Since 2015, team members from the Emergency and Trauma Center have traveled to Zimbabwe to train medical care workers in partnership with the Rotary Club of Knoxville.
In 2015, three nurses from the Trauma Services department traveled to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to begin a nursing education project that now celebrates its 10th year. Celebrating 10 Years of the Zimbabwe Nursing Project
2015 The medical center partnered with the Rotary Club of Knoxville to send three medical center nurses, Theresa Day, RN, Niki Rasnake, RN, (no longer with the medical center) and Deborah Tuggle, RN, to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The team taught an Advanced Trauma Life Support course (ATLS) and an Advanced Trauma Core Nurse course (ATCN) to nurses at the St. Philips Nursing School. Day, Rasnake and Tuggle did a lot of preparation before arriving in Africa so that their work was able to start as soon as they arrived. The learners came from countries in and around Zimbabwe, had preregistered and were ready to begin their course. The first course identified a few of the best learners as having instructor potential. The team trained these learners and then mentored them through teaching their first class, giving them the skills they needed to continue teaching nurses after the medical center team returned home. Day, Rasnake and Tuggle were joined by two trauma surgeons from the medical center, two other physicians from the Knoxville area and three from South Africa to help as instructors. This was the first time Zimbabwe and South Africa had entered such a joint venture.
2015-2018 Over the next three years several courses were held marrying courses at the medical center with courses held in Africa. These courses were held via ZOOM so the learners in Africa and the learners at the medical center were able to attend the courses as one. During this time, the instructors trained during the first visit were able to conduct the skills stations and proctor the exams. 2018 Trauma Services nurses Day, Tuggle and Gigi Taylor, RN, returned to Africa to provide another set of in-person courses much like the 2015 visit. At the conclusion of the second visit the team was part of a first-time ever, formal signing ceremony to complete the Memorandum of Understanding between Zimbabwe and South Africa to continue with the trauma training courses through the American College of Surgeons. 2025 In February 2025, Day, Tuggle and Rebecca Layne, RN, returned to Zimbabwe to conduct another group of courses, including an instructor course. This was needed as many of the instructors from the first course retired or moved out of the area.
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A Reminder of Miracles
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