Ellen & Susan return from the field

This past January Ellen Starr, our Executive Director, and Susan Hollinger, our clinical consultant visited our programs in Ethiopia and Kenya. Read below their trip highlights – through words and imagery.

Ellen meeting with clinical staff—from left to right Aster Tilahun, Ashenafi Argata and Demis Berhan.

From Ellen Starr:

“After 3 years waiting for a pandemic to end and political unrest to settle down, we finally made it to the field! Like everyone else, we’ve had many Zoom calls back and forth, but nothing beats face-to-face, especially when there is an ocean between us. Happily, our field staff still recognized us and gave us a welcome fit for a king, or 2 queens! (see photo below)

The banner that welcomed Ellen and Susan at the Ethiopian office.

Our mission was to reconnect but also to see how they were doing in integrating HPV self-testing into our program where we have used visual inspection of the cervix (VIA) for screening for many years. Many of the steps involved from patient education, to transport of samples to the lab, to letting women know their results, and ultimately ensuring that they receive treatment, are all very different from their existing programs. The training of lab staff alone has been a big endeavor that they have succeeded in doing …and doing well. They have jumped right in and made great progress in developing their systems while always looking critically at ways they could do it better so they can ensure the quality and effectiveness of this very new approach. It was totally inspiring! See photos below in the lab.

The Ethiopian team outside of a health center- taking a break in the sunshine.

Patrick Mbugua, our clinical specialist, alongside Evah Maina, our Kenya Program coordinator.

Ellen and Dagmawi watching the lab technicians prepare HPV test samples in Kenya.

Susan sharing laughs with women waiting to be tested.

We also checked in with our VIA program and were thrilled to see that our team, and a group of providers they have trained and worked with for many years, had not only maintained their skills but had totally grown them in our absence. They saw many, many women who they continued to treat with respect and compassion while providing high quality clinical care. It was so great to see!

Out for a celebratory meal in Ethiopia —sharing beers and cheers!

And then, of course, there was the food. It isn’t easy to find good Ethiopian food in VT, so getting our hands (literally) on the injera and shiro and, of course, Ethiopian coffee made us feel like we had come home.

Until next time – I may just have to perfect my injera cooking skills – something I have absolutely not succeeded in doing!”

From clinical consultant, Susan Hollinger:

“My biggest impression from this trip was how much commitment our in-country staff has to Grounds for Health (GfH) and cervical cancer prevention. They have so much confidence in their work, and it is clear they are proud to work for our organization.

A health center in Kenya, with our Grounds for Health pop-up sign.

While in Nyeri District, we had a pop-up campaign in their large Saturday market. This gave us a chance to see how dedicated and enthusiastic our community outreach volunteers are as they encourage women to get screening. The simplicity of a quick on-site HPV self sample was so simple and non-intrusive for women, they were easily recruited to visit the pop-up screening site.

At one point there were a dozen women crowding into the small space wanting to do a HPV test. Between our team and the local women, we quickly devised and held up a cloth screen to provide another privacy area. I have never seen anything like it!”