At Yotkom we witness lives changed every day.
As a team we are striving to deliver excellence in health care to the rural community of one of the poorest regions of the world: Sub Saharan Africa.
Every individual story of recovery is encouraging and inspirational and makes all our efforts worthwhile.
We are thankful to donors and partners who give generously and join hands with us, making it possible for Yotkom to reach out to some of the world’s most needy and vulnerable and to bring low cost health services, changing more lives.
I had a particularly poignant and personal experience recently when i met a worried mother, Lucy and her 18 month old daughter Annie (names changed) in our children’s ward.
Annie was admitted with a rapid and laboured breathing with failure to thrive.
Our doctors could hear a heart murmur but previous visits to other health facilities had not revealed the problem or found a lasting solution.
Our radiographer was able to perform a cardiac echo ultrasound under the supervision of a paediatric cardiologist in Australia, Dr Ben, who “zoomed in ” remotely and shared his expertise.
The Echo revealed a large congenital “hole in the heart ” and we were able to facilitate a transfer to a heart institute in Kampala where Annie will potentially receive life saving surgery and live a better life.
I had such a sense of joy at being able to help in this situation. It was “close to home” as my own daughter was born with a “hole in the heart ” and had heart failure as an infant. I remember being so grateful for the medical care we received in Australia.
Perhaps you have a friend or family member with Diabetes?
Have you ever wondered how you would manage such a condition in the bush in outback Africa?
This young man was recently admitted to Yotkom with newly diagnosed Diabetes and was Insulin dependent. He had lost a lot of weight and was very unwell. His pancreas had totally stopped producing Insulin and his sugar levels were dangerously high.
Replacing the body’s normal Insulin is a very difficult task requiring some skill and close monitoring otherwise life threatening or brain damaging low levels of sugar or severely high levels with coma can easily bring disaster or death.
This young man was able to be stabilised on twice daily injections of Insulin and receive diabetic counselling in our hospital.
Our Yotkom discharge plan provides for regular doctor follow up in our clinic and also offers a tele-health service ( ” Phone for your health “) …for rapid advice and tailored management. This is especially critical for patients who live in isolated rural areas, many kilometres from Kitgum without physical access to the hospital.
Before discharge, Joshua ( name changed ) also received a donated blood sugar monitor to assist him with sugar control.
He will return regularly to our PI KWO (For LIfe) CLINIC.
Other patients with Chronic Medical conditions such as High Blood Pressure and Heart Failure are managed in this dedicated clinic.
