+ Message from the President
+ Global Healing to Collaborate with Partners In Health
+ Jo Ann Medical Center Construction in Progress
+ Intern Highlight: Nicole Sirivansanti
+ Major Strides in Moldova Blood Safety Program
+ Upcoming Trip to AABB Conference
+ Roatán Update
+ Global Healing Has Moved
+ Global Healing Commemorates WBDD
+ How You Can Contribute

Since joining Global Healing four years ago, I have watched us begin work in six hospitals and move into two offices, the most recent just last July. This forward momentum is exciting and motivating as we continue to grow and expand our reach around the world. World Blood Donor Day allowed everyone at Global Healing to put just one of our specialties, blood safety, into perspective. We were able to see the impact that not only our blood bank sites have had on their communities, but of the friendships and partnerships at home and abroad that we have forged along the way.

In this edition of the newsletter, you’ll see the work that we will soon begin in collaboration with Partners In Health in Haiti, an expansive blood safety program in Georgia, and ongoing successes in Roatan, Honduras. Across continents and through various environments, our programs have endured political upheaval and natural disasters and confronted seemingly immovable bureaucracies. I cannot help but reflect upon the fact that through nearly two decades we have managed to retain a strong culture of giving and sharing and remain true to our mission in a diverse array of environments.

This speaks to my predecessors’ leadership, the ethos of the medical community and the strength of our mission and program model. Not only are we doing something right, we have found a winning formula.

This formula includes many components, and your support is an invaluable one. Without your support, we wouldn’t have had so many successes, or been able to apply our model to new settings that need our assistance. With your support, we will continue to spread high quality medical practices to all corners of the globe. Be a part of a life-saving solution, be a part of modern medicine for the developing world.

For all the good you do in your local and global communities, thank you.

Sincerely,

Luke Ifland

In 2012, Global Healing will begin working with Partners In Health (www.pih.org) at their project site in Mirebalais, Haiti. Construction for a new 180,000+ sq ft teaching hospital with over 300 beds is almost complete. The new hospital will offer a much needed expansion of clinical services to the region.

Global Healing will be responsible for establishing the blood donor center and transfusion service at Mirebalais Hospital. The facility will include donor collections, component production and compatibility testing.

Global Healing looks forward to collaborating with Partners In Health for what will be a rewarding experience as we work towards rebuilding and modernizing patient care services in Haiti.

The construction on the Jo Ann Medical Center in Tbilisi, Georgia, has started with a planned completion date of September 16, 2013, its 17th anniversary. Upon completion, the 135- bed hospital will expand its services beyond the high quality pediatric and adult cardio-thoracic surgery for which it is well known. The expansion has been financed locally and through various American sponsors including Global Healing.

Among the new services provided, the Jo Ann Medical Center will begin general medicine, multi-profile outpatient services and general surgery with endoscopy.

Global Healing is looking forward to the completed construction of the Jo Ann Medical Center and the newly expanded medical services it will provide to the community.

Nicole Sirivansanti was Global Healing’s first program intern. She began working with us in 2008 after serving as an AmeriCorps member with Jumpstart for Young Children. Following her time with Global Healing, she engaged in outreach and recruitment for the Global Health Fellows Program, based in Washington, D.C.

More recently, Nicole worked as a Graduate Student Researcher for Dr. Malcolm Potts at the Bixby Center and has earned a graduate degree from the Maternal and Child Health Program at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. During her summer internship at Population and Community Development Association (PDA) in Thailand, she helped conceptualize and pilot the Barefoot MPH Program.

This past summer, Nicole developed a Girls Club literary curriculum for Hausa speakers in Nigeria. She is currently in Cambodia working with the Population and Community Development International - Cambodia (PDI-C). PDI-C focuses on sustainability and building community capacity through village microfinance and partnering with local institutions to deliver maternal and child health education.

Nicole is truly a dedicated activist in global development. We are so fortunate to have someone so passionate come through Global Healing’s internship program. Tell us how you are doing when you have a chance, Nicole!

ABOVE: Jean Purcelli MT(ASCP) SBB trains staff at the National Blood Transfusion Center

During the months of May and June, Global Healing held its penultimate training in Moldova. We are very close to achieving all our objectives: the immunohematology reference laboratory is well on its way to being able to provide advanced blood typing and antibody identification services to the country’s transfusion services; the three largest users of blood, the Oncology Institute, Republican Clinical Hospital and Emergency Hospital, are all poised and ready to institutionalize reforms made at their facilities; the Cahul Regional Blood Transfusion Center is nearly ready to begin providing much needed transfusions to the area’s 500,000 inhabitants.

In addition to Jean Purcelli MT(ASCP)SBB (Blood Centers of the Pacific), we are lucky to be working with Dr. Olivia Burta from the National Institute of Transfusional Hematology in Romania. Our two specialists were able
to complement each other’s instruction and together make significant progress in training the immunohematology specialists at the National Blood Transfusion Center (NBTC) in Chisinau. Dr. Burta will continue to offer technical support from nearby in Bucharest as the NBTC continues to refine its service. We are happy to see this partnership flourish as we begin to discuss how our programs can be best managed under local control.

We joined our colleagues in Moldova in welcoming the second specialist, Dr. Levan Avalishvili, from the Jo Ann Medical Center in Tbilisi, Georgia, to Chisinau. Dr. Avalishvili gave didactic presentations at the Oncology Institute, Republican Clinical Hospital and Emergency Hospital on modern guidelines for surgical and clinical use of blood products. He was also able to make several suggestions based on his direct observations. We are proud to announce that through the efforts of Global Healing and many local partners, including the NBTC, each hospital will establish its
own quality management department, with particular attention paid to the transfusion service.

Bob Lalonde CLS (Northern California Community Blood Bank) held his second training in quality systems at our three beneficiary hospitals.
Through the coming months, we will continue to work with the Ministry of Health of Moldova and our other partners to ensure that all of our efforts are implemented and remain in place long after our active programs. Much work still remains, but we are ready to work together with our partners in Moldova to complete it.

Vincent Lok and Luke Ifland of Global Healing will attend the annual American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) conference in San Diego, California. They will be joined by Drs. Marina Abashidze and Levan Avalishvili from the Jo Ann Medical Center (JAMC) in Tbilisi, Georgia. Drs. Abashidze and Avalishvili will be able to take advantage of the educational sessions about blood banking’s most current issues. The annual meeting will allow us to reconnect with old friends, share our past year’s work and seek new partnership for collaboration on future endeavors.

Drop us a line to meet up!

The Roatan Volunteer Pediatric Clinic (RVPC) continues to be busy with the doctors fulfilling the principal responsibilities of caring for outpatients and examining newborns. Dra. Cerritos, the Honduran pediatrician at the RVPC, has expanded her role as a consultant in the emergency ward and delivery room. She also acts as a teacher to the Social Service doctors and nurses.

With a grant from Global Healing, the Cruz Roja Hondurena (Honduran Red Cross) is progressing well in their project to determine disaster needs and organize a planning and management program for Roatan. They have done assessments, met with government officials as well as other local groups, and initiated training. At the Fifth Annual Global Healing Trauma Conference on Saturday, August 27, 2011, they delivered a full day course titled “Disaster Risk Management in Health Services.” The program, for health related personnel, enabled Cruz Roja Hondurena personnel to present their findings and provide hands-on training in the clinical management of disaster related conditions. Doctors, nurses and paramedics were able to practice and improve their skills in treating people who are injured during hurricanes and earthquakes.

Over 1,100 children between 11⁄2 and 5 years of age are enrolled in the program to deal with the serious problem of advanced tooth decay in young children. We are grateful for the generous donations of toothbrushes from a USA registered non-profit, Global Grins (www.globalgrins.org), and dental varnish from Varnish America that have enabled children in all the immunization clinics on Roatan to participate.

There are children on Roatan Island who have surgical conditions that are not life threatening yet impair their health. Often these children do not receive necessary treatment because transport to a medical center on mainland Honduras is required. Global Healing arranged for and funded Dr. Enrique Tome, Pediatric Surgeon, and his team from Hospital Materno Infantil in Tegucigalpa, to work with Dra. Indira Sanchez at the Roatan Public Hospital from September 6-10. They performed consultations and surgeries that would have otherwise been unavailable for these children.

Global Healing continues to strive to advance prenatal care and early identification and treatment of newborn problems. As a part of this effort, a course designed to enhance skills in prenatal ultrasound and fetal heart monitoring during labor is planned for November.

ABOVE: Trainers and presenters from the Fifth Annual Global Healing Trauma Conference held by Cruz Roja Hondurena

Global Healing has relocated to a new office! We are in the same building, but in a different suite. Please note this change and our new fax number:

2140 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 203
Berkeley, CA 94704
Telephone: +1.510.898.1859
Fax: +1.510.280.5365

On June 14, Global Healing celebrated World Blood Donor Day with health partners and supporters from around the world. We promoted regional blood drives, reported on events at our international project locations and exchanged ideas with global activists. It was amazing to see such diversity come together in order to spread the word about the life-saving importance of blood.

Global Healing emphasized the need for safe and sustainable blood systems in the developing world through its Twitter and Facebook accounts. We publicized that the blood banking norms that most individuals are generally used to are not global norms. World Health Organization reports that 25% of the countries it monitors lack the ability to adequately screen their blood products, and many developing countries do not meet minimum blood supply requirements at all. The reality is that in many parts of the developing world, safe and timely access to blood simply does not exist.

However, this is not an immutable reality, and non-governmental organizations like Global Healing work every day to ensure that limited blood sources become a matter of the past. The good news is that almost everyone can play a positive role in contributing to this cause. You can help global blood systems by donating, volunteering and spreading the word -- as many of you already have.
Global Healing thanks everyone who joined us in observing World Blood Donor Day. We look forward to hearing from you again soon.

ABOVE: Just one of many happy blood donors at Gyumri Regional Blood Bank on June 14th, World Blood Donor Day

As always, Global Healing appreciates all the support from our donors and our sponsors. The sustainable healthcare programs we have implemented worldwide would not have garnered such great success and development without the generosity from our partnering organizations. As we continue to build upon our accomplishments and provide accessible healthcare to other underdeveloped nations, we greatly appreciate donations in the form of fundraising or equipment contributions.

Please join Global Healing in our mission to provide modern medicine for the developing world. If you would like to find out how you can help Global Healing, by volunteering, making a cash contribution, or otherwise, visit our website:

http://www.globalhealing.org/help/helpindex.html

Don’t forget to stay in touch with us on Facebook and Twitter!

facebook.com/GlobalHealing twitter.com/GlobalHealing