+ Global Healing Begins Work in Moldova
+ Bihar Health Intiative - Karuna Shechen (India)
+ Connect with Us
+ ACLS Course in Roatan
+ Dental Varnish Continues
+ Palliative Care in Dominica
+ Langtang Medical Clinic (Nepal)
+ Phototherapy Meter Project

In a time of economic uncertainty I am pleased to say that Global Healing is very healthy and we will continue to expand our medical services in the developing world.

Since our last newsletter, Global Healing has ventured into another blood bank endeavour. We are working with the Moldovan government to improve their blood banking practices to meet internationally accepted standards. In this newsletter you will find that our accomplished and dedicated US team recently returned from a successful ten-day training trip to Moldova. As always, many thanks to our team for their countless hours of dedication to Global Healing's blood bank program. Thank you Elizabeth, Ron, Sean, Morris and Luke - we couldn't do it without you.

In addition, our Roatán team led by Dr. Howard Gruber continues to educate and train many of the medical personnel on the island of Roatán in Honduras. Global Healing's educational focus has expanded to include trauma and Advanced Cardiac Life Support as well as OBGYN!! Thank you to Howard and his team of volunteers.

Thank you for your dedication, support and interest in Global Healing and our worldwide medical programs.

Cindy Basso Eaton
President, Global Healing

Following a December 2008 site survey, the Board of Directors approved a project to provide assistance to the National Blood Transfusion Center (NBTC) and local hospitals in the Eastern European country of Moldova. USAID was actively coordinating a program to prevent HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis transmission in part through blood banks and laboratories until the end of 2008. Global Healing will be addressing the objective of improving the safety of the blood supply and will begin doing so at the NBTC and Oncology Institute on a pilot basis. The program is comprised of three components: (1) physician education, (2) biomedical engineer training and (3) modernization of the blood bank at the Oncology Institute.

The first step in the program was to bring Svetlana Cebotari MD (Director of the National Blood Transfusion Center), Serghei Stepa MD (Vice Director of the Oncology Institute of Moldova), and Viorica Rotaru MD (Program Coordinator for the PAS Centre in Chisinau), to BloodSource in Sacramento, California for observation and training. BloodSource staff graciously hosted our Moldovan colleagues over two weeks as they observed standards and practices at the blood bank and patient services at local hospitals.

During June 2009, Global Healing held a training trip addressing the first two components of the program: physician education through a Transfusion Medicine Symposium and biomedical engineer training. Two volunteer specialists from Global Healing, Elizabeth Donegan MD (UCSF) and Morris Dixon MT(ASCP)SBB (United Blood Systems) presented alongside their local colleagues from the Ministry of Health and National Blood Transfusion Center. Over 60 attendees participated in the Symposium.

Ron Newton CLS and Sean Newton EE provided a four day advanced training course for the local maintenance staff. The two engineers discussed WHO maintenance standards, microprocessors, validation and troubleshooting. Maintenance staff from the National Blood Transfusion center, Balti Regional Blood Transfusion Center, Tiraspol Regional Blood Transfusion Center, Oncology Institute and Republican Hospital. Training for the engineers will continue during following Global Healing site visits.

Corresponding with the visit was World Blood Donor Day 2009 on June 14. The National Blood Transfusion Center hosted a blood drive in the Central Park in Chisinau, the capital. The event was attended by the Prime Minister, Minister of Health and their colleagues in the blood service. The blood drive lasted for six hours and attracted more than 400 donors. In the afternoon, Ron and Sean Newton and local musicians played to the large crowds gathered in Central Park. A 20’ sea container is already en route to Moldova. Pacific Storage of Stockton, California donated the storage space and consolidation services for the equipment and supplies. The Pasha Group discounted and arranged for the freight to be transported to the door of the Oncology Institute, where it will be moved into the space set aside for the new blood bank. Included in the shipment are donated Helmer refrigerators, freezers, platelet incubator agitators and various pieces of laboratory equipment.

Read the Stockton Record article about the sea container by clicking here.

Global Healing has recently made a grant to Karuna Shechen, a nonprofit operating in South Asia devoted to providing key social services to the disadvantaged. The grant provides financial assistance for the continuation of the Bihar Health Initiative, started in 2002 in Bihar, India’s poorest state, in response to the needs of the local people. The initiative is threefold: a medical clinic, a mobile health center and social education program.

All services and medicines are provided at no charge to the patient in both the medical center and mobile clinic. The Shechen Medical Center in Bihar is a free allopathic clinic and dispensary, open six days a week to patients of all ages, gender, and castes. This year the center will add a family planning program including both male and female contraception and a safe motherhood program.

The Shechen Mobile Clinic visits fourteen remote villages four times a week providing free health services. Last year, on average, 3,000 patients monthly benefi ted from the combined services of the Shechen Medical Center and the Mobile Clinic.

This year Karuna Shechen established the Social Education Program which will train village motivators to work with us to keep patients connected to health care, empower women and provide meals to children.

Visit their website to learn more about all their programs: http://karuna-shechen.org/.

Did you know that Global Healing is now on Facebook and Twitter? For the most up-to-date information on our work, follow us online.

Follow the links on our Contact page.

On June 11, 12, and 13 Global Healing, Roatán Public Hospital and the Bay Islands Medical Society (SOMI) sponsored a rigorous course in Basic (BLS) and Advanced Life Support (ACLS). Twenty seven participants including physicians, nurses, paramedics and Red Cross volunteer emergency medical technicians from all over Roatán and from the mainland attended. The demanding curriculum required each participant to take a pre-test, followed by eight hours of class and practice techniques on mannequins, then take a post test and demonstrate mastery of the techniques. The ACLS Course for physicians continued for another 16 hours over a two day period.

The courses were taught in Spanish by Dr. Hugo Orellana from Tegucigalpa. Dr. Orellana is one of only three cardiovascular surgeons in Honduras. He was accompanied by a team of three Red Cross trainers, Carlos Valladures, Wendy Reyes Najario, and Alvaro Rubio Rodas, who are seasoned paramedics. Carlos is a physician in training.

Those who successfully completed the course received American Heart Association BLS or ACLS certifi cates. Participants were pleased with the depth and effectiveness of the course in improving their skills. Television and radio coverage was broadcast throughout the Bay Islands as well as the coastal and northern regions of mainland Honduras.

The Global Healing sponsored program to reduce dental cavities began at the immunization clinic in the Roatán Public Hospital in August 2008, (see the last newsletter of Winter 2008). The program was successfully extended to the public immunization clinics in French Harbor and Los Fuertes in March 2009. Personnel from the clinic in Oak Ridge, in the remote eastern section of Roatán, have begun training in how to apply the fluoride dental varnish as well as educating parents about good nutrition and dental hygiene. When Oak Ridge begins the service in July, all the immunization clinics on Roatán will offer this “immunization against tooth decay” covering all the children of Roatán as they receive their regular childhood immunizations.

The Ministry of Health of Honduras has expressed interest in possibly extending this program to the immunization clinics on the mainland.

During April 2009, volunteers Jan Pankey MD (George Mark Children’s House) and Katherine Dawson NP (Renown Regional Medical Center) facilitated a Palliative Care Workshop in Roseau, Dominica. In conjunction with Ross University School of Medicine, the Ministry of Health & Environment, and Espwa Donmnik, Global Healing presented information covering the goals of palliative care and pain and symptom management.

Volunteers had the chance to meet with various key groups on the island. Following the workshop, Global Healing also met with Ross University nursing students to deliver a more focused presentation on end-of-life care. We also had a chance to meet with the Dominica Cancer Society and discuss their objectives on the island in terms of cancer survivorship and support groups.

Global Healing recently welcomed volunteers John Simpson and Allison Faust into Global Healing to spearhead collaboration with the Langtang Medical Clinic in Langtang, Nepal. The region is extremely rural, with poor road links to Kathmandu, the capital, and China. After the only clinic within access closed, the village leader brought his medically trained son to found the clinic. It opened in 2007 and serves about eight outpatients per day free of charge. As the sole medical facility in the region, the clinic is responsible for addressing every possible medical complaint from dentistry to mending broken bones.

The clinic serves tourists on their way through the national park, as well as locals. Tourists contribute to the clinic by paying for treatment. The clinic would like to expand its ability to treat more complex ailments. John and Allison are raising funds to purchase an X-ray machine, autoclave, microscope and other diagnostic equipment. John and Allison have already raised funds and donated a hydro generator to the clinic. They will also arrange training trips for American physicians to volunteer alongside their Nepalese counterparts.

Learn more about the project on the Nepal page on Global Healing’s website.

Although hospitals in developing countries may have phototherapy lights to treat neonatal jaundice, most hospitals do not know if they are emitting a therapeutic amount of light. Global Healing’s volunteer Chief Technical Consultant Ron Newton CLS, EE, CE has developed a handheld device using a common domain license and a recently developed inexpensive color sensor.

Phototherapy meters manufactured for biomedical use cost far too much for a hospital in a developing country to afford. By purchasing in bulk and using the new low-cost sensor, each unit costs less than $20 to produce. The units will be distributed to hospitals in developing countries with phototherapy lights free of charge.

If you would like to learn more or help distribute the meters, contact us at contact@globalhealing.org for details.

Global Healing works diligently to foster much needed medical programs that are sustainable and responsible. We need your support! Click here to make a contribution or volunteer now. Global Healing is a 501(c)3 organization; all contributions are 100% tax deductible.