The flights are booked and the final packing arrangements are being made for my departure on the 17th May. I will be flying direct to Newcastle in the UK where the M/V Africa Mercy is currently located.
I intend to stay for 6 days in Newcastle touring the ship and spending time with the Healthcare Manager before heading to Dublin, Ireland to attend the annual European Operating Room Nurses Association Congress from the 25th – 28th May. I will be joining Dr John and Iris Rhodes from the UK who will set up a stand to encourage theatre nurses to join the ship. My main aim is to attend the lectures with the occasional visit to the booth to answer those difficult questions from nurses.
The conference is a great opportunity to keep up-to-date with the latest research and technical developments in surgery. There will be an array of international speakers with a wide range of topics covered including lectures on surgery in developing nations.
After the trip to Dublin I will return to the UK and then make my way down to the M/V Anastasis in Ghana (West Africa) on the 7th June.
I have just returned from spending the Easter break with the Assistant Operating Room Manager, Fiona Fraser who lives in Newcastle, Australia. I visited many Mercy Ships Representatives and spent precious time in their homes reflecting on the work that the Charity has been doing and the current happenings with the impending completion of the M/V Africa Mercy. All of these people have been serving with Mercy Ships for many years in all different capacities.
Fiona and I spent time talking about policies and procedures and discussing general expectations and ways to run the Operating Room Department when we get to Ghana (West Africa). We managed to get some sight seeing in as well including a visit to a koala park and climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge!
The next few weeks will be very busy with packing and saying good bye to all the people who have helped me along the way in my journey with Mercy Ships. Without them it would not have been possible to achieve all that I have done so far. It is with a grateful and sincere heart that I thank everyone who has supported me.
Kylie
I’m not sure where the month has gone!!!
Sometimes it feels like 3 steps forward and 2 back but I can see we are making some great progress!!
The biggest achievement of this month was getting financials sorted and to the accountants whew what a relief!! I am still continuing to put a lot of time into systems that will allow us to grow in the future.
I always seem to be speaking to lots of people and this month was no exception 2 church groups, a couple of radio interviews one newspaper report and lots of talking!!
Our volunteer base continues to grow and this month we had our annual on-line charity auction which raised over $5000 so we were very pleased!!
A huge thankyou to everyone that gave to that and especially the 2 ladies who worked so hard on bringing it together. Two newspaper articles are attached.
We still need to raise a lot of sponsorship and I need to give more attention to this area. I have begun writing letters to some corporates and will continue to do more of this. We are very keen to impact on the lives of more needy children the more we do at this end the more we can impact in the lives that really need it.
The boys age 5 and 6 and I have begun learning Russian. It’s a huge challenge- and a lot of fun!! We look forward to putting it into practise later in the year.
I expected a quiet school holiday after Easter with all RDA groups in recess until the end of April, and I did get some time to stop and reflect on my goals, only to find we’re almost half way through the year and I feel I’ve only just touched the surface.
During the holidays I was thrilled to get the chance to share equine assisted therapy with a group of social workers who came for a “hands on” session to experience the benefits the proposed program will have with their students and when they went away asking how many more of the students in their program could join the group, I knew the horses had worked their magic.
A trip down to Rotorua RDA to network and build on the relationships among the RDA therapists and coaches and to explore our current manual handling practices proved extremely worthwhile. Now more evidence based practice can be incorporated in our practices and added to our training resources. A foal was born the morning of our arrival which was very exciting, but also an appropriate metaphor for where NZRDA is in its development: Full of life and eager to explore but still a little wobbly at times.
A proposal to the Nomads Golf Club for funding the training of our volunteers in Auckland was successful, meaning that all new volunteers and student coaches can access the training available this year and early next. Many thanks to Bill for all his support on this one.
The first of the equine units was run by Debbie in April and I think the highlight of the course for all was a riding lesson on the last day on very patient horses – thank goodness. Cate and I then ran a course on medical conditions in early May where again we got students up on horses, this time trying out different positions e.g. sitting backwards and lying down while the horse is walking. So all got first hand experience of how to make the most of what the horse’s movement can offer our riders and just how exhilarating it can be.
The Auckland region volunteers put on a fantastic display of what RDA is all about at the Horse Expo in Helensville. Volunteers did everything from drying wet and muddy horses to selling raffle tickets, horses braved the crowds and elements to hold up their riders who proudly showed off their skill and enthusiasm in a riding demonstration, while spectators were given a running commentary. We are very grateful to the organizers for the advertising and funds they raised for us, as well as the support of all those involved.
The second term has begun and RDA is back into full swing so I’m looking forward to getting back out into the field again, albeit in gumboots this term!
