Save the Date for the 7th Annual CNFA Gala Out of Africa February 17, 2018 Cocktail Reception @ 5:00pm Dinner @ 6:30 pm OE Banquet & Conference Centre 2245 Speers Road Oakville, Ontario Tickets are $80 per person until February 1, 2018 After February 1, 2018, Tickets will be $90 per person. For Tickets Contact Gail at: 905-335-2157 or canadiannursesforafrica@gmail.com
It doesn't seem real to me that the end can already be upon us. I feel like I blinked and this mission was already on its final moments. It was a very bittersweet day, knowing that everything was coming to an end but also trying to relish in the last day and reflect on how grateful I felt being a part of this unique experience. We had a riot prior to the clinic even opening, due to some people cutting in line. All of a sudden there was yelling, pushing and people going crazy. Thankfully, even though our fearless leader Gail is tiny, she is equally as mighty. She was able to settle the line and calm the crowd, with the promise that everyone would be seen but needed to wait their turn. We had a patient show up asking for us to help him because "his mammy was very sick and could not make it to the clinic even though she lives just down the way". I was able to have the opportunity to do a home visit. Not knowing really what to expect, I gathered a thermometer and blood pressure cuff and our trusty Kenyan nurse Victor, and headed to the home. We…
May the fourth be with you. I can honestly say I have never felt holier than standing on an alter handing out medications to those in need. That was definitely a first. We were working out of a very small Catholic Church that made for tight quarters for registering, triaging patients, seeing the doctor and then handing out medications all in one space. But we adapt, we are nurses don't you know. It's what we do best. We had a couple of moments that particularly stood out from today. First off, we saw a child with an incredibly high temperature, rigors (a sudden attack of severe shivering and feeling of coldness) who had an increased heart rate and looked bad. He tested positive for malaria and was sent immediately to hospital for IV therapy and closer monitoring. Next, was a child with spina bifida. His mother carried him in to the clinic, and he had incredible wounds on his knees from dragging himself around at home. His mother told us that he is attending school and has a wheelchair to get himself around while there, but does not have the means at home, so he just ends up dragging his legs. He was another patient…
Rocked up to another clinic where the line up of people was so long that it extended off the property of the church we were working out of. To know that all of these people are patiently waiting for us to come and help them, with no complaints about wait times or when they are going to be seen, is absolutely inspiring. Also crazy daunting, but mainly so amazing. These patients come from all over, often walking long distances in order to gain access to the assistance they need. Every patient greets us with a 'Jambo Sana' and a smile when we go to take vitals. They thank us for giving their children clothes, shoes, toys and giving out free medicine and "healing their wounds". Today we had a man come to clinic for medications and in need of a dressing change. Considering I had done a couple of pretty minor dressings today, I anticipated it was going to be something basic. He pulled up his pant leg to reveal a horrendous wound on his upper thigh. Holy jeepers. By no means am I a wound care expert, but I can see when a wound needs to be debrided (the medical removal of dead, damaged…
Arriving to clinic to see a line of more than 50 people already waiting outside is just a slightly daunting start to the day. However, with the help of Solomon to get the crowd going, we were put in right mindset to start chugging along. The clinic started at a realitively lively pace, and a number of us had the chance to do some community jigger visits as well as home visits. Erica, Brian, Victor and I had the opportunity to head to the Friends School next door to the clinic to provide some deworming of the school kids. Last week school was still out, so this week kids are all back to hitting in the books in their adorable uniforms. We checked out some of the classrooms, and looked at the books the kids were studying even though they were in Swahili and I could not make heads or tails of it. We had the kids line up in two straight lines, hold out their hands and take the deworming pill. Oh, and we said "tarufa" which means chew. It must have been our pronounciation, because they thought it was hilarious. That, or the fact that we looked so different than they did. A…
Solomon had a new rendition of his daily song that included us clapping in excitement for all the different ailments that could possibly affect a person and cause them to seek treatment: head, chest, heart, belly, bowels, etc. He sure knows how to really get the crowd going. Everyday at the clinic is an amazing day. For me, it always baffles my mind that you can easily see over 500 people in the span of 8 short hours. These are people who travel long distances to make it to these clinics and seek help. We saw 513 people today and because of the weather, it was a slow day. One such man was a return customer from a previous clinic. He had come to us seeking treatment for his legs that were causing him immense pain to the point that he was unable to walk on them. We had treated him for an infection, given some pain meds, cleansed and dressed his ulcer. He had come back to get the wound rechecked and cleaned. It was healing nicely, seen by the pink skin and lack of drainage and smell. I gave it a thorough cleaning and bandaged him up, giving him extra supplies and explaining…
April showers, bring May flowers has never been a more appropriate saying than to describe today. When our Kenyan guides talked about there only being two seasons (the wet and the dry), I wasn't quite expecting a torrential downpour through the night into the next morning. Holy moly. Due to the rain, we ended up leaving for the clinic a bit late and it was a slow start to the morning because who really wants to be out in a terrible rainstorm? We did have a small group of people that came to see us in the morning, including this poor boy who was tattered and using a plastic bag as a raincoat. Sabrina got right on finding him some better clothes, and we thankfully were able to pull off a complete transformation. In this case a hat, new tshirts and sweater was all it took! Vicki and I were given the opportunity to go with Johnstone for a jiggers home visit. What we didn't realize until we arrived was that we were running a jiggers treatment for an entire community. We were welcomed by the community and said mrembe in return, and then brought everyone needing treatment outside for Johnstone to sort out the…
By the end of this mission, we are going to be almost/sort of/semi-fluent in a few choice words in Swahili. I don't know if our Kenyan nurses are more excited when we remember specific words, or they just think our pronounciation is hysterical, but we have been getting some good responses at the clinics in our attempts at Swahili. So far we have pele (over there), kuje (next), kaa (sit), karibu (welcome), jambo (hello) and my personal favourite, sura yako ni murzuri (you are beautiful). Today at the clinic there were two instances that really stuck out for me. One patient came in with a fractured right humerus with a complete displacement that had occurred in August of the previous year. He was beaten at work, which left him with deformity most people would not even know what to do with. Crazy enough, the bone was not protruding through the skin and he had almost full range of motion and sensation of the arm. His issue was that he was unable to afford access to healthcare at the time of the injury, and now, 8 months later, wanted to know what could be done. Unfortunately, there was nothing immediately that could be done for him, but…
There is nothing quite like having your own personal hype man to generate such an uplifting and positive energy to start off the day. Solomon is truly a rockstar. He gets the community psyched to see us, and us incredibly excited to start seeing patients! There is nothing quite like chanting, clapping, singing and praising to get the day rolling. It is also incredibly heartwarming to hear from people in the community about how the work that we do genuinely affects them in a positive way. It just goes to show that kindness and generosity spread! Wangulu was a very interesting community to be a part of. We had the chance to work in a lovely church that was probably the second largest one that we have been in since clinic day 1. This church had light bulbs and access to electricity, which is not seen in many of the places we have visited so far. It has been very interesting picking the minds of the Kenyan nurses to find out information about what it is like to study as a nurse in Kenya and what it entails that is similar and different from home. Victor, one of the Kenyan nursing students who works with CNFA,…
By day 3, we were a well oiled machine, loading the van, setting up and starting with minimal fusses. Everyday started with an introduction to the community leaders, a song and a prayer, to bless the day and all the people taking part in it. We rotated through triage, meds, learning opportunities, and assisting with various other tasks. Meds turned out to be a lot harder than I expected at the start. Just trying to locate the specific medication and correct dosing you were looking for was difficult... but then came all the (albeit basic but still challenging) math. We all seemed to catch on quick, because our brains were truly put to the test with pediatric dosing calculations. Thank goodness for the buddy system for checking medication orders. And really, if anything, a little organized chaos is the spice to life. That, and music. Sarah, one of the Kenyan nurses also provided us with the opportunity to see a birth control rod inserted into a patient's inner arm. The insertion itself was fairly straightforward, and nothing a little lidocaine couldn't fix. Lidocaine was inserted into the arm directly under the skin first to numb the area, and then a rod was inserted in to the…
Hello from the other side. It appears that I have survived! Clinic #2 was a mystery to me, but the others gave me the breakdown of the day. To start off, I had my first interaction with Solomon, CNFA's number one fan. No one gets as jazzed about us being here as Solomon. He is an angel in every way, and helps facilitate the gathering of the community and blessing of the day by prayer. The clinics work as such; patients register first with their name, age, community and stated complaints. They then come to triage for weights, temps, blood pressures and heart rates based on their ages. We identify people that are very sick at this point and fast track them to the clinical officers immediately, as some of these people need transfer to hospital ASAP. The next step is to speak to the clinic officers who order their meds, and then to the medication table to get them dispensed. The Kenyan nurses provided education on medication administration and answer any questions they may have. Usually at this point we also provide wound care where appropriate, or extra supplies such as reading glasses. As a triage nurse, patients come to you to do vitals.…
Unfortunately, some of us were not off to a great start this morning. While I stayed home and puked my guts out, the rest of CNFA was off touching the lives of the community of Inegero. Here is a rendition of what I have been told. The first timers of the group were feeling nervous, not really sure what to anticipate in terms of the setup, schedule or flow of the day. Since this was the first mission most of us had ever done, we had no baseline in terms of what to expect. However, with the help of our fearless leaders, we were brought up to speed quickly, and fell into the motions of triaging, dispensing meds and connecting with our patients. Every person was incredibly patient, had travelled far and was unbelievably thankful for the help we provided. This created an overwhelming sense of heartbreak but also the amazing feeling of being able to physically see your actual impact on a person's life. This clinic brought the first year of rapid diagnostic testing of malaria, which is a WHO best practice guideline, and is only possible due to the funding CNFA received this year. In the first day, 50% of the people tested…
Jambo!! Breakfast lead to some very interesting discoveries: 1) if someone offers you something called arrow root, do not accept 2) if you do, be prepared for it to look like a purple potato, be the texture of spaghetti squash and generally taste like cardboard. But hey, when in Kenya, do as the Kenyans do. We loaded into our almighty Jesus van to pick up some RDTs (rapid diagnostic testing) for malaria from the local chemists', and then ventured to Kisumu to pick up our delivery of 29 boxes of various meds for the clinics. Low and behold the journey was a trying one. The roads are definitely something out of a roller coaster ride. That being said, the scenery helped take away from the jostling and bumping roads. Oh, and not fixating on the fact that they drive on the left hand side here. The chemist welcomed us and our girl (+Brian) power to lug said boxes into our car and get pumped about the start of clinics! This also gave us time to explore some local markets and the talented artists, partake in some sweet, sweet bargaining and hit up the local Nakumat (aka Kenyan Costco). There is something so interesting about hitting…
(Sorry guys! Had some technical difficulties getting the blog up and running so be prepared as I play catch up to present time!) Welcome to Nairobi!!! If anything, I have realized that Kenyan time is much like island time...relaxed. An 8 am start rarely means 8 am, and more often than not we stop somewhere that we aren't a hundred percent sure why. We loaded ourselves into our beautiful van and took off in the very capable hands of Jerry and Jeffery, starting our 11 hour journey from Nairobi to Kakamega. This took us on an epic journey down the lovely, smooth, Kenyan roads. Our first hop off the bus was the astounding Great Rift Valley, which runs 6,000 km from Lebanon to Mozambique. Standing looking into it was pretty surreal, and made you feel like a tiny little part of the world. Next "stop" was to bask in the glory of REAL LIFE ZEBRAS, WARTHOGS, BABOONS, IMPALAS AND GAZELLES just hanging out at the side of the road. Like what?? How is this even real life!?!? How can this be the equivalent to our everyday squirrel? We also stopped to cross the equator line and make sure to get a picture at zero…
Megg comes to CFNA with over 25 years of professional experience in various sectors and with various forms of philanthropic giving and corporate partnership work, sales and marketing. Her degree in Behavioural Science coupled with her passion for community lends itself to a focus on organizations that have people and community at the core. CFNA’s work in Africa, building stronger, healthier and safer communities and the ways in which our Canadian nurses further give back to our Canadian healthcare culture are core functions that Megg wishes to drive forward with strategic fundraising plans, and a broader scope for CFNA moving forward.
The mother of four girls in their teen years, giving back, modeling volunteerism, and sharing experiences beyond their immediate scope are further important reasons why Megg is looking to make a difference as a Board Director with CFNA. Megg also serves on other boards that have a community initiative while she works full time and raises her children.
Mary has a range of experience both in the hospital and industry settings. She received her Post Masters Acute Care Nurse Practitioner diploma from the University of Toronto, and spent her nursing career in cardiology, critical care and electrophysiology, caring for patients and managing nursing and technical care teams.
She has a BSc and an MSc in science and molecular biology (also UofT). She retired from a career in clinical research with an international medical company, initially managing cardiac medical device marketing, and then later assuming responsibility for research in Canada and Latin America. She looks forward to volunteering with CNFA, and assisting wherever possible with the mission experience, data management and fundraising.
Lisa Keenan-Lindsay graduated from the University of Toronto in 1983 with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and in 2003 with her Masters of Nursing. She has worked as a staff nurse in a pediatric ICU as well as in all areas of obstetrics (prenatal clinic, labour and birth, postpartum). Lisa has spent the last 20 years of her career working in post-secondary education, teaching nursing students. Her passion is maternal-child health and she has edited 2 Canadian nursing textbooks in this area. She is a past president of the Canadian Association of Perinatal and Women’s Health Nurses (CAPWHN).
Trish has sat on the CNFA board of directors since 2011 and served as Treasurer from 2013 to 2015. Trish has been a member of five past medical mission, as part of the lead team. Present and past nursing experience includes Geriatrics, Emergency medicine, Intensive Care and Public Health. Trish also serves on the BOD of the Geriatric Nurses Association of Ontario, Hamilton chapter.
Trained as a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner, Nancy has had a wide and varied nursing career mostly in paediatrics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Her experience includes Paediatric Critical Care, Emergency as well as providing care to adult patients with cardiac issues. She provides primary care of patients at a Nurse Practitioner Led Clinic (NPLC) and is Director of Health and Wellness at a summer camp in Ontario.
She has lived overseas, providing humanitarian work in the country of Ghana. Currently she is working at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre as part of the COVID-19 response at the Assessment Centre, working with Infectious Diseases and managing COVID patients at home as well as vaccinating.
Nancy has a Masters in Nursing, is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Toronto Bloomberg School of Nursing and has been a clinical instructor at the university level for many years.
She has a passion for women and children’s health in low income settings and conflict areas. She volunteers at a Refugee Health Centre and also for Global Medic, a global disaster relief organization. She has been to Kenya with the 2019 CNFA Medical Mission.
Meaghan graduated with a BScN in 2011 and is currently pursuing graduate nursing studies. Meaghan has been involved in CNFA since 2018 and has been on the past two medical missions. She has work experience in internal medicine, surgery, surgical oncology, and critical care. Meaghan is excited to have joined the BOD and brings a strong passion for nursing and helping her community.
Thirty+ years of experience helping organizations to set – and achieve – specific goals in international and domestic markets. Specialist in helping organizations to make sound decisions based on research, analysis, due diligence, feasibility studies and strategic partnerships.
Significant professional experience in international development, organizing and leading trade and investment missions to and from various countries and regions of the world.
Currently focused on Volunteer work. In addition to joining to the Board of Canadian Nurses for Africa in 2022, I also serve as a Volunteer Advisor with the Canadian Executive Services Organization (CESO), a non-profit agency funded primarily by the Government of Canada. This involves providing time and energy to advance social and economic change working in partnership with international organizations.
Also focused on work with the Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar as a member of the International Service Committee and the Club’s Board of Directors, as well as fundraising initiatives.
Jacinda is one of the newest CNFA board members. Currently, she relishes the challenges in her role as a staff accountant with Henderson Roller Smit Professional Corporation in Oakville. Her skills developed over the past 10 years in public accounting will help CNFA meet its goals and support the organization’s clinical missions to Kenya. She is excited to join the board and is looking forward to the rewards of being one of such a dynamic group of women.
Gail worked as a front line hospital nurse in hospitals across Canada, as well as Northern Outpost Nursing in remote communities of Ontario and Manitoba. She worked in many areas including Neurosurgery, Trauma, ICU and the Emergency Department. As well, Gail has volunteered in a variety of capacities with an array of community organizations.
In 2007 Gail became acutely aware of the poverty and lack of health care in Western Kenya. Deeply moved to make a difference, she founded Canadian Nurses for Africa with the intent to provide free medical care to the people of these communities. As Team Leader, Gail has lead ten successful medical missions to Kenya. She also oversees the implementation and monitors the public health programs.
After ten years of development in the Kakamega and Vihiga regions of Kenya, there is a marked improvement in the overall health in these communities, which local people and leaders attribute to the health care provided by Canadian Nurses For Africa. Gail stepped down from the President’s role in 2021 and the board of directors in 2022. She remains a valuable resource to the board of directors and is now an honorary board member.
Trained as a primary care and acute care nurse practitioner (NP), Patti has worked in a wide range of nursing roles throughout her career, mostly in acute care and ambulatory care cardiology settings. She also has experience in emergency and walk-in clinic settings.
Patti completed her PhD in Nursing (University of Toronto), where she developed and tested a NP intervention for patients following heart attack. Following her PhD she completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship with the Canada Research Chair for Health Interventions.
In her most recent position as a Nurse Scientist, in partnership with McMaster University, she developed an innovative approach to improve patient care by teaching healthcare providers how to integrate research and leadership activities into their practices. Currently Patti is taking time off from her academic work to pursue activities such as the CNFA medical mission work in Africa and becoming a competitive dressage rider. Patti is very excited about being a member of the CNFA team and hopes to contribute to the success of future missions.
