Ghana Trip

Name:
Location: Ogden, Utah, United States

Monday, April 24, 2006













Donated medical equipment and supplies that were shipped to Ghana on April 10th.

The 20 foot shipping container
we would fill with donated suppliesOn the inside looking out
Wooden crates that would be filled with supplies before
being loaded
by fork lift into the shipping container
*Lisa Trujillo and Katherine Sneddon (Mother)*


Wooden crates being delivered to the loading site,
Weber State University's College of Health Professions Parking lot


Introduction

My name is Lisa Trujillo and I am a Registered Respiratory Therapist and currently work as the Director of Clinical Education and an Instructor for the Weber State University Respiratory Therapy Deparment. I also work at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT.

In the spring of 2005, I was approached by a WSU student from Ghana who expressed the need for medical training in his village of Maase. After speaking with him at length, I decided to put a group together that would travel to Ghana and provide the medical training (specifically in the area of respiratory therapy) that was so desperately needed. Since then, I have been fortunate to find a group of WSU students that were willing to not only donate their time, but their financial means to travel with me to Ghana. The group will consist of myself, 7 of my Respiratory Therapy Students and my family (husband and 2 boys). We will also be fortunate to have Albert Ncancer, the student from Ghana, traveling with us.

Over the past several months and through many e-mails and phone calls, we have been blessed by countless generous donations to this cause. One of the largest donations came from Dr. Emmanuel Tuffour (also from Ghana) who is presently a physician in Ohio. Through my contacts with him, he agreed to provide a 20 foot shipping container for us to fill with supplies to send to Ghana. Dr. Tuffour is affiliated with the Aninwah Medical Center in Kumasi, Ghana. Many of the supplies that were donated will be shipped to the Aninwah Medical Center. Other supplies including mechanical ventilators will also be shipped to Korle Bu Medical Center in Accra and also to St. Patricks Hospital in Maase.

This container was filled with supplies and shipped on April 10th from Ogden, UT and should arrive in Ghana about the same time as our group. Our trip will last 24 days, starting May 27th until June 19th, 2006. Once we land in Ghana, we will be assisting in the disbursement of the supplies we shipped. We will also be spending much of our time providing various topics of medical education to hospital staff, including the following:

Adult and Infant CPR
Neonatal Resuscitation
Adult and Infant Mechanical Ventilation
Infection Control and Prevention
Basic Respiratory Therapy

Our other commitments will include providing basic health screening, offering service and donating blankets to local orphanages, teaching community CPR, donating school supplies and sports equipment to local schools and assisting the Aninwah Medical Center in setting up a Nursing Training Center.

Within this blog, I will be posting pictures and journaling from my experiences prior to and throughout this amazing experience.