If you're feeling helpless Adopt a COVID-19 Hospital Bed in Sierra Leone
The C19 Dignity Project
It all started on Facebook.
On 24 April, Dr. Wahid Awunoga who works at Connaught Hospital made a public request for medical supplies - a call to private citizens to support front-liners with the tools they need to provide care during the COVID-19 crisis. I asked Wahid if I could come see their facility. He said okay.
The next day I went to Connaught Hospital where I met Wahid and Dr. Mamadu Baldeh. They shared their experience and the word “challenge” was in every sentence. To further get a sense of their needs I asked to see the COVID Isolation Unit.
Mamadu and I changed into our PPE in the “donning” room. Inside the 12-bed Isolation wing there is just one toilet, and patients have less than what I consider the basic for any human being seeking care in hospital in Sierra Leone.
I left the hospital frustrated and upset because I know WE CAN DO BETTER!
In conversation with Wahid and Mamadu, I put together a needs assessment for their facility. The next day I collected prices. Then, over the next 48 hours, I sat at my desk and called people soliciting donations (as an undergrad I worked in the Office of Annual Giving for 4 years fundraising for my school - who knew that would come in handy ever again!).
Over 4 days thanks to the generous support of Friends of Education Salone, we supplied the Isolation Unit with all the basic medical equipment they needed to prevent cross transmission between Covid-19 positive and negative patients.
If Sierra Leone’s largest referral hospital is this ill-equipped, I knew every other facility across the country would be too. And I wondered what I could do to ensure front-line workers have the support they need by way of vital tools.
Over the next couple days, Wahid, Mamadu and I created a Whatsapp group that now includes a large number of leading doctors at COVID-19 Treatment Centers, Isolation Units, and a doctor on the Case Management Pillar of the National Response.
As we receive requests for support, we mobilize the resources needed and we deliver.
For far too long we have accepted an abysmal health care system that lacks empathy for caregivers and those receiving care. This is unacceptable.
Every one of us deserves to be treated with care and dignity during and after this pandemic; rich or poor. The C19 Dignity Project exists to guarantee citizens are able to access care without fear and panic, and to ensure that front-liners have the support and tools they need to deliver quality care.
Please help us spread the word and join the C19 Dignity Project. You can adopt a bed to equip an isolation unit with medical tools, or donate towards medication, cleaning supplies or direct support to cleaning staff in Isolation units and treatment centers.
Thank you,
Vickie Remoe
on behalf of The C19 Dignity Project.
