Archdiocese of Tororo
The Catholic Archdiocese of Tororo oversees a large area in Eastern Uganda, including border regions with Kenya and Tanzania. The Archdiocese manages many education and health services over the Eastern region which often have inadequate government services available to them, particularly for rural communities.
St Anthony’s Hospital
St Anthony’s Hospital is one of the many services of the Archdiocese. It is a large hospital which fills an essential role in Uganda’s health system. St Anthony’s takes referrals from Mbale, Buseia, Iganga and even across the border in Kenya, from government hospitals which are either not as capable of providing certain services or are unwilling if the patient cannot afford treatment.
At present, St Anthony’s does what it can for the people of Tororo, but placed a request with Palms Australia to send a doctor who would assist improve the services available to its many patients.
Edith and Lawrence
Edith and Lawrence, from Sydney, have volunteered to work for Tororo.
Edith has six years experience as an accountant, including in a senior role with a major pharmaceutical company. She has overseen a broad range of financial issues and has mentored junior staff members.
Lawrence is a qualified doctor with experience in many areas relevant to St Anthony’s Tororo, including Obstetrics, Palliative care, Cardiology, Paediatrics and Emergency.
Both Edith and Lawrence are actively involved in their local communities and are committed to contributing to social justice in the world. They were first engaged with Palms, in Palms’ Encounter: Timor-Leste in 2010.
Palms Australia, the Archdiocese of Tororo and St Anthony’s Hospital believe they are very well suited to the positions; however, Palms Australia needs your assistance to cover the costs associated with sending and supporting Edith and Lawrence. Please use the donation link on the right hand side of this web-page to contribute.
Sometimes it’s just about saving lives
March 2, 2012
First of all, for the past two days, we’ve had no electricity or water throughout the day. We had borrowed a 20L container from our neighbour the day before and were lucky to have stored up some water in there. Meanwhile they were stifling hot days, with each hour passing in the pervasive heavy heat as we eagerly looked forward to the night when at least the sun will finally leave us.
Yesterday there was a ten month old child with severe malaria and severe anaemia. His conjunctiva and palms were white as snow. He needed blood but nurses had spent the whole day trying to get a peripheral cannula in with no success. Both sides of his head had been shaved during the attempts to find veins, giving him a fairly menacing looking mohawk. He would have looked comical if it weren’t for his being so dreadfully sick.
When I saw him after lunch, I found that they still had not succeeded in getting a line in, and he was having deep sighing breaths due to the worsening metabolic acidosis. He was also very lethargic, such that he was not even crying when I put needles into him. Failing to access the femoral veins, I succeeded in getting intraosseous access with a regular 21G needle (the only one I had). It was very difficult with the needle bending too readily, but eventually it went in with the satisfying crunch of the needle going through the bone cortex into the soft marrow.
Blood was quickly put up, but it ran really slowly (relying only on gravity overcoming the resistance of the marrow). I spent the next one and a half hours sitting there holding that needle still (the nurses were too afraid to touch it). However, even though some blood was getting through, the child was deteriorating too rapidly and the blood going in too slowly. We needed to get better access. After multiple further attempts of peripheral access, I tried once more at a femoral line. When the blood flowed easily into the attached syringe as the 21G cannula entered the left femoral vein, I could not resist a cry of delight. Success at last! We quickly changed the blood into that line and managed to get it in easily. He looked a lot better today, albeit still with some pallor and severe malaria, but I think he will continue to improve. I remembered thinking yesterday that this one success of saving that child’s life would make my trip here all worthwhile.
Lawrence and Edith, a doctor and accountant respectively, are volunteering with St Anthony’s Hospital in Tororo, Uganda. Palms Australia still requires significant funds to ensure this placement can continue. You can donate via their profile page.
Orientation Course #92
August 29, 2011
There is something very rewarding about watching such a group interact, sharing their own expertise while working through Palms’ cross-cultural program, refined over 50 years.
Click here to read the full article
Palms Encounter: Timor-Leste
December 3, 2010
The encounter has the ability to change the way you see yourself and how you can contribute to humanity on a profound level.
Write to Edith and Lawrence
All fields marked with * are required. Please do not use this form to ask volunteers about volunteering. For more information on the opportunities available, contact the Palms Australia office using our online enquiry form or call (02) 9518 9551.
By entering your email, you will kept informed of any new information about Edith and Lawrence's placement, including commUNITY newsletters and appeals. You will not receive other communications from Palms Australia unless you have communicated with us in another capacity.
Donate Online
Donating online offers you a completely secure and easy way to support our work.
To donate to support Edith and Lawrence's placement in Tororo, please use the form below. If you would like to make a general donation to Palms Australia, please use our dedicated donation page.
Make a recurring donation
Make a one-off donation
Recurring donations will be deducted on a regular basis, until Palms Australia or Paypal is notified to stop. Upon clicking "Donate", you will be forwarded to an external site, hosted by Paypal, to securely transmit your credit card or paypal account details. Please check the form on the next page to confirm the transaction details are correct. In this instance, Palms Australia does not handle your credit card details but will receive notification of your contact details.
Your donation will be placed towards the costs of sending and supporting Edith and Lawrence as a volunteer in Tororo. In the event that monies are raised above the amount required, Palms Australia will use them to support the placement of other volunteers. For more information contact Palms Australia.
If you have selected to alert the volunteer of your donation we will send them a note with your name, email and (if selected) the amount of your gift.
Donate by Post/Fax
You can download and print a donation form and return it to us by post/fax with your cheque, money order or credit card details.Donate by Phone
Or call us on (02) 9518 9551 to make a donation by phone. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR WORK!Uganda
Population: 32,369,558
Area: 241,038 sq. km.
Median Age: 15
Literacy: 66.8 %
Languages: English, Luganda, various Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic
Uganda is a geographically and culturally diverse nation. The South Eastern part of the country is dominated by Lake Victoria, which flows into the White Nile before it winds through Sudan and Egypt. Other large lakes are located in the West and centre of the country. In the 1970s, Uganda was famous for human rights [...]