they encounter,” Davis said. “Quite often, people on the street are the only ones available to help in an emergency because professional medical help is so far away.” To expand this training, IEMH has launched an initiative called the Emergency Medicine Training and Systems Development (EMTSD) program.
In January 2005, IEMH is scheduled to open the first EMTSD training center in Addis Ababa in partnership with the World Health Organization and the Addis Ababa Health Bureau, as well as at a local college where students will study emergency care and first responder lifesaving skills. “The opening of this training center demonstrates how Brigham and Women’s Hospital is committed to improving health care access globally,” he said. “We are saving lives that would otherwise be lost.”