Volunteer in Nsutmam Polyclinic Center in Ghana

admin — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:31:12 +0000

This is a government funded clinic that works to serve Nsuta and 31 surrounding villages. It is the only clinic in the area, and is extremely busy. They have maternity, male and female wards, a laboratory, and a dispensary. It mainly serves as a day clinic, but 24 hour emergency care is also provided to the community. The maternity and preventive medicine ward serves to register and weigh babies, give family planning services, and provide community outreach and education.This facility is in desperate need of more staff who could assist in care giving. With only one nurse, and a doctor who visits once or twice weekly, the waiting rooms are very full. Medical students, nursing students, pre-med students, or anybody interested in assisting with administration would be very beneficial to this clinic.

Volunteers with the following special skills are preferred for the placement:-

Doctor Nurse Medical Student Pre-Med Student Emergency Medical Technician Standard First-Aid Health & Hygiene Training HIV/AIDS Awareness Training Medical Administration Public Health Sexual & Reproductive Health Training Volunteers can assist by doing following tasks:- Assisting nurses in all wards (female, male, maternity) Assisting administration (patient reception & registration) Assisting in dispensary * If computers were here. Volunteer could assist with organizing records, and training staff on the computer.

Basecamp International welcomes all the interested volunteers from around the world to volunteer and make a difference. If you are interested in this placement then please contact us for the details: Email: info@volunteerabroad.ca Website: www.volunteerabroad.ca Mailing Address 298 Bagot Street, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7K 3B4 Phone: 613.541.7862 Toll Free : 866.646.4693 Fax: 613.541.1604

Emergency Medical Graphic Design

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:27:33 +0000

I used to work as an Emergency Medical Technician in Rochester, NY when I was in college. As a graphic design student, people asked what being an EMT had to do with design. At the time, I just shrugged and said that I liked doing it.

When we would arrive on the scene, calls were usually not what they seemed to be. We would sometimes get called for a broken arm, and it would be a sprained ankle — which is why EMTs are taught to determine the “Mechanism of Injury.” If the sprained ankle occurred from falling down a flight of stairs, then we assumed there may be other injuries that we couldn’t see. The challenge was to piece together the whole big picture — first from the patient, then from the bystanders, and then from any other clues such as medicines or other things lying around.

Sometimes, people would leave out key details because they didn’t think they were important. Or sometimes they were afraid they did something wrong, and didn’t want to admit to it. So it was our job to try and understand the whole situation, and the perspectives of the people involved, in order to determine the best course of action.

Most of the patients we took to the hospital didn’t have money or family, and had all sorts of other issues. I had partners who would yell at the drunks and ignore the old people from the nursing homes. I figured I only had about an hour with each patient, so I’d make the best of it. I used to challenge myself with the really angry ones, to see if I could get them to smile before we got to the hospital. I would talk, ask questions, and treat each patient as if they were a relative of mine. They were, after all, someone’s relative. Besides, if I treated each patient with respect and patience, it became much easier to get the information I needed to help them, and the whole experience became much more enjoyable.

So In retrospect, my work as an EMT actually helped a lot to prepare me for when I would eventually own my own graphic design studio. I still assess each new situation, gather facts, make a plan of action and then my team of designers and I go to work. I do miss the flashing lights though.

SINAI Urban Health Institute » Emergency Medical Technician

Volunteer in Nsutmam Polyclinic Center in Ghana

Emergency Medical Graphic Design