Homecoming!

This Homecoming for the Alumni of 'Winifred' was the first since 1999. It was great fun for all with a parade through town, an indoor program of speeches and fund raising that went through lunch. The afternoon consisted of a girls' kickball game and the male students played another local college in soccer. After a rest, the day was topped off with dancing in the evening at a local club. It is nice to see the older graduates supporting and encouraging the current students and newer graduates. They have a lot to offer and the loyal connection is strong.

Working together for improved preventative and curative oral health care in Liberia

From L to R:

Mr. Victor Taryor, Ganta United Methodist Hospital Administrator
Dr. Solomon Christian, dentist and founder of Dental Care for the World
Dr. Scott Edwards, dentist and coordinator for the work with University of Tennessee Dental School - curriculum and equipment
Suzanne Porter, Dean, Winifred J. Harley College of Health Sciences
Bishop John G. Innis of the Liberian Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
Rev. Edgar White, MDiv, MPA, CPA

There are many others who are relevant to this project who are not pictured. These include Dr. Cherian Thomas, UMCOR-Health; Dr. Emmanuel F. Bailey, President United Methodist University; and Dr. Abi Thomas, Director Christian Dental College of Ludhiane, India.

The Dental Nurse Practitioner Program Comes to Life!

The dental program has been the long time dream of many different people and now it has come together! The Ganta United Methodist Hospital had a dentist in the past but due to the effects of time and the war, they have not been able to offer dental services to the people of Nimba County. The development of the Dental Nurse Practitioner Program has been dream of Dr. Solomon Christian, founder of Dental Care for the World, and Rev. Ed White, MDiv, MPA, CPA. Together with the Winifred J. Harley College of Health Sciences in Liberia, the University of Tennessee Dental School and the Christian Dental College in Ludhiana, India, the dreams became reality. Praise God for bringing together these people from different parts of the world with their varied resources to make this happen!


The Making of a Dental Clinic and DNP Program:

It all started with an empty room...

Re-worked dental equipment from the University of Tennessee Dental School arrives in a container.

Six dental chairs installed!

















The classroom for the Dental Nurse Practitioner Program. Pictured are the instructor, Dr. Ashwin Sakharia, from the Christian Dental College in Ludhiana, India with three students. The curriculum was developed by people at University of Tennessee Dental School.








Dr. Ashwin with the students and the dental technician about to provide care for a patient!

The CLASS OF 2010: The 18 New Graduate Nurses of Winifred J. Harley College of Health Sciences

Even animals get medical attention in Ganta

Veterinarians Without Borders visited Liberia and Dr. Julie Hunt, a returnee from a few years ago, came to Ganta to treat animals for various conditions. Mostly, she did de-worming but also gave rabies vaccine. Besides de-worming, the goats also received a vaccine for Peste des Petits Ruminants, a disease that can cause pneumonia and gastrointestinal problems, and ultimately, death. The list of animals she treated included dogs, cats, poultry, pigs, rhesus macaques, and even two guinea pigs. This is a program we hope can be continued in the future. Especially the distribution of rabies vaccine for which there is no treatment for in Liberia and it is usually too expensive for people to get from Guinea.

Nursing Students' Capping Ceremony

The 24 students who were Capped and Striped





The students are reciting the Nurses' Prayer.






The capping ceremony is nursing tradition that goes back to the days when nurses wore caps and their cap identified the nursing school they graduated from. Each school had its own destinctive design. Students are capped at a particular time in their studies when they are recognized as being successful to that point. We include 'striping' in the Winifred J. Harley College of Health Sciences ceremony. For each year of study in the three year program, a stripe is added to their student nurse uniform. These students now have 2 strips.

After being capped and striped, the students light a candle and recite a nurse's prayer. The candle represents Florence Nightengale who is known as the Lady of the Lamp for when she would check the ward of wounded Crimean War soldiers late into the night.

This was a special day for the nursing students. Parents come to the school for the day to participate and help recognize their accomplishments so far. The guest speaker for the program was the Hon. Jackson Findor, a member of the Liberian House of Representatives who is a nurse and graduated from 'Winifred' in 1979. After a lunceon, they all relaxed with some sports - the women played kickball and the male students played soccor against another local college.

It was a great day and a refreshng weekend without clinical practice and studies...I know they all were glad for the free time for now its back to the books and midterms this week! We wish them this best for the rest of this semester.

RECENT EVENTS

RECENT EVENTS:
The 177th LIBERIAN ANNUAL CONFERENCE took place at the W.V.S Tubman High School and Gbargna Theological School of the United Methodist University in Gbanrga, Liberia. It was an event filled with hymns, praise, and good preaching along with committee and district reports. I enjoy listening these as I am usually in Ganta focusing on my work in the nursing school and not involved with the daily ongoings of the church so find them interesting.

The theme of the conference was “Following Jesus in this Present Age” Text 19:27-29“Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will inherit eternal life.”

Unfortunately, Bishop Innis who presides over the LAC has been in the US for medical reasons. In his place overseeing the conference was Bishop Arthur F. Kulah,the Acting Bishop of Nigeria and former Bishop of the Liberian Annual Conference. Although Bishop Innis couldn't attend, he was with us in spirit, and Bishop Kulal was well received and did a fine job with the proceedings.

There were many special events such as a ground breaking for a new library for the Gbarnga School of Theology which is located next to the Tubman School property and, as usual, there was the ordination of the new ministers.

REGISTRATION FOR SEMESTER II OF THE 2009-2010 ACADEMIC YEAR
Registration for the second semester was held on Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6. It is nice having the students back again. It is awfully quiet when they are not around! There will be 20 third year senior students eligible for graduation in July with their Associate Degree in Nursing, and 23 second year students for a total of 43 students. These students are serious and focused in their studies and I wish them all a good semester. (The first year students are still taking their prerequisite courses in Monrovia and they will be eligible to transfer to Ganta in September.)

What you won’t see during registration are any computers, credit cards to pay tuition, or other electronic processing. Everything is still hand done in triplicate. The registrar will take the information back to the main campus in Monrovia for data entry to the computer there. The system here is still tedious and full of errors. They are trying, however, and over the three years I’ve been here, there has been much improvement.

So, classes have started and the routine and rhythm of the school is in a nice flow. We have some new faculty and some returnees. I'll introduce you to them in a future blog. But all for now....