2010 EWH Summer Institute gets underway

The 2010 EWH Summer Institute in Tanzania

The 2010 EWH-Duke Summer Institute got underway in Tanzania on June 2. The 26 participants in Tanzania have begun their training in Swahili and medical equipment repair. The Swahili courses are taught by Training Center for Development Cooperation (TCDC) in Arusha, TZ, and the medical equipment training is conducted by Larry Fryda, the Instructor, and Lora Perry, the On-the-Ground Coordinator. Lora writes: “The students have been doing very well, are still definitely quite euphoric. As expected, the Swahili lessons have been like drinking from a fire hose for most, but I've noticed marked improvements in their confidence with communicating with people here at TCDC and in town.”

The students’ technical training is already paying dividends. Lora relayed this story about the students’ first work day at Mt. Meru Hospital via email: “We piled into the bus early this morning and arrived at the hospital to see equipment already lined up on the sidewalk for us to work on. All morning was a whirlwind of activity, fixing 4-5 oxygen concentrators, a table, 2 (or more?) wheelchairs, many (many, many) blood pressure cuffs, a bench, and more. Two of our hospital groups ended up in the OR successfully (!!) fixing a ventilator. The doctor then proceeded to tell us how happy he was with EWH, since last year's group had outfitted that machine with a UPS, and this year we had opened a clog, allowing them to continue using the machine.” Students will continue their training in Tanzania until June 29 when they move to their respective host hospitals to repair and install medical equipment for four weeks.

The Central America Summer Institute begins on June 17 in San Jose, Costa Rica. The Instructor will be EWH’s Billy Teninty, and the On-the-Ground-Coordinator is Caroline Gamache of EWH-Duke. EWH Summer Institute participants in Central America will receive a month of training in Spanish and equipment repair in Costa Rica before moving on to their host hospitals in Nicaragua and Honduras for the second month.