WE CONTINUE TO DEVELOP INTENSIVE CARE IN ZANZIBAR THANKS TO OUR VOLUNTEERS
Ana Cristina de Castro has been a nurse for more than 20 years, currently working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Hospital Universitario Príncipe de Asturias in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), and in the Nursing Department of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Alcalá. She is also working on his PhD, focusing on a disease endemic in some African countries.
Ana has recently returned from Zanzibar, after a three-week stay in the ICU of the Mnazi Mmoja Hospital. This is her second NED volunteer assignment in Zanzibar, where she was from June to September 2022.
On this occasion, she was able to assess the progress made in the unit since his last stay, and thus verify the application of protocols for the care of critical patients, the use of scales specific to this type of patient, such as the RASS or the management of drugs in critical patients and drug incompatibilities. In addition, she was able to start working on new care, such as that required by patients with tracheotomy.
“It has been gratifying to see how the professionals in the unit are passing on the things we work on in the summer, both to the new professionals and to trainees”.
At the same time, Ana visited the House of Hope to see the work being carried out in the socio-sanitary centre, where many of the children who are cared for at the NED Institute are housed together with their families. During this visit, she was able to evaluate more than 30 children and learn more about their stimulation and neurorehabilitation needs. “It has been a challenge, but this work is helping to develop new support programmes for children with hydrocephalus and spina bifida”.
NED’s work would not be possible without the help of our volunteers. Ana represents the best of that commitment. And from here we would like to thank you again for all your work and dedication.
This is a brief testimony of their stay:
“The staff need support, they are eager to learn, they are gradually incorporating new techniques and adjusting to the resources available to them in each case. Their attitude towards me is respectful, caring, they show interest, they make me feel like one more in their unit, which is their home. It is an honour and a dream, both as a nurse and as a teacher, to be able to participate in the NED project in the ICU of the Mnazi Mmoja Hospital”
