My Dad does this thing where if its an important day in my life or its Christmas or I simply wont get out of bed…he comes into my room blaring “ Let’s get it started” By Pink (secrets out dad). Seeing as though I spent my last night up in NJ without him, I would like to thank my brother for stepping in and waking me up with “Africa” by TOTO. Although I may have wanted to hit you at the time, it really did put me in the right mindset for the adventure I am about to embark on.

When I originally found out that I would have 7 weeks home instead of 2, I could have never imagined how fast my time in the States would fly. During this time I got to spend a week at the beach with college friends, go on a wonderful family vacation and attend an absolutely beautiful wedding ceremony for an old friend. I want to take a second to thank all of my family and friends who took the time to meet up with me during this time and everyone that saw me off for the second time.

Time to answer your questions-

  1. Why are you going back?

To be honest- I’m sure I will question this decision once or twice during the next, less than comfortable, 25 hours of travel. However, as hard as it is for some of you to believe (hi Meg), I truly did enjoy my first 3 months in Uganda and I wouldn’t trade the experience I had for the world. Of course there were some challenging days but overall each day was rewarding in its own way and I made some amazing friends along the way. I am returning to continue RHD work and it makes everything worth it knowing, and truly believing, that this will save someone’s life.

  1. What are you doing this time?

Well, this question is not as straightforward as last time. Over the next 6 months I will be facilitating multiple small projects as well as helping start one huge project come September. First and foremost, we will be launching an RHD registry for Gulu and the surrounding area. By enrolling current RHD patients, as well as future ones into this database, we will be able to track their symptoms, penicillin adherence and their location. In addition to the registry, I will be helping perform a needs assessment of district hospitals in Northern Uganda. This will assess current protocol surrounding RHD diagnosis, treatment and referrals. After the assessment is completed, we will then train non-experts in handheld echocardiography to improve the accuracy of diagnosis and efficiency of referrals. 

That’s all I’ve got-next update will be from 7,000 miles away!

See you all at Christmas time!

xoxo

Emmy