GREETINGS

HELLO, GAP MEDICS ALUMNI

Welcome to the first edition of the Gap Medics alumni newsletter. We love

hearing what you are up to - and we thought you might like to know what

we’ve been doing too! Keep up to date with what’s going on in our overseas

destinations, and learn about what your favourite staff members have been up

to! We’ll start with a round-up of the news in each destination.

SUMMER NEWSLETTERSEPTEMBER 2014

PROGRAMME UPDATES

TANZANIATHE KILIMANJARO PROGRAMME IS BORNIn June 2014, we launched our newest under 18’s programme. Set in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, the house has some impressive mountain views and even a swimming pool, which students have been putting to good use! Our main hospital partnership in the area is with St. Joseph’s – a facility located in the town of Moshi, just ten minutes walk from our Gap Medics house. We have also organised placements for students in the smaller Kibosho hospital, which is set in a beautiful rural area up in the mountains. To date, over 200 students have joined us in Killy, with phenomenal feedback!

THE BRAND NEW MOROGORO HOUSEEarlier in 2014, we launched Morogoro as our first destination specifically for students aged 18 and under. The popularity of this programme was unprecedented, and we soon decided to build an awesome new house to accommodate growing student numbers. Programme manager Gilbert has been overseeing the building of the recently completed new Morogoro house, better known as the ‘Forest House’. Complete with a large swimming pool, it’s a pretty impressive (even if we do say so ourselves..!) We marked the launch of the new Morogoro house with a party for staff and students. There were traditional performances from local dancers and an epic, Gap Medics style barbeque, complete with a Tanzanian favourite – lots and lots of goat meat!

FANTASTIC FUNDRAISING IN IRINGA! Students have been involved in some amazing fundraising efforts at all of our destinations this summer, and our Iringa students are no exception! One group donated three boxes full of equipment, that they had sourced before they joined us on placement, to Dr. Manyama. The boxes included hand sanitiser, gloves, goggles, surgical masks – things we often take for granted but that our partner hospitals require urgently. Russell Cheerington also donated a huge bag of supplies, and Arjun Patel and Youssaf Rehman both donated scrubs. As always, generous students left their surplus supplies behind to be donated to our partner hospitals.

THAILANDCHIANG MAIProgramme Manager Tik and his team are currently making some changes to The Jungle House - the dining area will be extended and a brand new kitchen is in the process of being built. This is to allow even more space for students to enjoy mealtimes, and for the caterers to be able to spread out a little whilst preparing their usual delicious grub. The extra space also means that impromptu cooking lessons can involve a whole lot more students!

We have also recently formed a new hospital partnership in Thailand, with Rajanagarindra Institute of Child Development, a centre which provides care for children from all over Thailand.

STAFF UPDATES

The last few months has brought lots of changes to our staff

teams. We’ve recruited new staff and changed the roles and

destinations of some older team members. Here’s what’s new: KILIMANJAROThe talented and much-loved Jerry Fernandes, who has worked as programme manager in both Iringa and Morogoro in the past, is now running the show in Kilimanjaro. After spending several months setting up the programme and overseeing the house build, his programme manager duties are now in full swing.

Emma, a new recruit from the UK, has joined the operations team and is currently posted in Kilimanjaro. She has been assisting Jerry in running the programme, and ensuring that every aspect of the student experience is of a high standard.

We have also welcomed Hamissi to the Kilimanjaro team, as our newest placement coordinator.

MOROGOROAfter Jerry’s departure from the Morogoro programme in order to set up Kilimanjaro, former programme coordinator Gilbert has taken the reins as the new Morogoro programme manager. Gilbert has overseen the building of the new Morogoro house, better known as the ‘Forest House’.

Ruth, from the UK, joined the operations team in Morogoro at the beginning of the summer. As well as assisting Gilbert with the running of the programme she also makes sure that we are delivering on all of our promises!

Morogoro locals Clarence and Miraje also joined the team earlier this summer as placement coordinators.

IRINGASam, our student placement team leader (UK office), has joined Mdoe and the Iringa team for the summer. She is our acting programme manager. She will oversee day to day life at the Rock House and ensure every student is having a worthwhile and enjoyable time on placement.

Sam has been joined by brand new placement coordinator Delphine. CHIANG MAIProgramme manager Tik, and assistant operations manager Siobhan, have been joined by several new placement coordinators - Pang, Mike, Gai, Ji and Jenny - who have been a great help over the busy summer months.

HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN PURSUING A CAREER IN HEALTHCARE? I became interested in pursuing a career in medicine only a couple of years ago. Before that I always wanted to be a vet but I changed my mind as I wanted a career that allowed me to travel around and meet people. I wanted to pursue a career in medicine as I wanted to make a difference to peoples’ lives and I love the idea of working abroad and volunteering. Also I have always been really interested in science, especially the anatomy and physiology of the human body. WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE MOROGORO AS THE DESTINATION OF YOUR PLACEMENT?I chose Morogoro as I have always really wanted to go to Africa and it seemed a great place to go to see a different kind of healthcare and experience the different culture out there. The idea of going to shadow doctors in the hospital and volunteer in the orphanage in Morogoro was exciting and seemed like a great opportunity to gain valuable work experience and to learn more about healthcare in a developing country. WHAT WAS THE BEST THING ABOUT YOUR EXPERIENCE?The people I met there, and of course the great work experience I got from the placements. I was lucky to see some surgery which was truly amazing and I spent a lot of time in clinics, where I learned a lot from the doctors including their views on medicine. I saw people with diseases that you rarely see in this country and learned about the difficulties they have in treating them. WHAT IS YOUR FONDEST MEMORY FROM YOUR TIME THERE?I think my fondest memory is definitely volunteering at the orphanage with the friends I made on Gap Medics, and playing with the children there. It was my first time in an orphanage and the children were all really lovely and friendly.

HELEN JONESPRE-MEDICINE PROGRAMMEMOROGORO, TANZANIAJULY 2014

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

DETAIL A FEW OF THE MOST EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCES YOU HAD ON YOUR PLACEMENT?I think the surgery I saw was one of the most eye opening experiences I had there, as I hadn’t managed to see any in the UK beforehand. It was such an amazing experience to see inside the human body and get to see how operations are done in Africa. It was also eye opening going on ward rounds and seeing patients with diseases such as malaria that would not normally been seen in the UK. WERE YOU SURPRISED/SHOCKED AT THE DIFFERENCE IN HEALTHCARE COMPARED TO HOSPITALS AT HOME?I was surprised at, compared to UK hospitals, how very limited their resources are and that wards have around 20 to 30 patients. Technology in Morogoro Regional Hospital is also limited and they have none of the basic equipment, like heart rate monitors, that we have come to accept as standard equipment. It was also interesting to learn about how the healthcare system works out there and that people in employment have healthcare insurance but otherwise you have to pay for your medications and surgery.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE?I have learnt so much from my Gap Medics placement. My placements were internal medicine and general medicine so I saw such variations in patient cases, from malaria to diabetes and learned more about how they diagnosed and treated illnesses. I was also lucky to get to see an afternoon of surgery which was amazing, so I learnt more about a surgeons role and how surgery is undertaken in Morogoro hospital, getting to see a laparatomy and a fistula. Furthermore, I got to spend two night shifts in the obstetrics and gynaecology ward, which was probably my most shocking experience, seeing how babies are delivered in Africa and the lack of epidurals and pain relief medication they have for their births. During one of my night shifts I was fortunate to get to see a C-section which was truly amazing; it was incredible to witness a birth. I learned so much more about pregnancy complications. Through all this though, it was just amazing to get to shadow the doctors in Morogoro Regional Hospital and to learn from them more about what it’s like to be a doctor. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE IN REGARDS TO PURSUING MEDICINE?I thoroughly intend to study medicine at university and I can’t wait to begin. I think Gap Medics has definitely opened my eyes to the breadth and variation of the different areas there are within medicine. It has made me even more interested in learning about the different fields of medicine that I hadn’t even known about before going to Africa.

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