A Decade Later

On Tuesday, the mission and vision of our Ghana Health Partners organization, which had previously been words on a piece of paper, came to life.

Our mission is to foster collaborative consulting, teaching, and service partnerships with NEA’s Leyaata Hospital. Our vision is for the Leyaata Hospital to be a fully equipped and sustainable centre of excellence in Northern Ghana. Now let me tell you what happened.

Tuesday morning, the midwives and I sat down to complete one final module in the Helping Babies Survive course called “Essential Care for Every Small Baby.” This course trains health professionals in low-resource settings to care for preterm babies. According to the WHO, preterm birth complications are the leading cause of death among children under five years of age, responsible for 1 million deaths in 2015. Three-quarters of these deaths can be prevented with current, cost-effective interventions.

No sooner had we opened our books when Dr. Ben announced an emergency, and you probably guess where I’m going with this. A woman with severe, life-threatening preeclampsia needed an emergency caesarean section. She was not due to deliver for 6-8 weeks. He asked our team to immediately prepare for twin premature babies. Instead of sitting in a classroom learning the course with a premature mannequin, Leyaata midwives had hands-on training with two real-life preterm babies needing help. Every bit of training they received last week with Dr. Anne and me was put to the test to save these babies. The equipment that we were trained on by Daniel and Charles (our Biomed team) was all set to use — incubators to keep the babies warm and CPAP machines to help the babies breathe. Daniel and Charles made multiple trips to the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) to support the medical team and ensure every piece of equipment (being used for the first time) was working perfectly for these delicate babies. Our pharmacy partners were on site, too, helping calculate doses of life-saving medications. Dr. Anne, back home in the UK, was on my speed dial and through WhatsApp video, she was able to coach us during some critical moments.

At about 9:00 pm, I sat with our exhausted team — Dr. Ben, Dr. Mercy, Abraham, and Ernestina to review the current situation. Leyaata midwives are doing their job — resuscitating babies and recognizing danger signs in the first hours of life. The Leyaata NICU is well-equipped thanks to Tim Beacons’ team at Medical Aid International in the UK. Leyaata midwives and medical staff are so smart and so motivated that they are quickly learning how to use this life-saving equipment to support dying babies. Leyaata is already becoming a centre of excellence here in Northern Ghana, and they have barely opened their doors.

Those who read my book will recall my professional nightmare ten years ago when working in a large hospital in Ghana (Chapter 18: Who Am I?) It involved a baby just like the babies we cared for today. It involved a hospital ill-equipped and ill-trained to deal with a critically ill baby. It involved a horrific ambulance transfer with a dying baby to a regional hospital that was no better prepared to help. Dr. Ben and I were working together that fateful day — a decade ago — and today, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with one monumental difference. We are now standing in the Leyaata NICU with a partnership team that is growing by the day.

My breath feels stuck in my chest when I realize the magnitude of what is happening here. The vision is crystal clear to all of us. I am so grateful to my GHP team, who are stepping way outside their comfort zone every day in the lab, the pharmacy, the biomed, and the nursing wards to support and learn from our incredible colleagues here. The commitment of this international group of healthcare professionals inspires me, gives me courage, and helps me continue to find answers to the question, “Who Am I?” Even today, Dr. Charlie (who returned home to work on Monday) presented Grand Rounds over Google Teams for our Ghanaian colleagues. He had barely landed in Canada and is back with us virtually to transfer knowledge and skills.

I have one more story from today, but I cannot bear to tell it yet. I pray that circumstances will soon allow me to conclude this 2023 GHP mission by sharing this tale with you.