Blog
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Ultrasounds Offered at Clinic
April 12, 2010
Dr. David Reed, one of the John Dau Foundation’s Medical Directors, made a delivery of all sorts last week.
Thanks to a generous gift from SonoSite Corporation’s SoundCaring program, Dr. Reed delivered the first ultrasound machine ever to be used in Duk County. Dr. Reed, who volunteers his time to advise the Clinic and JDF, traveling to the Clinic on his own expense, spent several days training the Clinic staff in the use and maintance of the equipment. In the United States, he routinely trains medical students in the use of ultrasounds as a professor in the SUNY Upstate Medical system.
The equipment is portable and durable, and so it works well with the climate of South Sudan and for the needs of the Clinic. In its first week at the Clinic, staff used it to detect a gut obstruction in a woman, allowing them enough time to refer her for surgery, and likely saving her life.
Ultrasounds will allow for the improved diagnosis of high-risk and complicated pregnancies and will be incorporated as a routine part of prenatal care. Last month alone, the Clinic received over 100 prenatal visits, and the number is quickly rising thanks to the Clinic’s midwives and medical staff. It will be a tremendous boost to the Clinic’s maternity services, in an area where a woman is more likely to die from pregnancy than to finish school. The equipment can also be used for trauma victims to detect internal bleeding.
It is one more step towards the John Dau Foundation transforming health care in South Sudan.
