Profiles & Patrons
Hilary Fenton-Harris (PAL chair and Trustee)
I’ve been involved with the Poole Africa Link since the first Wau meeting in 2008 and the initial fact finding visit in 2009. My background of midwifery, primary and critical care nursing and hospital management have been a great asset in setting up and running the link and the work I’m involved in during my visits to Wau and Lira. Fundraising and giving talks about the link also play an important part of what I do.
I’ve been to Wau eight times and once to Lira. Every time is such an amazing experience and we have made many good friends both in hospitals, university and local community.
Sadly we can’t visit Wau at present due to the security situation but we continue to support Sr Gracy’s feeding programme in Wau and keep in regular contact with our friends in South Sudan while concentrating our visits and teaching efforts on Lira.
Dr Frankie Dormon (PAL medical lead and Trustee)
After training as a doctor, I specialised in Anaesthetics and intensive Care. I have spent my career teaching junior doctors and nurses the importance of recognition and early management of the deteriorating patient.
The most effective interventions are often the simplest, but technology has driven the UK towards ever increasing complexity and cost. I am delighted to have been involved in helping the people of South Sudan and now to be working with the new Lira University in Uganda and its hospital. I hope that we are working effectively as critical friends to help the fledgling University to develop its training, initially of midwives and ultimately of medical students.
I relish the challenge of teaching the doctors, midwives and nurses the importance of doing the basic things effectively. We all believe in the importance of teaching rather than doing. ‘You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach him to fish and he will feed himself for the rest of his life’ The team also spend time at Lira Regional Referral Hospital, so that by working alongside our friends, we can understand their difficulties and our teaching can be relevant to their needs.
It is often challenging to find tangible evidence that we have made a difference. On our last trip we managed to develop and introduce a paper observation chart. This was very much a joint effort, but led by us. Before covid, we had identified a need for proper drug administration charting and again produced a drug chart. Rather than antibiotic prescriptions etc, being written randomly in the notes when prescribed and given we persuaded both doctors and nurses of the advantages of writing this clearly on a separate chart. Its encouraging to see that our drug chart is still very much in use at the University Hospital.
Dame Yvonne Moores (PAL Patron)
Yvonne trained as a nurse and midwife and after holding senior clinical and managerial positions in Southampton, Winchester and London, then served as chief nursing officer for Wales, Scotland and England. She chaired the Global advisory group for WHO in Geneva from 1994-1998 and was Chair of Southampton University from 2000-2006.
She was a founder member of the Poole Africa Link and since going on the fact finding visit to Wau in 2009 has remained a very active PAL supporter, committed to raising the profile of the Link at every opportunity and supporting our fundraising events.
Miss Judy Mella (Dr Judy) General surgeon specializing in Breast surgery, PAL Trustee.
I have always had a passion for Africa and related health issues, so was delighted to join the PAL team back in 2010 and become involved. On an early visit to South Sudan I was impressed by the amount of breast cancers presenting very late in young women, and feel very strongly that breast cancer in Africa is a neglected issue. PAL have worked hard to get accredited status for fund applications, and UK aid have recently agreed to fund a PAL project to train health workers in breast assessment, including provision of ultrasound machines for the community and a new breast clinic. I hope this will set a precedent for further funded projects to run alongside the other work we do.
I have been a surgeon at Poole/Bournemouth for 23 years and have a masters in global health from King’s college London. I also work with UKMED.
The link has given so much to both Poole hospital volunteers and our wonderful African colleagues, and opened many doors and eyes.
Pasco Hearn (consultant microbiologist. PAL trustee)
I’m very happy to have become involved in this link with Lira, in Northern Uganda. I’m a Consultant Microbiologist at UHD, dual-trained in Infectious Diseases in London. As a medical registrar, I lived and worked for a year at the Regional Referral Hospital and medical school in Mbarara, South-Western Uganda and have visited the country many times. Towards the end of training I worked for two years in Siem Reap, Cambodia, so have some experience of the huge challenges faced by clinicians working hard, against the odds, in low and middle income settings.
I joined a PAL team visit in October 2022 and made links at Lira Regional Referral Hospital with extremely motivated people, keen to collaborate and find new ways to improve the care they provide their patients. I returned full of enthusiasm and won a grant from THET/CPA for a two-year project that will support the microbiology lab, train healthcare workers on antimicrobial resistance and stewardship, whilst encouraging infection prevention and control measures to reduce the development and spread of increasingly resistant organisms.
I hope to remain involved beyond the life of the project to help provide a respectful, collaborative and sustainable link with our friends and colleagues in Northern Uganda.
Dr. Peter McEwan (Neonatology Consultant) Trustee
I have worked as neonatal paediatrician in Poole Hospital for 11 years. I have been interested in African health issues for some time and spent seven months in Kwazulu-Natal in South Africa in 1997. I hold a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in Liverpool. I have been part of several visits of Poole Africa Link teams to Wau in South Sudan and Lira in Northern Uganda and have made links with other teams trying to provide neonatal improvements in Lira.
As part of training paediatricians and midwives in Africa, it is important to update their skills in the care of new born babies at delivery and how best to support their breathing. Our practice in the UK has moved forward a lot since the advent of neonatal intensive care in the 1970’s, but a lot of what we do is still appropriate to care for African babies in hospitals where intensive care is not available.
Sarah Clark (Consultant Breast & Skin Surgeon)
I have now been to Lira in Uganda twice with Poole Africa Link. I particularly enjoy the challenges of introducing new systems in the hospitals in Lira and making teaching sessions relatable and relevant to the local students. My focus has been on teaching patient safety and assessing patients and intervening when a problem is found. I have really enjoyed my time teaching and hope to go again I future.
Allison Ahvee (Children’s Nurse and education lead)
I have worked for Poole hospital for 25 yrs , first as a staff nurse then as ward lead for childrens’ High Dependency.
More recently I have started a new role as practice educator lead for child health.. I am involved in training development with child health staff as well as supporting the education needs of nurses caring for children in ED and ITU.
I have been on several visits to both Wau in South Sudan and Lira in Uganda.
This years visit was my third trip to Uganda so I was able to compare from previous visits as well as catch up with staff I previously met.
The support I am able to offer includes practical clinical instruction and formal lectures within both hospital and university setting.
My work as part of this link has also given me additional knowledge and skills in nursing children where the access to care, treatment and resources are limited.
Ben Cambers
I am an anaesthetic, intensive care and paediatric registrar. I am passionate about education, children’s health and am developing my interest in medicine in the developing world. My first visit to Lira with the Poole Africa link was so powerful and has left such an impression on me, that it has only strengthened my desire to continue working in Africa. Our skills, learned within the NHS, can be useful in all parts of the world and by continuing to return to Lira, the Poole Africa Link has the opportunity to establish a strong relationship of learning, teaching and cooperation in the future.
Dr Luke Turley GP
I am a GP based in Poole. After qualifying as a doctor in 2003 I moved to Poole where I spent many years as a junior doctor at Poole Hospital.
After completing junior doctor jobs in Poole Hospital in 2007, I embarked on a GP career, working both in the U.K. and the developing world. I now spend much of my time working in isolated and remote parts of the world, from running an emergency department in the Outer Hebrides to teaching life support in villages in Sierra Leone and teaching with the Poole Africa Link team in Lira.
In my free time, I play the viola in a number of different orchestras.
Lillie Parker (Paediatric registrar)
I’m a paediatric registrar in Wessex and have worked in Poole twice so far in my training. I’m currently an ST4 but have taken a year “out of programme experience” to undertake various voluntary medical roles and to travel. My long term goal is to do paediatric emergency medicine sub-specialty training but as it’s a competitive area we’ll have to wait and see how that goes!
I’ve always known that once I got my MRCPCH qualification I wanted to use my medical skills abroad in some form of voluntary role and one of the reasons I took a year out of my NHS job was to go to Greece and work for a charity called Medical Volunteers International. Despite spending a few months doing this I had plenty of time in my year to fill with other things. When I heard about the Poole Africa Link I thought this would be perfect and a real opportunity to do something different and worthwhile. I’d spent time volunteering in Africa in the past but never teaching and never in Uganda!
I didn’t really know what to expect of the trip but I had an absolutely brilliant time. I loved experiencing the Ugandan culture and people whilst also getting a different perspective on healthcare and teaching in an international setting. I was inspired by all the brilliant doctors I met and the team I went with. I would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of applying and hope to maybe go back in the future for another trip!
Rebecca Seal
I’m Becs, a Deputy Sister on the paediatric ward in Poole hospital. I trained in London and worked in PICU in the Evelina (Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital) before moving to Poole in 2020. I first heard about the Poole Africa Link through my ward Sister Ally Ahvee, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to go. It has always been a dream of mine to work abroad using my nursing skills and the trip with PAL exceeded all expectations. It was initially a culture shock, witnessing the vast contrast of what we are so privileged to have in Poole compared to Lira. At times emotionally challenging, yet eye-opening and humbling.
Working with the paediatric team, we split our time between Lira Regional Referral Hospital and Lira University Hospital. Some of the work we did included introducing new paperwork: observations and allocation charts, and teaching from ETAT (Emergency Triage Assessment and Treatment). We were met at every stage with warmth and grace and the students and nurses we met had a lot of knowledge, were very eager to learn and, in turn, taught us. I feel that during the fortnight in Lira I grew on a personal as well as professional level.
I hope to return to Lira to continue the work we started, as well as build on working relationships within both hospitals in Lira.
Bethan Owens
I am a senior staff nurse in Poole emergency department with 3 years experience in a busy unit, dealing with trauma and medical conditions.
This was my first time going to Lira, it was such a great opportunity to offer my skills to broaden the knowledge of the healthcare staff in the hospitals. I gained a valuable experience which I will be able to use in my future practice. I hope this will not be my last trip to Lira
Shonagh Gibb
I am a registered nurse, midwife and have a diploma in therapeutic counselling. I have been very fortunate , and had an interesting and varied career utilising all these skills.
I currently work as Early Pregnancy Nurse Specialist, at Poole Hospital and had the privilege of going to Uganda with PAL in October 2023.
I really wasn’t sure what to expect, and felt quite anxious re teaching large groups of students.
At times the experience was confusing, chaotic and frustrating, but equally exciting, challenging and rewarding, both professionally and personally.
I complete overcame my fears and comfortably taught groups which varied from 2 to 67.
I have come home with a totally different perspective on life.
I am so glad I did this and would recommend anyone thinking about going? Do it!
Jo Gyngell (Registered Midwife)
I am a registered nurse and midwife. I currently have a split role, part of my hours are worked as a member of the Bereavement support team providing clinical care and support to families who have sadly experienced a pregnancy loss in the second and third trimester of their pregnancy, the other role is as a Professional Midwivery Adovacate providing support to patients and staff.
In the past I have worked in all areas of obstetric care with a particular interest in high risk obstetrics.
The Poole Africa link project was always on my agenda, and this year I felt was the right time to apply! I thoroughly enjoyed the challenges and opportunities the visit threw at me, I met some amazing people ,staff and patients , it was no holiday but there were moments of fun and a sense of overall achievement, I would highly recommend to anyone who is considering participating in future visits.
Chloe Balderstone
Physician Associate, Emergency Department
University Hospitals Dorset
I am a Physician Associate working in Emergency Medicine at Poole, UHD, and I also am a Senior Lecturer in MSc/PgDip Physician Associate Studies at Bournemouth University. Travelling to support education felt like an excellent way to utilise my experiences from both roles to benefit other students and healthcare professionals in Uganda. I learned a lot in the short time in Uganda, and I hope I was able to impart some knowledge. There were heaps of challenges facing us, some communication barriers and understandable reticence to change however by the end of our time we saw excellent development particular in the emergency care offered by nurses and their communication with medical staff. A highlight for me was assisting on the Primary Trauma Care course for a variety of healthcare professionals, where we provided basic assessments and management for all kinds of traumatic presentations. I also took away some basic principles which we can utilise in the UK!
Sally Loven (Midwife)
I trained as a nurse initially before becoming a qualified midwife. I have worked at the maternity unit in Poole since 1990. I became involved with PAL in 2010 and have travelled to South Sudan on several occasions with various teams. Through the work of the Link I have met some very interesting people and had the privilege of teaching numerous aspects of midwifery education.
Abi Dixon (Registered General Nurse )
I was privileged to go to Wau in February 2013 with the team. This was my first experience of sub Sarahan Afrcia and I found the visit humbling and amazingly rewarding. Much of my time was spent teaching basic adult and paediatric resuscitation skills to doctors, nurses and midwives and also the students.
Having started my own family now Im not likely to go again in the near future but I continue to be involved in fundraising.