Hillman Fund - Rose Charities Canada Report - Spring 09

HILLMAN MEDICAL EDUCATION FUND

Partner in Kenya
Dr Liz Hillman started the Hillman Medical Education Fund to support medical education and to foster future leaders in medicine, particularly in East Africa. She and Dr Joanne Young travelled to Kenya in October to find partners and projects for the fund. The first priority was to find an organization in Kenya that would work with HMEF to administer the Kenyan programs. A visit to Dr Fred Were and Dr Cecelia Keiru at the Kenyan Pediatric Association resolved that problem. The KPA agreed to manage the funds of the HMEF in Kenya. Liz was delighted as she and Don were involved in the creation of the KPA many years ago and this seemed a great beginning for the HMEF.

Training of Trainers
Liz and Joanne then met Dr Mike English and Dr Grace Irimu from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Nairobi to discuss how HMEF could be best used for medical education in Kenya. They were told of an urgent need to train trainers in Emergency Triage and Treatment (first 48hours) ETAT+. This is a course in the resuscitation of children that arrive in the emergency acute care at the hospital. Many of these children die if they don’t receive immediate and appropriate treatment, and this course is designed to provide that treatment knowledge. HMEF funded the training of 16 Kenyan trainers in Jan 2009. This has made the University of Nairobi self-sufficient in providing future courses. They will now begin training all the final year medial students in the emergency resuscitation of children. HMEF will also provide a pediatric manual for each of these students that they can carry in their pocket for quick reference.

Fostering Leaders in Medicine in Kenya is a priority of HMEF
While Liz and Joanne were in Nairobi they met several physicians who remembered, with pride, the prizes they had received as medical students. They decided it was important to reinstate 4 prizes that would be given for the demonstration of leadership potential: one prize to an undergraduate student and one prize to a pediatric postgraduate in both the University of Nairobi and at Moi University in Eldoret. It was suggested an appropriate prize could be a diagnostic kit (ophthalmoscope and otoscope) . HMEF has sponsored two memberships to the Kenyan Pediatric Association and one scholarship for a pediatric post graduate to attend the Annual KPA Meeting in Mombassa.

The workshop in Nairobi to revise the PHC Manual for Health Workers in Africa was dedicated to Don Hillman as Don and Liz wrote the first manual many years ago.

The PHC Manual is used in more than 13 medical schools in Africa and greatly appreciated for its core concepts and practical content. Liz Hillman and Kay Wotton joined thirty senior faculty from universities in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia and Botswana for the five day work shop It was funded by HMEF and the University of British Columbia


It is the intention of HMEF to support Family Medicine in Uganda. Liz and Joanne met with faculty and postgraduate students from the departments of Family Medicine at both Makerere University and Mbarara University, and there are many exciting possibilities.

Partner in Pakistan
Frontier Primary Health Care
In the northwest frontier province of Pakistan, Dr. Emel Khan and his wife Wagma have established the Frontier Primary Health Care organization that runs 12 health clinics in remote and impoverished communities. Kay Wotton and Liz have both worked in Pakistan with Emel and Wagma and are very impressed with what they have achieved with very little resources. Emel travelled to Canada last year and spoke with various health care groups. After a meeting with the Rural Physicians of Canada in Halifax, that group was so impressed that they managed to raise $2000 on the spot! HMEF has matched that contribution. The funds will be used to train 30 traditional birth attendants in two rural communities in Pakistan


Donations
If you share the vision of Don and Liz Hillman please support the work of the Hillman Medical Education Fund with a donation. We are all volunteers so that your donation will be spent directly on the projects in Africa or Pakistan and not be wasted on overheads.

To Donate by cheque
Cheques should be made payable to
Rose Charities HMEF and mailed to

Rose Charities 1870 Ogden Ave, Vancouver V6J 1A1

To Donations by credit card on-line through www.rosecharities.org

To donate stocks and securities. There are tax advantages to donating shares other securities directly to a charity. We accept donations of this kind through MD Management. For more details please email Rose Charities Director Josephine de Freitas at Josephine@shaw.ca