Archive for January, 2009

Rural Outreach program is one of the programs that Goroka General Hospital revitalized within its establishment since 2005, which thereafter actively executes its vision and objectives. Progressively the hospital restructured its positions in 2006 and created Rural Outreach Unit to support Primary Health Services to fulfill one of its functions as stipulated in the National Health Plan. The hospital management was supportive and declared; “2007 as the year of Rural Outreach”.

Read more about the Eastern Highlands Province Rural Outreach Program.

Date: Friday 30th of January, 2009
Time: 8 – 9am
Presenter: Dr. William Mol
Topic: Audit of all the Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery cases.
Venue: Goroka General Hospital

Summary:

The above date was schedule for the radiology/radiography department to present. However, due to some unavoidable circumstances they were unable to present. Because of such reasons & visiting presenters, our grand round schedule is updated regularly. For last minute cancellations it may be inconvenient & unfair to pressure another department to present as a substitute. Therefore, the co-ordinator (Dr. William Mol) attempts to fill in this gap with his own presentations that he prepares in advance.

Last Friday Dr. Mol presented an audit of all the Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery cases, he has done in 2008. The commonest cases were lumps & bumps in the head and neck area. Most of these cases were done under local anaesthesia in the surgical ward. For cystic lesions they were all sclerosed as day cases, also in the wards. This approach was an improvement in saving manpower-time and cost for bringing patients into the operation theatre thus leaving time & space for the limited staff to deal with major cases & emergencies. The complications following these procedures were minimal. Plastic & Reconstructive surgery services works side by side, mainly with the ENT, Head & Neck, Maxillofacial and the general surgery department as a team approach. Team surgery improves the outcome while shortening the anaesthetic time. Goroka General Hospital is a frontier in such approach to managing patients in PNG, especially cancer patients. We encourage other hospitals to adapt such an approach too.

It maybe late, but never the less, i just bumped into the website.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Paul Moiya Kia
Japan

Story by Mrs Lesley Ririka (Senior Lecturer – Regional College of Nursing)

When Pauline Hunt visited from NZ and saw over the hospital and the school of nursing and noted some needs, she went back to NZ and worked to do something to help. She has been able to send on to Goroka donations from the Medical Aid Abroad NZ and Victoria University in Wellington. With the help of Farmset in Goroka, we have been able to bring the pallet of goods from Lae to Goroka. The hospital has benefited from the gift of plaster for the physiotherapy unit; endotracheal tubes; 3mL syringes and some very nice baby clothes. The College of Nursing has received a splendid gift of many very good and very varied medical and nursing texts; this donation was organised by Chris Fox on behalf of the Graduate School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health at Victoria University in Wellington. The books cover a wide range of academic and clinical topics and will be a great asset for the tutors and students.

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Story and Photos by Joeri Kalwij

The ‘Friends of Goroka’ initiative started in early 2008 as a fund raiser for children in need of medical care. Former Aero Club president, Mr. Dennis Reynolds started the fundraiser, as over the years the Aero Club received many requests for financial contributions. Members of the Goroka Aero Club have been raising money for many children to have life saving operations in Goroka, or elsewhere. Early 2008 Mr. Reynolds developed the ad hoc fundraising in a more structural form, under the title ‘Friends of Goroka’. As such, the fundraising can continue, even though a lot of generous people have left Goroka in the last few years. ‘Friends of Goroka’ has developed in an honest and efficient fundraising scheme in the community of Goroka. It is an opportunity for every individual or organization to help the ones that need it most: children in need of medical care. The beauty of this initiative is its simplicity; no complex rules and regulations, no overhead, no salaries. Every Kina that is donated will find its way to a patient. 100% of the money donated is spent on medical care that otherwise could not have been provided.

The successful initiative has triggered generous donations –whether these are big or small- from many individual community members, business houses and private companies.

As the ‘ Friends of Goroka’ initiative becomes more visible, more and more donations come in. Earlier this year the Member for Sumka, Mr. Ken Fair-weather and the Member for Obura Wanenara, Mr. John Boito have kindly given K 2,000,- each to the fundraising initiative. They can rest assured that every single Kina will be invested in medical procedures. Also a collaboration with the Goroka Rotary has been established through Miss Wendy McNamara, to diversify charity opportunities in the future.

‘ Friends of Goroka’ has already sent 2 children to PoM hospital for heart surgery, and in November a small boy was flown to PoM hospital to have a CT scan to assess his facial disfiguration in preparation for corrective surgery.

Suitable to the festive season, on Thursday 18th December, Lesley Matthews, Nix Machiah and several other members of the Goroka community spent the morning in the children’s ward of the Goroka Base Hospital with 2,500,- kina worth of Christmas gifts and other small giveaways in the hope to contribute to some Christmas joy during the festive season for the children and their parents. This impressive visit was made possible by the kind assistance of Dr. Apa and the nursing staff . At the same time a sum of K1,000.00 was donated to the Mt Sion Blind Center. This money will be used by the Center to buy food for their Christmas dinner. ‘ Friends of Goroka’ is a success story that only can grow bigger, for one simple reason: helpim yumi yet.

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