Saving Lives With Emergency Care in Rural Uganda

On March 18th only, Global Giving is offering a 30% match on YOUR donations!

Next week, GECC has a special gift-matching opportunity. Global Giving will match 30% of every donation made to GECC on March 18^th. That is less than one week away. This is a great opportunity to increase the impact of your donation!
 
But why should you choose GECC for your charitable giving?
 
Through GECC’s innovative training program, nurses are being equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to provide emergency care to patients in rural areas. But the training programs are doing more than just meeting countries’ needs for trained medical professionals. The programs also have a significant impact on the nurses’ motivation and job satisfaction.

A study conducted in 2006 on health worker motivation in Africa showed that training directly influences the professional commitment of nurses and non-physician clinicians. In fact, two-thirds of workers surveyed in Kenya and Benin ranked further education and professional progress highest among their professional objectives.

GECC’s program also empowers graduates to share their knowledge with their colleagues. Emergency Care Practitioners who have completed the program join the teaching staff each year to instruct the next cohort of trainees. Through this model, GECC’s program becomes self-sustained by the host hospital or school in just a few years.
 
Won’t you consider helping GECC continue inspiring nurses to develop professionally and take pride in the care they provide? A donation of $75 will provide one Ugandan trainer a teaching stipend for three months. Please mark your calendars to take full advantage of Global Giving's Match Day on March 18^th. All donations will be matched by 30% from Global Giving.
 
Thank you for your continued support. Your generosity helps us train Uganda’s next cadre of life-saving emergency care workers. To learn more about this program and GECC’s ongoing efforts, please visit our website, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

Links:

• Donate to GECC

Global Emergency Care Collaborative is excited to announce our new partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). Last month, GECC was awarded a two-year grant to save children’s lives by training non-physician clinicians to provide acute, emergency care services at Masaka Regional Referral Hospital in Masaka, Uganda.

This new program comes at a particularly opportune time. We know that the majority of pediatric mortality and morbidity in resource-limited settings is due to common diseases that have inexpensive treatments. And, from our pilot site data we know that task-shifting emergency care to more prevalent clinicians offers an affordable, scalable solution that can significantly improve patient outcomes.

Our challenge is to scale up the training of non-physician clinicians at Masaka Regional Referral Hospital, a large, public hospital that averages 6-8 times the number of patients that present at our pilot site hospital in Nyakibale. We relish the opportunity to prove that the development of scalable, affordable emergency care systems can significantly impact death and disease outcomes in low-resource settings.

We project that emergency care can prevent 1 death for every 20 children sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, and can prevent 1 death for every 41 children with severe malaria. In comparison with other common public health interventions, these results are substantial; for example, the measles vaccine prevents approximately 1 death per 500 vaccines given.

Presently, GECC is preparing the groundwork to begin program implementation in May or June. We look forward to building a successful Emergency Care Practitioner program in partnership with Masaka Regional Referral Hospital, the Uganda Ministry of Health, and RMHC.

For additional information about this program and GECC, please visit our website, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter.

Links:

• Exciting New Partnership Blog Post