March_eMagazine Volume 39

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OUR PEOPLE, OUR MISSION A NOTE FROM Majid Sadigh, MD Global Health eMagazine March 2022 Reaffirmed in Our Commitment Written by Majid Sadigh, MD Director of the Nuvance Health / University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine (NH/UVMLCOM) Global Health Program and Trefz Endowed Chair in Global Health A Note from Dr. Sadigh Reflections on 2021 Highlights Nursing Division SARS COV-2 Pandemic and Us Unification Condolences: Paul Farmer Art to Remind Us of Who We Can Be Articles of the Month Videos of the Month Announcements Calendar Resources The Global Health Program at Nuvance Health / University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine is defined by an unwavering commitment to bidirectional, mutually dependent partnerships based in friendship and respect. Our program supports partner students and faculty through capacity building, site development, educational scholarships, and long-term mentorship. We nurture “brain gain” by rallying behind individuals who plan to return home to implement changes that they believe will empower their own communities. We build partnerships in which all members and leaders are co-owners of the program, and international partner sites can empower one another through autonomous alliances. Our program demonstrates that partnerships founded in friendship, trust, and respect allow for enduring, further reaching and more meaningful change. In 2019, our program supported visits by international partner faculty and leaders for a total of 209 weeks, and we continued to host international partners for two to five months of continuing education in clinical, education, and research skills as part of our Global Health Scholars Program, a capacity building initiative. Meanwhile our international partners supported our students, residents, fellows, and faculty for a total of 395 weeks, mostly for the six-week global health elective, through which 65 medical students from the University of Vermont, American University of the Caribbean, and Ross University School of Medicine rotated. Among many noteworthy components of the program are Global Health at Home, a group advocating for marginalized populations in the U.S., and Linde Healthcare Educators Without Borders and Almira Healthcare Scholars, a multi-connected web of talented individuals with a shared mission of building capacity on-the-ground in the areas of medical education, research, leadership, and clinical skills, and rooted in Global South-Global South collaboration. We also piloted new innovations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our “Bring the Field to the Zoom Class” initiative brings the patient’s environment to the virtual classroom, thereby familiarizing students with sociocultural aspects of medicine. These sessions begin with doctor-patient encounters and then follow patients to their residences. Another platform, “Virtual Open Forums with Friends and Colleagues Around the World”, discussing “hot topics,” followed by Q&A sessions with other partners, faculty, students, and community members, have allowed us to stay connected to our partners and communities. We also launched the COVID-19 Resource Center, featuring over 3000 biweekly summaries of the most up-to-date COVID-19 articles, which has been shared with our partners and reached over 10,000 people globally. This resource aims to combat the COVID-19 “disinfodemic” which has led to distrust in science and exacerbated the digital divide for those lacking high-speed internet. Additionally, our weekly blog has received over 6,000 viewers from 102 countries and continues to feature stories from our partners through these turbulent times, while our monthly eMagazine serves as a resource for all things global health from arts and humanities to clinical medicine. Our program is led by eighteen members comprising the Executive Committee, four from the Global North and fourteen from the Global South, which together shape the program’s content, structure, and direction through consensus building. This program would not be standing without the friendship, trust, unique talents, and insights of each and every one of our partners. We have created something beautiful together and move forward reaffirmed in our commitment to amplify the voices of the underserved. 2
OUR PEOPLE, OUR MISSION Global Health eMagazine March 2022 REFLECTIONS ON 2021 The Sunset of 2021 Written by Sister Jane Frances Nakafeero Director of St. Francis Naggalama Hospital It was the last day of my Spiritual Retreat as I was seated at my desk looking through the window. The sunset captured my attention and I watched it for some time, knowing that the evening daylight would soon disappear. The rays were still penetrating through the branches of the trees while the rustle of banana leaves danced gently in the whispering evening breeze. It looked beautiful yet fierce. I witnessed the beauty right before my eyes and the amazing colors as it made its way down home. I saw an ending of the day, a change, a transformation and a promise of a new dawn. The ending was the reflection of the year past while the transformation and change were the fruits of time spent in reflection during the days of prayer. The new dawn was the year 2022. A Note from Dr. Sadigh Reflections on 2021 Highlights Nursing Division SARS COV-2 Pandemic and Us Unification Condolences: Paul Farmer Art to Remind Us of Who We Can Be Articles of the Month Videos of the Month Announcements Calendar Resources 2021 began in hope with New Year celebrations and resolutions before the COVID-19 pandemic swiftly continued its threatening of the whole world. We moved around with faces masked, sanitizers in our pockets, spaced apart and hands washed again and again. The pandemic was cruel, bringing restrictions that we all came to know: curfews, bans on public transport, closure of schools, piling debts, emerging mental health issues, fatigue, exhaustion, stress, pending staff salaries, bomb scares, with operational and fixed costs glaring at us straight in the face. Loved ones became sick and some died. Indeed, a call for support echoed on the horizon, generously tapping our tears and bringing us to our knees. As the sunset reflects the various patterns of life, one needs time for comfort, rest, reflection, and energy for a new beginning. The sun must set to bring the promise of a new dawn, a new hope, and tranquility. I reflected on the true meaning of a fresh start that every sunrise of 2022 would bring. A new page to be written. A new gift to refine my soul. Planning a new start, I realized that within each of us is the potential to live with excellence and determination to influence those around us in ways that make a positive difference and a yearning for peace. It is time to dare to begin again, to lock arms and hearts in taking up the tasks, impossible though it may seem, to make ourselves whole again. We must remind ourselves that the road to success is almost always under construction. Within each of us is a deepening for personal and global transformation that will lead to search for meaning in both arenas. There must be a wrestling with existential questions of what is mine to do and what is mine to be. It is only then that I shall be fully immersed in the Supreme power of the God Almighty who invited me away for the Spiritual Retreat. With the sunset gone, the reflection of a new beginning and atmosphere of the sunrise awakens my senses to search for ways to re-think, re-plan, re-group, and recover. While the continuous nurturing of the spirit and centering of my soul will, like flowers leave part of the fragrance in the hand that bestows them, I must acknowledge the Giver. Click here to visit the Nuvance Health Global Health Program COVID-19 Resource Center Reflections continued on next page >> 3
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