The Road to Kisumu ~

We left cool and overcast Nairobi in the morning, our vehicle packed with luggage, mannikins and equipment headed for the third largest city in Kenya, Kisumu. The drive took us west past the escarpment that opens into the Rift Valley, past Naivasha and Nakuru and on into the highland tea and coffee fields of Kericho. The drive wasn’t too bad until we hit construction between Nakuru and Kericho and had to take a diversion off the tarmac and onto crazy washboard roads pocked with potholes, washouts and vehicles that didn’t make a turn and went off the road.

The scenery was pretty cool with long stretches of fields, mountains, huge skies, and the occasional zebra grazing by the roadside. It was, however, good to finally get to Kisumu and stretch out, get out of the vehicle, and get something to eat.

We stayed at the St. Anna Guest House, an inexpensive, comfortable, clean and safe place with good meals and friendly people. Richard, our long time friend and driver, has been taking us around, from the guesthouse to the venue of the training at the Kisumu district hospital, to town for supplies and wherever the team has needed. He’s been absolutely great.

The training has been held at one of the classrooms at KDH where there is a pretty good space inside and out, for classroom and practical sessions. The students were mostly nurses and we had two doctors and an EMT from St. Johns Ambulance. The instructors did a great job with the class, giving thorough explanations, research based reasoning, and with patience and understanding of how things work in their environment with limited resources and training.

All of the instructors, in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu, have done an excellent job at teaching all this material. It is really good to see them enpowered to make a difference not only in their local communities but as a team pushing forward making a difference nationally as well. Hats off to Dave and William for all their work, attentiveness to the instructors and students, and for their insights from their own experiences as well. Great job all!

David 

SATURDAY

What a great class! The instructors did a great job of bringing the students through the CPR and ACLS sessions, explaining updated materials and steering them through practice sessions. The instructors learned quite a bit as they took over the course process, and the students had to work hard to learn the materials and integrate what they learned to their own environments.

The course was quite sucessful at giving all involved a way forward towards an improved healthcare system using a sustainable model of self sufficiency. William and David have been invaluable at giving direction, suggestion, expertise, and educational development for teacher and student alike. Our hosts along the way have been equally invaluable at really taking the time, effort and initiative to develop a system through collaboration, cooperation, partnership, by taking ownership, responsibility and accountability for the system’s success.

 Way to go team! 

SUNDAY

The first day of sleeping in a little!

We had a great time touring a little of the city of Mombasa, Fort Jesus, the Old Town, and Hollar Park before heading to the airport for a 9:30pm flight back to Nairobi.

Fort Jesus is the site of an old fort built by Vasco De Gamo and the Portuguese to protect/control the port city and trade routes in and out of East Africa. After being turned over several times among the English, Arabs and Portuguese,and used for everything from trade to a prison, it was finally turned over to the people of Mombasa and into a museum as late as 1960. The development of the Swahili language is traced to Bantu origins, with influence from the Arabs, English, Portuguese, Turks, Indians, Dutch and others trading through Mombasa into East and Central Africa.

The Old Town part of Mombasa is just that, with architecture representative of the different ruling cultures of the time, narrow streets, and ornate wooden doors and balconies. It was protected by the fort from those coming in, but the fort also gave pause to those leaving.

Hollar Park is a sanctuary and reserve built on an old mining site. The place is named for it’s founder, who believed that it was possible to bring back “green” to the area through sustainable means. On the site are not only rescued animals such as turtles, but others like crocs, monkeys, snakes, hippo and birds. There is water filtration using serial tanks filled with fish, that are sold to local merchants.

After an early dinner we headed to the airport and took off for the next leg of the journey back to Nairobi and on to Kisumu by ground.

We’re in Mombasa! …and it is definitely much warmer than Nairobi!

The first set of new instructors held their own first classes and did an amazing job. They were very enthusiastic, nervous, excited, and so very happy to be teaching these programs. They were all even thinking ahead to where they wanted to bring the classes in their organizations, hospitals, and in community organizations and how they would figure out the logistics to be able to do so. It is so great to see them doing so well, to be motivated, and thinking of how they will be able to improve the pre- and in-hospital components of their EMS system.

We thought we knew traffic jams until we rode to the airport to fly to Mombasa. The 40 minute trip took 2 1/2 hours. That’s rush hour.

The next set of new instructors are doing quite well also, following in the footsteps of the first group. The class participants are excited to be here and enjoying the humor that’s intertwined by these instructors. It’s quite evident that they are really enjoying giving this training and making it not only educational but fun too.

More to come, and more pictures as well…

The KCEMT is really doing a great job, as are all the people and organizations that make it up, working together to improve and develop EMS in all of Kenya.

David

The Instructor Group CPR/ACLS update classes and instructor program went extremely well! These guys and gals have a good amount of clinical experience in the hospital and the field, and a some good teaching experience as well. They are pretty confident and know their stuff! Dave, Will and I put them through some grueling exercises and they were easily able to manage the nuances of the scenarios. Great job guys!

The equipment is working out very well, and we’ve only had a few AV challenges. The group is very excited about being able to teach these courses in their hospitals, ambulance services, and in the community and are already thinking of the next few months and how they will institute the education and training programs among them.

The weather here is good, and a huge contrast to NY! It’s been in the low 70s throughout the day and in the low 60s at night. Well, here in Nairobi anyway. We hear it’s much warmer in Mombasa and Kisumu. The Gracehouse has been a fantastic training site, with a large conference room, great meals, nice grounds, comfortable rooms and quiet area of town.

I’ll be posting some pictures shortly, thank you all for your encouragement and well wishes!

David V.

After quite a long time traveling, we have finally made it to Kenya!

We’re staying at a place called Gracehouse, a hotel and conference center in Nairobi, that is doing a fantastic job at taking care of all of us.

The first day of class went quite extremenly well, and the students are quite impressive. They come from the prehospital environment throughout Kenya as EMTs and paramedics, and from the in-hospital environment as nurses and physicians. This initial group of 12 people will go through CPR and ACLS updates, instructor classes, testing, and then evaluations of their teaching abilities. Today, it was CPR and updates.

It is exciting to see providers from different institutions and organizations come together and develop a way forward for the EMS system through education, standardization, collaboration, and partnerships.

Check out some of our pictures (attached) and check back in for updates as the classes progress.