This week is especially busy. I am reminding myself to breathe in and breathe out. What I get done, is done, what I don’t will have to wait until next week.
Our Comic Relief funding starts tomorrow – November 1st, which is very exciting. However, it also means that we’re starting with a new financial system, which involves a variety of forms that need to be filled out per transaction, spreadsheets to update and a new coding system to learn. I hope I will get used to it quickly. I also need to get cracking again on the Monitoring and Evaluation side of things for Comic Relief, which involves developing tools to monitor patient satisfaction, staff empowerment, quality of care in the hospital and other things. It’s an exciting project but also a lot of work.
I also have to prepare for a Skype Board meeting on Sunday, which means compiling reports and the like. I’m sure it will be a good meeting, if Skype works that is, but it always takes a little preparation time. We’ll be Skyping in from Freetown, London and Boston!
A small team from King’s College in London arrived yesterday. They are here to see how they can partner with Sierra Leone in the area of undergraduate/postgraduate medical/nursing training. They have various meetings lined up and we hope to tag along to some of them. A colleague and myself are meeting with them tonight to finalize the schedule. It’s a fly-by visit with them leaving on Friday but I’m sure it will be productive and hopefully impact training in Sierra Leone in the (near) future.
There is also a congress this week for the Sierra Leone Medical and Dental Association. We’ve been invited to the opening ceremony on Wednesday, which will be a good networking opportunity since most medical professionals in the country will likely be present. It frightens me to think how this will affect clinical care in hospitals on that day... The following two days they will hold scientific sessions, but considering the amount of work to do in the hospital, I’m not sure if I’ll attend. We’ll see how the week goes.
And of course, the usual work goes on. I don’t think I’ll make it to the wards much this week but that’s okay. I spent all day in ICU/Ward 3 on Friday so I’m saturated for now. A physiotherapist from the USA arrived last week and is willing to volunteer her time at the Children’s Hospital a couple of days a week. So, I spent Friday showing her around, introducing her to staff and patients and kicking-off in-patient physiotherapy at the Children’s Hospital. Exciting times.
All right, I have a few more emails to finish off before heading up the road to Mamba Point for a dinner with the Kings crew.
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