Great Videos -- Global Health Media Project

Global Health Media Project has recently announced the arrival of ten great videos on newborn care best practices for front-line providers and healthcare workers in low-resource settings.

The first video I selected to watch was the video titled “Basic Skills”. The video was easy to watch and was demonstrated a live setting. Some of the information is very basic, but is always a nice review even if it is a skill you may perform daily. I would suggest that any nurse venturing out into the volunteering world in areas where supplies and resources are low to view these videos for helpful tips. 

One of the other great things about these videos are that they are free of charge and are available and formatted for two download options a mobile phone version (smaller file size with lower resolution) and a laptop/tablet version (medium size and resolution). Global Health Media Project newborn series videos are free of charge in low-resource settings through their Creative Commons license.

Our videos “bring to life” critical health care information for providers and populations in low-resource settings

Here are some of the topics covered in the newborn videos:

       

          BASIC SKILLS

          NEWBORN PHYSICAL EXAM

          REFERRING A SICK BABY

          INSERTING A GASTRIC TUBE

          FEEDING WITH A GASTRIC TUBE

          SETTING UP AN IV LINE

          INSERTING AN IV

          TAKING A HEEL BLOOD SAMPLE

          BREATHING PROBLEMS

          UMBILICAL INFECTIONS

What’s even better is the organization is getting ready to produce 25 additional newborn care videos, and a Spanish voice-over is planned in the next few months.  Additionally the media project has established two distribution partnerships, one with Health Phone in India, with videos embedded on a memory chip in a mobile phone…this gives health care workers access to visual training tools in 15 Indian languages without the need for Internet connectivity. Other programs taking advantage of this is the Perinatal Education Program in South Africa, here they will be embedding the videos into their eBooks, self-managed learning programs for nurses and midwives in southern Africa.

I invite you to check the videos out and to give feedback directly to Global Health Media Project. For more information, please check out their About tab  and click on “Terms of Use”.

The videos are easily accessible on their website at http://globalhealthmedia.org or by directly going to the videos at http://globalhealthmedia.org/newborn/videos/

Jo's Nurses

Jo’s Nurses is a medical mission for current, active nurses who have never volunteered abroad but want to begin to incorporate volunteering into their careers. A small group of nurses (6-8) will travel with One Nurse staff to rural Honduras, where they will work alongside local nurses in various areas of a hospital as well as in rural clinics. One Nurse will provide pre-trip orientation and training so nurses are comfortable and informed.

When: November 5-11, 2012
Where: Rural Honduras
Cost: One Nurse will cover all trip costs except airfare
Application: Use the application on this site and note on your form it is for Jo’s Nurses. There is no application fee for Jo’s Nurses. All applications are due by September 15, 2012. We will let you know by September 30 if you are chosen for the mission.

Requirements:

• Current, active nurses (LPN, RN, ARNP)
• Must be Spanish speaking (translators will not be available)
• Attend 2-3 pre-trip meetings and information sessions (we are working on obtaining CEs for this)
• Nurse to provide airfare round trip Seattle to Tegucigalpa (approx $500)
• Be prepared to share educational opportunities with your local counterparts in Honduras — presentations and while working alongside
• Nurse to update any necessary immunizations and medications
• Nurse must have a valid passport
• Nurse commits to at least one international mission or local volunteer work in 2013
• Preference will be given to Swedish Medical Center employees
• All education levels and areas of expertise are welcome to apply
• Nurses will present their experience as a group to Swedish Nursing Grand Rounds in January 2013.

Jo’s Nurses is named after Marilyn Jo Schuyler, an early supporter of One Nurse at a Time, who set up a memorial fund to assist nurses who have never been on a mission before. She hoped the experience would ignite a passion for volunteering.

From the President – First Mission

My first mission was with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). They are an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural or man-made disasters.

I really had no idea what I was getting into! I was the nurse for the project Habila, which was a remote village on the border to Chad. Habila’s population was about 6,000 prior to the war which began in 2003. When I got there in 2004, there were about 26,000 people that needed help and emergency aid. We took over an abandoned school and turned the school into a hospital which provided medical care to the people.

Habila was a trading place or a daily market to many of the nomads (Janjaweed) and farmers. However both lived in uneasy peace with each other. Women were routinely raped if they left the confines of the town to gather firewood for cooking or heat.

My mission was for 6 months. At the beginning, we started a malnutrition center, but as we cared for the population over time, nutritional statues improved. Common diseases were hepatitis and other water borne diseases like diarrhea, malaria, and trauma…all the usual problems. As the nurse, I was the hospital administrator, Human Resources, Nurse Educator, and Nurse Team Leader for our group of 3…physician, logistician and myself.

In this picture, we went out to visit the nomad camps and take them food. Karen, the woman to the right of the picture, was our Swiss logistician – here you can see that she struggled under the weight of the 60 pound bag of Unimix (80% corn / 2% soy). I however, slung the bag over my shoulder and marched along – causing peels of laughter from the men at my strength.

The nomads thanked us for our help by giving us rides on their camels. We reciprocated by giving them rides in our Toyota Land Cruiser. We also sat down together and shared a meal of goat intestine stew and Fanta Orange.

It was a great day, great memories, wonderful friends and hard work.

                               - Sue Averill, RN
                                  President, One Nurse At A Time