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A jam-packed palliative care weekend in Edinburgh!

Cairdeas
6th November 2017

September saw the amalgamation of various Cairdeas events in south-east Scotland to create a jam-packed weekend of exciting activities, discussions and updates: Cairdeas Ops Director Dan Knights shares some highlights...

The weekend kicked off on Saturday 16th September with a special meeting of our trustee board. Due to the team being spread across the UK, it was a welcome opportunity to connect face to face, but also a chance to turn our minds to the broader strategy of Cairdeas. Building on the excellent work that was put into our previous strategic plan, we are now in the process of updating this and laying out our vision for the few years to come – watch this space for more updates!

That very afternoon, we gathered some of our faithful supporters at our annual Gathering in Kirkintilloch Baptist Church. It was a real pleasure to link up with old friends and new friends, and to hear from Mhoira and recently returned volunteer Alice about the ongoing exciting work in Uganda and elsewhere, and also a chance to kick off this year’s purple party season with a fantastic array of purple edible goodies, with purple outfits to match!

Two days later saw the inaugural meeting of the Cairdeas Faculty – an initiative where we are looking to formalise and develop the way we work with those numerous experts in global palliative care who have provided mentorship, training and other support through Cairdeas in the past, or are interested to do so in the future. The experience in the room was immense and we had some very rich discussions about the challenges, priorities and opportunities for this group going forward. We are hoping to offer opportunities to use people’s talents both through short term international trips, but also through the development of resources from the UK which will support our work internationally. Again, watch this space for more details and do get in touch with me on operations@cairdeas.org.uk if you would be interested in getting involved with this group.

These meetings were all planned to also coincide with the Edinburgh Global Palliative Care Day, which is coordinated jointly between Cairdeas, the University of Edinburgh, and other partners, and has become an annual diary fixture and great chance to build relationships and network with others sharing a passion for developing palliative care globally. This year the focus was on universal health coverage and leadership, with stimulating talks ranging from Dr Jane Bates’ insights into her PhD work looking at palliative care as a means to alleviating poverty, to our own Mhoira Leng sharing on the relevance of palliative care in humanitarian crises, to a new way of sparking discussion on actions and ways forward in the form of an ideas café! Our friend and colleague Julia Downing has reported on this event in an eHospice blog, so do check it out for more details!

From a personal perspective, this first run of Cairdeas’ key meetings with me in the Ops Director role was a great chance to meet with colleagues face to face. Primarily working from home and only communicating with people via the internet can be pretty isolating, so the buzz of bringing so much enthusiasm together into one place was palpable for me! It’s particularly exciting to see Cairdeas taking an active role in contributing to the coordination of bigger events such as the Edinburgh Global Day, and to see our much-discussed plans for the Cairdeas Faculty beginning to come to fruition!

It was also great to see people decked out in their purple party-wear and raising awareness of what Cairdeas means to them - and various of you have followed in their footsteps with your own #cairdeaspurpleparty! If you didn't get a chance to run one this year, keep your eyes peeled for next year's campaign!

A jam-packed palliative care weekend in Edinburgh!

Cairdeas Gathering 2017

A jam-packed palliative care weekend in Edinburgh!

What does Cairdeas represent for me?

A jam-packed palliative care weekend in Edinburgh!

Cairdeas Faculty is born

A jam-packed palliative care weekend in Edinburgh!

Momentum gathering for global palliative care at our annual meeting

A jam-packed palliative care weekend in Edinburgh!

MPCU team in glorious purple

A jam-packed palliative care weekend in Edinburgh!

What does Cairdeas mean to you....love

UCI-PCAU JOINT CONFERENCE 2017

Cairdeas
29th September 2017

Many of our Uganda MPCU colleagues were able to particiate in this  groundbreaking conference with some supported by Cairdeas scholarships and an opportunity to share an information stall with our partners the Global Health Academy, Edinburgh and the International Children's Palliative Care Network. Mwazi Bautli is one of our longeststanding members of MPCU and has recently completed the nurse leadership fellowship. She was involved in the planning of the conference as well as participating and shares her experiencce in this blog.

This was a joint international conference of cancer and palliative care. This was an exciting undertaking in which a government institution was working with a non-government institution. It was the 7th biennial Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) conference and Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI) celebrating 50 years of cancer care since its establishment. It was planned for 600 delegates but 500 delegates attended.This was a timely reflection on cancer in Uganda and palliative care together as the burden of cancer is increasing, this is so because most of our patients report late for treatment or are diagnosed in the late stages of their illness making palliative treatment and care the only option in their management in our resource limited setting. The theme of the conference was “United against cancer: Prevention to end of life care”. This was a two day meeting held on 24th and 25th August at Resort beach Munyonyo. It was preceded by a preconference symposium on breast cancer care. The first day ended with a grand Gala dinner for UCI @50 where several recognition awards were given to individuals who have contributed to both cancer care and palliative care including our very own Prof Julia.

I was privileged to be a member of the organising committee and more specifically on the scientific committee which comprised of 20 members drawn from UCI and other organisations providing care to patients with life limiting illnesses including MPCU. I was the secretary to this committee and i was responsible for taking record of the proceedings of all the deliberations of the meetings. This was very enriching as it gave me the opportunity to utilise different skills to be able to keep track of all the information. The same committee was not only tasked with reviewing the abstracts but also developing the conference program. This undertaking focused on evidence based practice as well as new innovations in cancer treatment and palliative care. A total of 118 abstracts were received and out of these 50 were accepted for oral presentation and out of these 29 were in cooperated into the conference program. While developing the program, names of prominent health care personalities kept coming up and I was eagerly waiting for the conference to happen so that I could interface with some of them. At the same conference, I was among the presenters on the track of Service provision. During this time I not only represented MPCU in general but also the nurse leadership fellows as the work I presented on the prospective study conducted to evaluate nurse opioid prescribers in Uganda.

While developing the conference program, this was not only exciting but it was also challenging as some members were involved in this assignment for the very first time. A criteria was developed to aide in the selection of the abstracts for both poster and oral presentations. During the conference I was able to interact with high profile persons both locally and internationally. During the 2nd day of the conference I celebrated my 54th birthday in a special way with more than 400 delegates singing for me. This was very exciting and I look forward to many more collaborative conferences.

This particular conference was very beneficial to me as an individual as it emphasised the importance of collaboration and networking. Further everyone has the capacity to significantly contribute to organisation of any activity regardless of their position and role in the healthcare system. This has further improved my confidence and communication skills both written and oral. This has also helped me make new friends. I have come to realise that when we come together much can be achieved through sharing of our expertise.'

All the conference presentations and posters will be available on our resources section.

UCI-PCAU JOINT CONFERENCE 2017

PCAU and UCI joint logos

UCI-PCAU JOINT CONFERENCE 2017

Mwazi Batuli.happy birthday

UCI-PCAU JOINT CONFERENCE 2017

Ivan, Toko and Mhoira with Sanyu team volunteering poster

UCI-PCAU JOINT CONFERENCE 2017

Julia being presented with her award

UCI-PCAU JOINT CONFERENCE 2017

Jennie and Toko managing the stall

UCI-PCAU JOINT CONFERENCE 2017

Grace helping students join IAHPC

UCI-PCAU JOINT CONFERENCE 2017

Nurse leaders

Happy as pigs in muck

Cairdeas
6th September 2017

It was great to have Dan (our operations director) and Felicity Knights and also Christine Whitehouse from Uganda Cancer Trust visit us in Uganda. They brought such a sense of energy and encouragement and helped to give us a real impetus for our Cairdeas work. John Saxton, a pre-med student from the USA was also visiting us and is preparing a video we can share soon. 

'My name is Felicity Knights and I am married to Dan (current Operations Director). Like Dan, I’m also a junior doctor, and together we’ve been friends of Cairdeas for more than five years and enjoyed sharing the journey. However, in July I had my first chance to actually meet the MPCU team and I loved it!

For me, one of the most exciting new developments is the new ‘Sanyu’ team that is supporting MPCU – Sanyu  means joy. This team are newly trained volunteers from Kampala’s Lugogo Baptist Church, who are going to act as a community-based support team for palliative patients as they are discharged. MPCU’s volunteers are already an essential part of the team: giving practical, psychosocial, spiritual and practical support to patients and their families in Mulago, Kiruddu and Kawempe hospitals. The Sanyu team will help to extend care and pastoral and social support for patients holistically in their home setting.

Joy with the pigs....It was a highlight of the trip to visit the new pig farm project which has been initiated to try to provide a sustainable source of funds for the Sanyu team and the wider volunteer team. The project aims to breed and sell pigs, and all of the profits will go towards supporting the volunteer pprogramem as well as build capacity for incoem generation.  I’m a trustee of another charity working in Uganda, Afrinspire http://www.afrinspire.org.uk/ who have offered some advice on this piggery, and in this role I have had the opportunity to visit a number of different agricultural and farming projects. So one of the things that really struck me about this particular farm was the dedication of the Farm’s caretaker (Senga), and MPCU volunteer, Toko, who has been overseeing the implementation of the project. Both were clearly determined to make the piggery a success, and believed strongly in the value of the project to support the Sanyu team in the work they are doing for MPCU. Senga shared with us that she saw caring for the pigs as God’s work, and that her faith was the thing that was driving all her actions.

Piggeries are actually one of the most rapidly-growing sectors of farming in Uganda at the moment, but setting one up is not without its trials! Unfortunately, the team have found themselves confronted with a number of challenges common to this sort of project: difficulties in finding land to farm, fluctuating prices of feed and breeding stock (in part due to Ugandan drought), and things just taking a lot longer to get started than originally hoped!

But it was wonderful to see where they have got to, and to discuss plans to take things to the next stage. One of the two piggery buildings was fully constructed, and we were able to see the four pigs inside: one boar and three sows, two of whom are currently pregnant, so it won’t be long till the first piglets come along! The next stages are likely to include completing the second building, purchasing some more sows, and starting growing food on the nearby land to help protect the project against the fluctuating food costs.

So it was a joy to learn about the Sanyu team and their piggery, and I’m very much looking forward to re-visiting and seeing the next stages come into fruition!'

Thanks Toko, Ivan, Grace and the whole volunteer and pig project team. We are doing this to enable us to care for more people in need and you already contribute so much.

Thanks also to UCT http://www.ugandacancer.org.uk/ who have been our main funder for this project. In particular Christine Whitehouse, has been such an amazing support for MPCU and for our Pig project in particular. Her business acumen has been invaluable with ongoing committment as well as the encouragment of visits from Micheal and Liz Minton who are trustees of UCT. Thanks...and looking forward to continue to being partners!!

You can get involved in supporting this project too by donating online through the Cairdeas website www.cairdeas.org.uk. Watch up for more updates and we will be offereing a chance to sponsor / buy your own pig soon. Some are already named...spot Catriona 
 

Happy as pigs in muck

Sanyu team

Happy as pigs in muck

International colleagues joining Sanyu team

Happy as pigs in muck

Growing, happy pigs ?Catriona

Happy as pigs in muck

Site visit

Happy as pigs in muck

Wonderful, faithful Senga

Happy as pigs in muck

4 and counting

Happy as pigs in muck

Toko, Ronald and Christine; thanks UCT for all your support

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