News article on icSurreyOnline
A NURSE has flown to Uganda to try to make a difference to the health of a nation riddled with HIV, deprived of basic medical care and where life expectancy is 50 years.
Duncan Smith, a cardiology nurse, will spend two years in Africa educating nurses with the aim of leaving a legacy of improved healthcare provision in the country.
Mr Smith, 26, a volunteer for Horley and Gatwick St John Ambulance, based in Massetts Road, Horley,said he was under “no illusions” about the challenges which lay in store, having previously worked in Swaziland, southern Africa.
He said: “The first thing I was told was to expect the unexpected.
“Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) is about leaving behind something sustainable so whatever you have provided will continue after you have gone.
“As a nurse they would not send me just to work as a nurse but as a nurse educator so I can share my skills and knowledge with nurses in Uganda.
“The goals are to help with education, HIV/AIDS, health and social well-being.”
Uganda, in eastern Africa, is a country in chronic and urgent need of Mr Smith’s expertise.
Mr Smith, who works at the coronary care unit of St Thomas’ Hospital in London, will be working at the new school of nursing at the International Hospital in the capital, Kampala.
He said: “I will be the first VSO nurse there and I expect to do classroom training,bedside training, developing assessment tools and promoting participating, student-centred training.I might even do some rural outreach work.”
Mr Smith, who has a masters degree in nursing and a diploma in tropical medicine, came through a gruelling year-long selection procedure to be chosen for the role, undergoing medical tests, rounds of injections and training sessions to prepare him for work in the field.
Not only was he chosen for the two-year assignment, he was also selected as the face of the 2007-08 VSO fundraising campaign as the initiative seeks to move away from recruiting gap-year students towards targeting experienced professionals.
