Trip Background

We are in the final stages of preparation for the trip to Kenya. For anyone not familiar with the trip and it's mission, let me backtrack some...

In 2007, I took over as Director of the EMS Programs at Dutchess Community College. One of my colleagues, David Violante (more about Dave later), had been working on developing the medical infrastructure, and the EMS system particularly, in Kenya for nearly 20 years. He, with the help of the NGOs he was working with, were able to establish basic EMT programs in the country and were diligently working to improve the overall standard of care both in and out of hospitals.

Shortly after I started at the College, Dave asked if I would be interested in helping the cause; specifically, establishing the American Heart Association courses in CPR, Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) as the standards throughout the counrty. With an 18 month old at home and twins about to pop out any second, my travel docket would be remaining clear for the foreseeable future, but there was still plenty of administrative work to be done. Over the next few years, we were able to begin providing AHA CPR and ACLS classes to EMTs, Nurses, Doctors and Medical Officers (a Kenyan Physicians Assistant). The courses took off and quickly proliferated throughout the medical system. This progress was made possible by strong support from the Kenyan Ministry of Health, the AHA, Simulaids, KCEMT (Kenya's leading EMS organization), the Kenyan Red Cross, and other NGOs in the region. David was supported by a dedicated group of Instructors, primarily from Mobile Life Support Services (MLSS); they did the in-country Instructor Trainer courses that allowed the program to move so quickly.

Those courses, over the last 2-3 years, have created a previously unavailable revenue stream for KCEMT. They have used that money to expand the EMT classes they were already offering, begin the development of fire fighter training courses and eventually, get to the point where they are ready to start the country's first Paramedic Program up and running. Not only are they ready to start a Paramedic Program, but they have the resources to fund the trip over, a revelation not lost on David and other who have been working in Kenya for 20 years.

The trip we are about to embark on is the culmination of much of the work described above. There are six of us traveling to Kenya on Friday for a 10-day project. Two members of the team are experienced fire Instructors and will be working at the newly created Fire Academy in Thika. They will be introducing the staff there to accepted US training standards and tactics. A second team of two Instructors will be completing the cycle of AHA courses by running PALS Instructor courses and auditing the already established CPR and ACLS programs. Lastly, Dave and I will be meeting with KCEMTs EMS Instructional Staff to create a Kenyan National Standard Curriculum fr Paramedics based on the US National Standard Curriculum. Once the curriculum is set, we'll get to work designing an effective delivery method for both didactic and skills material.

A ton of work to get done in 10 days!