7:55am Friday 19th March 2010
By Richard Harris
TWO nurses have returned from Uganda determined to help the medical staff and people of the country.
Nurse practitioners Rita Miller, of Albemarle Road, York and Christine Robinson, of Maple Grove in Fulford, went out to Kagando in the south west of the country on a fact- finding mission with the aim of returning next January with supplies of equipment and hopefully money.
Rita, who is more used to treating students as part of her work at the University of York Health Centre, said the trip was an eye-opening experience.
She said both the hospital and nursing school attached are both in need of medical supplies among other things.
She said: “Patients have to bring in their own mattresses and bed linen so we are trying to take out a container of whatever they need.
“We were able to take a portable ECG (electrocardiogram) machine last time. It was like Christmas had come, it was extraordinary.”
“The very first day we were at the hospital we were in paediatrics and there was a little girl of about nine who had malnutrition.
“She was semi-conscious and very withdrawn. She was being well cared for and we went back a week later.
“She was much better, but still very withdrawn as because of this kind of malnutrition she had blotchy, pigmented skin and no hair and she felt isolated and different.
“So we chose a really pretty dress that we had and laid it on her bed and I could see her eyes taking an interest. Then I remembered I had a little beaded necklace and put it on the bed and with that she pushed herself up and put this necklace on around her neck and clung to it.
“Everyone was in tears, it was extraordinary.”
What Rita and Christine really want to take, though, is money – ideally enough to buy a vehicle to allow medical staff to access rural areas – and they would like people to fundraise on their behalf.
For details, email ritamiller@btinternet.com
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