Kathy Holmgren returns to Africa, bringing health and hope to families in Rwanda
Barbara Agnew
Website: http://www.nwmedicalteams.org
(SEATTLE, WASH. Nov. 3, 2006) Kathy Holmgren, a nurse with Northwest Medical Teams, and daughter Dr. Calla Holmgren, an obstetrician/gynecologist from Salt Lake City, return from Rwanda Nov. 12 after nearly three weeks in this impoverished African nation.
The two volunteers are training local doctors in obstetric ultrasound, management of cardiac failure in pregnancy and other current medical protocols, working at Nyamata Hospital in Bugesera, the district most affected by the 1994 genocide. Nyamata Hospital is the only referral medical facility for more than 300,000 people. Northwest Medical Teams is assisting the hospital by providing medicines and specialty training, with a focus on women who require emergency obstetrics care.
This is Kathy Holmgren's fourth trip with Northwest Medical Teams. A board member with Northwest Medical Teams, Kathy has a deep commitment to the Africa region. She served in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the Super Bowl this past February (along with daughter Calla) while husband Mike Holmgren coached the Seattle Seahawks. Kathy previously volunteered in Romania during 2005 and Mexico in 2003.
"Rwanda has one of the world's worst mortality rates, one in five children die before their fifth birthday," says Dick Frederick, executive director of Northwest Medical Teams' Washington office. "Kathy and Calla have a longstanding passion to help the African people rebuild their health care infrastructure and improve medical services to families.
Northwest Medical Teams' programs are focused on educating local health care workers so they can bring sustainable change to their own communities. We're grateful to partner with volunteers like Kathy and Calla."
Northwest Medical Teams has sent one shipment of medicines to Nyamata Hospital and will send a second in the coming months. Volunteer medical teams were deployed to the region shortly after the 1994 genocide killed an estimated one million people.
Northwest Medical Teams has expanded its programs in Africa exponentially in the past five years. This year, the organization will send 48 medical teams to the region, including Uganda, Liberia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Mali.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
