In early July this year, Ian Ballantine and I headed to Western Samoa for a 10 day holiday, in the company of several of my extended family for a casual family reunion. My mother was born in Western Samoa and I have some distant relatives living there (for those wondering, I am ~ 1/8th Samoan and seem to manifest mostly my father’s caucasian genes!) In a twist of fate, last year the Alfred Hospital hosted several clinicians (doctors and nurses) from several pacific nations to undertake an observership and course aiming to develop clinical and leadership capabilities, quality improvement initiatives and foster healthcare collaborations. This was an initiative funded by the Australian Government (DFAT) and run by Alfred Health. Dr Sebastian Paulo is a senior emergency registrar from the hospital in Apia, Western Samoa who attended this workshop. Unfortunately I didn’t meet Dr Paulo during this visit but there is an ongoing connection with one of my Alfred colleagues, Dr Su’e Lagaaia, a Samoan-born Alfred Emergency Physician. I felt that we could perhaps put our generous luggage allowance and connection with Donations-in-Kind to good use and see if Dr Paulo had a wishlist for any equipment. To this end, our club secured a number of items including stethoscopes, pulse oximeters, thermometers and pen torches to donate. In addition, DIK offered an arm mannikin used for training intravenous cannulation. I was also able to supplement this with some expired airway equipment from work, useful for simulation training.
This equipment was handed over to Dr Paulo at the hospital, (refer pics) and he has subsequently emailed.....
"Talofa Helen,
Thank you so much to you, your lovely husband, and Rotary for the generous donation. We really appreciate your kindness and support, it means a lot to us.
It was so lovely meeting you both, and we're very grateful for everything you've done.
Enjoy the rest of your time in Samoa! Hopefully we'll get the chance to catch up again before you head home.
Fa'afetai tele lava, and safe travels!
Kind regards,
Sebastian”
Thank you so much to you, your lovely husband, and Rotary for the generous donation. We really appreciate your kindness and support, it means a lot to us.
It was so lovely meeting you both, and we're very grateful for everything you've done.
Enjoy the rest of your time in Samoa! Hopefully we'll get the chance to catch up again before you head home.
Fa'afetai tele lava, and safe travels!
Kind regards,
Sebastian”
More about W Samoa and our visit to the RC of Apia - HERE
