Rwandan healthcare delegation collaborates at Olympic Medical Center
Last month, Olympic Medical Center hosted a delegation of healthcare workers from Rwanda who specialize in trauma care. The group is tasked with building a national trauma program in their home country, and they came to OMC to see what our local rural hospital has learned over thirty years of developing its trauma program.
"We wanted to show the Rwanda team rural trauma because it’s more aligned with the type of care they provide," said Dr. Stewart Barclay, associate trauma medical director for pediatrics and burns at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. "Port Angeles, and OMC with it's Level III Trauma Designation, was the perfect place for this."
Together with Harborview Chief of Surgery Dr. Eileen Bulger and OMC's Trauma Medical Director Dr. Charles Bundy, Trauma Registrar Lois Slater, RN, Trauma Coordinator Branton Byers, RN, and Trauma Educator Alysa Doud, RN, Dr. Stewart helped bring the visit together for the team of nine from Kigali, Rwanda, which consisted of:
- Emergency physician Emile Musoni, MD
(Rwanda Military Hospital) - Orthopedic surgeon Jean Claude Byiringiro, MD
(University of Rwanda) - Neurosurgeon Emmy Nkusi, MD
(Rwanda Military Hospital) - Anesthesiologist Alcade Rudakemwa, MD
(Rwanda Military Hospital) - Matron of ambulatory care services Florence Mukarugwiza
(King Faisal Hospital) - Prehospital coordinator Jeanne d'Arc Nyinawankusi
(Rwanda Biomedical Center) - Education coordinator Ruth Mbabazi
(King Faisal Hospital)
During their time at OMC, the team heard from OMC's trauma leadership and Port Angeles Fire Department Chief Derrell Sharp, who walked the group through local Emergency Medical Service's (EMS) role in the Washington State trauma system. Sharp's presentation emphasized the importance of continued collaboration and relationships with every department in the hospital, calling them "key ingredients to success" for EMS in rural areas.
The OMC trauma leadership team gave a brief overview of the statistics and procedures that make for high-quality trauma care on the peninsula, including how our designation as the only Trauma III Hospital in the areas elevates the level of care available in the area. Additionally, the team shared accomplishments and challenges they experience delivering trauma care in our unique rural setting.
OMC's team provided the Rwanda trauma team with a tour of the hospital, walking through the emergency department, OMC's on-site laboratory, ICU, Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) and to a hands-on look at a Life Flight helicopter with their crew on OMC's helipad overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
The Rwanda team emphasized their desire to see the underbelly of how trauma care is administered in a rural community like the Olympic Peninsula, and the group of nine shared their appreciation to OMC for creating a visit and tour that accomplished this.
"I want to thank OMC for sharing the big and small details of how they provide trauma care," said anesthesiologist Dr. Alcade Rudakemwa from Rwanda Military Hospital. "It was helpful to see the many aspects and to ask questions."
After the visit, the Rwanda team shared their reflections on their time at OMC, emphasizing the clear passion the OMC team has for trauma care. "It is clear that trauma care is a purpose for them," they said. "We saw that you don’t have to be a Level I trauma center to prioritize trauma care."
The visit of Rwanda’s healthcare delegation to OMC marked an important step in their goal to develop a national trauma program.
For OMC, this visit has sown the seeds of international collaboration, fostering the exchange of knowledge and best practices that will help elevate trauma care in Rwanda and strengthen bonds between healthcare professionals across borders.