I am a family physician from Canada.
I have worked in primary care for over twenty -five years BC, Alberta and Nunavut. I studied tropical medicine at the Gorgas Course in Peru and have worked with other humanitarian agencies in Ecuador, South Sudan Laos, Kenya and Tanzania.
I have worked with refugees in Canada for ten years and helped create the Calgary Refugee Health Program. My three adult children enthusiastically support my work with MSF. When I'm not in the field I love hiking, canoeing and biking in the Rockies around Canmore Alberta, where I live.
My fourth assignment with MSF
After three months in Chad, I was excited to be able to work six months in Mweso and Walikali, Democratic Republic of Congo. I focused on introducing the protocols for the Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics program in Mweso, and was thrilled to experience a 10% drop in our Caesarean Section rate along with a significant decrease in maternal deaths. We also improved our emergency treatment kits and protocols for hemorrhage, eclampsia and neonatal resuscitation and the team improved their collective response to all emergencies.
My third assignment with MSF
With 30 years of family medicine obstetrical care, I was excited to be hired to work as a midwife in Am Timan, Chad. I focused on improving neonatal resuscitation and obstetrical emergencies in our hospital and in two of our outreach projects. While I was to be there for nine months, I was sent home after three months due to a security risk.
My second assignment with MSF
For my second assignment with MSF I worked as a medical specialist in Yida, South Sudan.
MSF is running out-patient and in-patient departments in Yida refugee camp where nearly 70,000 people are sheltering, having left the Nuba mountains. In 2014, MSF provided nearly 95,000 consultations in Yida alone.
My role was to provide support and leadership to all members of the medical team and to work with the other team supervisors to ensure the success of our project. I was responsible for coordinating referrals to other centres, for surgery or obstetrics as an example. I also worked on the call roster for after-hours care, and was the doctor for the Inpatient Therapeutic Feeding Center, a role I really enjoyed. My greatest accomplishment was introducing HIV treatment for our patients with tuberculosis.
My first assignment with MSF
My first MSF assignment was in Quetta, Pakistan, where I supervised the outpatient department of Kuchlak Clinic which provided care for up to 400 Afghan refugee patients a day. I also supervised the Ambulatory Therapeutic Feeding Center for severely malnourished children and the treatment program for Cutaneous Leishmania. I also provided supervision, education and support to the Birthing Unit when the midwife was away from the project. I am proud to have improved the leishmanial treatment protocol, which significantly improved our success rate for this disfiguring disease.
