The Western Trust’s Vision 2020 team members are busy making plans for their return visit to the ECWA Eye Hospital. The newest team member, Graham McFarlane, will be travelling with Rosie, Kathleen, Yvonne, Richard and David to Kano from the 17^th to the 24^th of April. Our previous visit in September and the subsequent visit of our Nigerian friends to the Western Trust in November were very useful fact-finding missions designed to help both teams create a training and development program for the dedicated Kano staff. This time we will be spending the whole week working alongside Dr Abuh and his team in clinics and theatres, with the aim of putting this program into action. The work of each team member will contribute towards improving each patient’s treatment journey – from arrival at the ECWA hospital to assessment and management of their condition.

It wasn't all work: mid week we went to The Alley in Strabane to hear the Ulster orchestra's Christmas medley

A vital part of the VISION2020 links programme is the visits of team members to each other’s hospitals. These visits allow detailed discussions to take place and ideas are formed when comparing how things are done in the different units. We had been waiting for this visit of the Nigerian team to the Western trust so that the teams could make a detailed assessment of the plans for the 3 years of the programme. We were delighted to welcome our Nigerian colleagues who joined us for the past week (Nov 29 to Dec 5).  Here’s Rosie’s summary of what happened…

The VISION2020 links programme is not a ‘quick fix’ charity programme. The team aims to help provide training for the staff in Kano eye hospital and help set up a self sustaining eyecare service for children in the area. You can get a feel for the lack of facilities etc. from the reports from the visit.

[Editor: Business buzzwords all in a spin...]

My diary was planned
but never happened.
We were on a mission for a ‘LEAN’.
Who knows what it means?
(Ask the team manager for details)…
It’s about streamlining.
Life in Kano change your tune,
it would have been mean.
Teams should do brain storming on plans ahead for this link.
Oh no… not politically correct, a new buzz word….”thought showering.”

[Editor: back to the future...?]

Went to theatre and spoke to John the local anaethetist expert, done more in a year than in my life time experience.  Shared our thoughts and came up with new ideas together for strengthening our future collaborations. I am in awe how much can be achieved with so little equipment. Go back 30 years and I was back in St Columb’s.  Look forward to seeing David the head anaesthetist and sharing our learning over these 30 years.  Young Kevin I wish you success in your future training as an anaesthetist.  Our world is getting smaller as we realise what an impact we have on one another.  Look forward to this Dr Who experience.

Visit to Kano – September 2009

Courtesy of the Vision 2020 links programme and thanks to Emirates, we enjoyed a very comfortable and hassle-free journey to Lagos. On arrival, we immediately experienced the heat and bustle of Nigeria and were very grateful for the help of Samuel, a local ophthalmic nurse who arranged transport to the domestic airport and our fourth flight of the journey. The seating allocation system for the plane to Kano appeared to be run by the Nigerian National Lottery and as a result, I was labelled a “bad boy” by other passengers for the duration of the flight!  Once we arrived at the ECWA Eye Hospital, the warmth of our welcome matched the heat of the climate and we enjoyed wonderful hospitality from our hosts for our entire stay. Yvonne was so keen to stay for longer that she mislaid her (and Kathleen’s) passports, which, following a brief panic, were located!

Journey
An uneventful journey made effortless by Marcia’s contacts and ‘fixers’. Luckily the in-flight food was satisfactory as Yvonne was not overly keen on purchasing the goat’s head soup or peppered snails at Lagos Airport. Rosie’s attempts at sleeping included a variety of yoga like seating positions which caused much amusement.

Accommodation
Basic but pleasant guest house accommodation. We were woken one morning by the half hour severe flogging of the next door neighbours dog who apparently had consumed its owner’s rather plump turkey – an important economic commodity. When we commented on the brutality of this beating to one of our hosts they replied ‘this country has to sort out its human rights before sorting out its animal rights’. I did wonder which was worse however – the yelping of the dog or David’s snoring.

Our 32 hour journey to Kano involved a dogs leg to Dubai. Apart from a forgotten yellow fever certificate brought at speed to the airport by a dedicated spouse, the journey was uneventful.

Western trust team with 3 of the 4 ECWA doctors

ECWA eye hospital in Kano has a total of 126 staff including 4 doctors, 20 nurses, 7 administrative staff and 25 cleaners. Kano has a population of 7 million. Nigeria, a population of 149 million. In the Western Trust patients can travel up to 100km for treatment. In ECWA some patients had come 1,500km! Dr Abuh, the paediatric ophthalmologist draws these patients from far and wide for treatment of such conditions as childhood cataracts, retinoblastoma and glaucoma. There’s a screening programme by CBM for paediatric cataracts reaching the poorest of the poor. I saw many patients they’d referred with bilateraly blinding cataracts allowing only light perception vision. The absence of nystagmus (wobbly eyes) suggested these cataracts were likely to be developmental rather than congenital. After surgery these children were moving around independantly. I watched a 6 year old girl who had been blind for 4 years exploring the room with wonderment.

A number of supporters join in for the final leg

How many of the cyclists can you identify? We met up at the North Pole Bar in Dumfries (North of Buncrana). Hilda had made some sandwiches to provide some much needed energy for the final leg of the trip.

Some had cycled from Strabane, some from Derry/Bridgend and some started in Dumfries. Rosie, Chris and Patrick were also supported by the motorcycle ‘marshals’ who kindly helped keep the cyclists safe.

At the end of the cycle we had tea and goodies – thanks to all who helped. Thanks also are due to the staff at Halfords (Crescent link) for providing Martina with some free goodies which we gave to the cyclists at the end of the trip as a little reward for their efforts.