November, 2023
Dear Friends,
We’ve had an exciting fall full of successful trainings and workshops. In September, volunteers partnered with colleagues at K Hospital in Hanoi on a two-week course for oncology nurses, a pediatrician traveled to Kabale, Uganda as the very first volunteer with our new pediatrics project, and a physical therapist volunteer traveled to Vietnam to present a training on burn splinting at Da Nang University of Medical Technology and Pharmacy. In October, another physical therapist volunteer traveled to K Hospital to work with staff and patients on rehabilitation exercises for cancer patients while volunteers and staff at Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital in Cambodia partnered to create a course for nurses on fundamentals of critical care which will run ten sessions.
And that’s just a few of the many things accomplished this season already. Our entire community is hard at work advancing global health and education, but we need your support to keep up the pace and expand our offerings. As a non-profit, we rely on donations to make our work possible. As we enter the season of giving this month, please consider making a gift to HVO to support all the incredible work our volunteers and partners are doing every day to increase equitable access to quality health care. Every gift makes a difference.
Sincerely,
April
April Pinner, MSPH, RD
Executive Director
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A few words from Cathy Pingoy, the on-site coordinator for the HVO nursing project at Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital in Kampot, Cambodia since 2020. |
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What do you like about your role with HVO?
I believe that developing knowledge, skills, and the right attitude is a continuous process. We should always seek to know the whats, hows, and whens in order to deliver safe and quality patient care. My role with HVO allows me to be an advocate for the learning needs of the staff. The training and coaching provided by HVO through synchronous and asynchronous methodology benefits our patients through the provision of health care services supported by experts in various fields.
Have you seen any results of collaboration with HVO?
The engagement of staff in different training shows that the staff is now more eager to learn. Another change is the utilization of World Telehealth Initiative robotic technology, facilitated by HVO, which is being used by the medical doctors for real time consultation of cases and training. The trainings provided by physician and NICU nurse volunteers in internal medicine, emergency care, and neonatal intensive care are highly valued and appreciated in making all these changes possible. At present, a new course on emergency and critical care for nurses has started with the assistance of volunteers and is being attended by in-patient department and emergency department nurses. My vision is for our hospital staff to be amongst the leaders in health care service in Kampot.
Do you have a favorite HVO story?
In 2021 I made a training program for our NICU nurses. Without help from HVO, the training program would not have been as successfully implemented due to lack of local experts in the field. The pool of expert NICU nurse volunteers with HVO made it possible to complete the training course through asynchronous learning. Our NICU Charge Nurse Monineath Hang is the new lecture facilitator and has completed teaching the course to the new nurses in the NICU. This course is the heart and brains of HVO nurse volunteers with expertise in neonatal intensive care from different states. The pre-recorded course is also being used by another hospital partner of HVO’s in Uganda.
What do you hope to see from the future of this partnership?
Now that we have overcome the global effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, I hope to see more collaboration and volunteer visits. It would also be great to see, one day, an international gathering of all HVO partner organization and volunteers to feature all HVO initiative projects, exchanges of best practices, and scientific work that makes a global health impact.
To learn more about Sonja Kill Memorial Hospital, visit their website here.
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For over 15 years, Dr. Kolkin has been giving Life Balance presentations to healthcare professionals and others worldwide. He has generously agreed to give his presentation live for the HVO community on November 16th at 12:00 EST.
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Volunteering Opportunities |
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Nutrition, Cambodia is recruiting nutritionists and nurses with expertise in diabetes, lactation, SLP feeding skills, nutrition oncology, gastroenterology, and more to complete both virtual and in-person assignments. Interested volunteers should contact Lauren Franklin. |
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Rehabilitation, Malawi is recruiting in-person volunteers to assist with radiology topics. This placement involves direct teaching of students, mentoring physiotherapy staff, and clinical support around radiology interpretation use in physiotherapy treatment at local clinics and hospitals. Types of radiographs currently used in Malawi include abdominal US, Echocardiogram, CT scan, Chest XR, Ortho XR, and MRI. There is also potential to collaborate with onsite radiology techs and an emerging radiology residency program that is currently being established in the country. Interested volunteers should contact Lauren Franklin.
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Oral Heath, Uganda is recruiting an in-person volunteer with surgical skills to join a group assignment in February 2024. A US trained anesthesiologist will be present on the trip. Interested volunteers should contact Lauren Franklin. |
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Nursing Education, Hue, Vietnam is recruiting in-person volunteers with experience in any topic, especially continuing education and research. Interested volunteers should contact Natalie Cary. |
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Do you know an important global health story that’s been overlooked by the media and deserves special notice? Submit to the Untold Stories of Global Health contest: |
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We Want To Hear From You! |
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Are you an HVO volunteer with a story to tell? We are always looking for stories, big and small, to share on our social media and HVO blog. If you have something you would like shared, please contact Danielle Stonehirsch. |
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Looking for more information and updates? Follow us: |
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