Latest News from PCFU
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Here's a few photos from our January 2024 Trip
Here's a few photos from our November 2023 Trip
For our 2023 Annual Report, check out the blog page.
September, 2022
A half and half kind of trip, we returned this month to Naggalama to travel the villages and see palliative care patients, but this time we spent time in the capital city of Kampala at the 7th International African Palliative Care Conference, a once every three year event, this time conveniently for us in Uganda. As I've said before, Naggalama is only 35 Kms from Kampala, but a million miles away. In every metric imaginable, the rural communities and the urban setting are so different from each other; it is a culture shock traveling from one to the other.
In the villages, it was great to see how the palliative care (PC) team has weathered the pandemic through all kinds of obstacles, continue to care for the suffering patients that don't have ready access to healthcare services. But also it was great to get an opportunity to present our educational curriculum that we have been developing over the last few years to an international audience and receiving wonderful feedback and making partnerships to disseminate our work to many countries.
And the biggest surprise at the conference was when the St. Francis Naggalama Palliative Care program was recognized for “Contribution to Improving Access to Palliative Care Services in Africa”, this little hospital in rural Africa sharing the honor with large national and international service organizations. We are so proud of Prossy and her team for becoming a resource for doctors, nurses and palliative care organizations from around the world to learn about sustainable delivery of PC in under-resourced areas.
Here are some pictures from this trip:
A half and half kind of trip, we returned this month to Naggalama to travel the villages and see palliative care patients, but this time we spent time in the capital city of Kampala at the 7th International African Palliative Care Conference, a once every three year event, this time conveniently for us in Uganda. As I've said before, Naggalama is only 35 Kms from Kampala, but a million miles away. In every metric imaginable, the rural communities and the urban setting are so different from each other; it is a culture shock traveling from one to the other.
In the villages, it was great to see how the palliative care (PC) team has weathered the pandemic through all kinds of obstacles, continue to care for the suffering patients that don't have ready access to healthcare services. But also it was great to get an opportunity to present our educational curriculum that we have been developing over the last few years to an international audience and receiving wonderful feedback and making partnerships to disseminate our work to many countries.
And the biggest surprise at the conference was when the St. Francis Naggalama Palliative Care program was recognized for “Contribution to Improving Access to Palliative Care Services in Africa”, this little hospital in rural Africa sharing the honor with large national and international service organizations. We are so proud of Prossy and her team for becoming a resource for doctors, nurses and palliative care organizations from around the world to learn about sustainable delivery of PC in under-resourced areas.
Here are some pictures from this trip:
April, 2021
We've returned from an all too brief trip (11 days) to Uganda, but with Covid restrictions in play, we are happy we got there (and out of there, but that's a whole other story) at all. It's been over a year and a half since our last visit, before the pandemic, and it was great to be back with our friends and co-workers. While seeing our amazing palliative care team at Naggalama Hospital was special, one of the big highlights of the trip was presenting our new palliative care video based educational curriculum to the Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care in Africa, which is an institute for higher learning offering diploma and degree level programs to doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers from across the world. IHPC is very excited to begin using our program, which we will be providing them at no cost, so more can be trained in the principles of palliative care.
Additionally, the Naggalama palliative care team, initially seeing patients in villages only in the Mukono District (districts are like our US counties), has now been asked to see patients in neighboring districts. While more work for the team, it is great they are up to the challenge in order to relieve suffering in a much wider geographical area. We are hoping to fund and set up local teams in more districts as we are able.
We also got an opportunity to have the staff of St. Francis Naggalama Hospital watch Lucy Bruell's award winning documentary, Oli Otya (https://www.oliotyafilm.com/), much of which was filmed at their hospital. They loved seeing their co-workers in the film.
Here are some photos from this latest trip:
We've returned from an all too brief trip (11 days) to Uganda, but with Covid restrictions in play, we are happy we got there (and out of there, but that's a whole other story) at all. It's been over a year and a half since our last visit, before the pandemic, and it was great to be back with our friends and co-workers. While seeing our amazing palliative care team at Naggalama Hospital was special, one of the big highlights of the trip was presenting our new palliative care video based educational curriculum to the Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care in Africa, which is an institute for higher learning offering diploma and degree level programs to doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers from across the world. IHPC is very excited to begin using our program, which we will be providing them at no cost, so more can be trained in the principles of palliative care.
Additionally, the Naggalama palliative care team, initially seeing patients in villages only in the Mukono District (districts are like our US counties), has now been asked to see patients in neighboring districts. While more work for the team, it is great they are up to the challenge in order to relieve suffering in a much wider geographical area. We are hoping to fund and set up local teams in more districts as we are able.
We also got an opportunity to have the staff of St. Francis Naggalama Hospital watch Lucy Bruell's award winning documentary, Oli Otya (https://www.oliotyafilm.com/), much of which was filmed at their hospital. They loved seeing their co-workers in the film.
Here are some photos from this latest trip:
Photos from April, 2021 Trip to Uganda
June, 2020
COVID-19 MESSAGE
Go to the PCFU BLOG page to see our latest message about the COVID-19 Pandemic and the broadening needs of palliative care in rural Africa.
COVID-19 MESSAGE
Go to the PCFU BLOG page to see our latest message about the COVID-19 Pandemic and the broadening needs of palliative care in rural Africa.
Congratulations to Lucy Bruell for having her documentary
January, 2020
Congratulations to Lucy Bruell on the acceptance of her documentary "Oli Otya: Life and Loss in Rural Uganda" for being accepted into the "2020 Sedona International Film Festival!
From the film's website, https://www.oliotyafilm.com:"Oli Otya? Life and Loss in Rural Uganda tells the story of a team of nurses from a small hospital who travel to the villages, areas where pain and suffering are often endured rather than relieved, to care for people facing life -threatening illnesses. Naggalama, Uganda is less than 25 miles from Kampala, the capital, but it is, in many ways, a world away. Families depend on the harvest; children fill cans of water at the pump; and food simmers on open fires. With little access to healthcare, villagers frequently turn to traditional healers, herbalists and bone setters, hoping to ease their suffering. Nurse Prossy Nafula and her team bring medical supplies and liquid morphine to patients in the community. They are accompanied by two American physician volunteers, Randi Diamond, a palliative care specialist at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, and her husband, Howard Eison, an internist. The intimacy of medical care is a window into the lives of the villagers and the challenges of integrating Western medical practices with traditional beliefs. Oli Otya? is a journey into the heart of medicine."
"Oli Otya: Life and Loss in Rural Uganda"
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January, 2020
Congratulations to Lucy Bruell on the acceptance of her documentary "Oli Otya: Life and Loss in Rural Uganda" for being accepted into the "2020 Sedona International Film Festival!
From the film's website, https://www.oliotyafilm.com:"Oli Otya? Life and Loss in Rural Uganda tells the story of a team of nurses from a small hospital who travel to the villages, areas where pain and suffering are often endured rather than relieved, to care for people facing life -threatening illnesses. Naggalama, Uganda is less than 25 miles from Kampala, the capital, but it is, in many ways, a world away. Families depend on the harvest; children fill cans of water at the pump; and food simmers on open fires. With little access to healthcare, villagers frequently turn to traditional healers, herbalists and bone setters, hoping to ease their suffering. Nurse Prossy Nafula and her team bring medical supplies and liquid morphine to patients in the community. They are accompanied by two American physician volunteers, Randi Diamond, a palliative care specialist at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, and her husband, Howard Eison, an internist. The intimacy of medical care is a window into the lives of the villagers and the challenges of integrating Western medical practices with traditional beliefs. Oli Otya? is a journey into the heart of medicine."
"Oli Otya: Life and Loss in Rural Uganda"
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September, 2019
This month's trip started in Kigali, Rwanda at the International African Palliative Care Conference having been invited to discuss our palliative care work in rural Uganda. Attended by about 500 delegates from some 40 countries around the world, we ran a workshop, "Video Based Modules for Palliative Care Education in Rural Uganda: Teaching Communication Skills to Health Workers." It was so well received that we were asked to do an encore presentation in Kampala the following week for several more people from other countries that couldn't attend in Kigali. Given the incredible reception to this work, we now realize we can't stop now and therefore the real work begins; developing this prototype curriculum to a fully usable educational tool to give at no charge to under-resourced areas around the world to reduce suffering through palliative care.
This will take manpower and resources, all of which will rely on donations.
After Kigali, we went "home" to Naggalama, Uganda to visit with our palliative care team there and see the wonderful work they continue to do. And on this trip we were joined by Liz, a palliative NP and Melissa, a geriatrics fellow, both from NYP-Cornell and Laura, a palliative social worker from CT. It was great having them all help out with the work.
Here are some pictures from this most recent trip:
This month's trip started in Kigali, Rwanda at the International African Palliative Care Conference having been invited to discuss our palliative care work in rural Uganda. Attended by about 500 delegates from some 40 countries around the world, we ran a workshop, "Video Based Modules for Palliative Care Education in Rural Uganda: Teaching Communication Skills to Health Workers." It was so well received that we were asked to do an encore presentation in Kampala the following week for several more people from other countries that couldn't attend in Kigali. Given the incredible reception to this work, we now realize we can't stop now and therefore the real work begins; developing this prototype curriculum to a fully usable educational tool to give at no charge to under-resourced areas around the world to reduce suffering through palliative care.
This will take manpower and resources, all of which will rely on donations.
After Kigali, we went "home" to Naggalama, Uganda to visit with our palliative care team there and see the wonderful work they continue to do. And on this trip we were joined by Liz, a palliative NP and Melissa, a geriatrics fellow, both from NYP-Cornell and Laura, a palliative social worker from CT. It was great having them all help out with the work.
Here are some pictures from this most recent trip:
September, 2018
We just returned from Uganda and what a great trip it was. Seeing our friends at Naggalama Hospital, our wonderful Palliative Care Team, and all of the patients, new and old, was great.
And an added benefit is always enjoyed when we share our experiences with medical students. This visit we had Laurenie from Canada/USA and Christine and Sara from Sweden. I think they got a taste of the real rural Ugandan experience this trip and it will forever change their view on global health and palliative care in developing nations.
Here are some pictures from this recent trip:
We just returned from Uganda and what a great trip it was. Seeing our friends at Naggalama Hospital, our wonderful Palliative Care Team, and all of the patients, new and old, was great.
And an added benefit is always enjoyed when we share our experiences with medical students. This visit we had Laurenie from Canada/USA and Christine and Sara from Sweden. I think they got a taste of the real rural Ugandan experience this trip and it will forever change their view on global health and palliative care in developing nations.
Here are some pictures from this recent trip:
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Uganda 2018
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