HF Projects
Our flagship Laos Project is into its 31st year. In the past year it helped the Lao University of Health Sciences(UHS) to graduate 11 more pediatricians and 10 more internists for a total of 244 Lao primary specialists to date. We are also helping the UHS to establish its new residency in emergency medicine, with 25 residents enrolled.
In our new Memorandum of Understanding(MOU), the major focus is on supporting subspecialty training for top Lao residency graduates at Khon Kaen University and other regional centers, thus reducing the need for HF volunteers. To date 29 have completed fellowships with 19 more in training. HF will continue to help to train the residents, but our financial and administrative support of the residency programs will drop to zero by year five of the MOU.
When all this began in 1990, Laos had only a handful of fully trained medical specialists. They were determined to launch in-country training programs, and they asked HF to help them do it. Hundreds of volunteers later, the current HF team in Laos is headed by pediatrician Aleksandra Prochowska. She augments the Lao faculty, supports the residents, coordinate a flow of visiting teaching specialists and expends the HF social welfare fund, which helps desperately poor Lao families to afford hospital care.
The Lao graduates are now helping to transform primary health care in one of Asia’s neediest populations, and taking increasing responsibility for the training programs. Lao faculty and residents are coping with changes in program logistics necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.
In the Children-in-Disasters project, HF volunteers recently supported a workshop in the United Arab Emirates, and the annual workshop in Cleveland. The HF manual “How to Help the Children in Disasters” is available at the HF website, IPA website or from Amazon. Our Mind-Body program is supporting translation into Arabic, Chinese and Thai of an online video to teach children nonpharmacologic pain management skills.
HF channels support to neediest children in Muang Sing Laos, Uganda and beyond.
Hakon Torjesen, Founding President
In our new Memorandum of Understanding(MOU), the major focus is on supporting subspecialty training for top Lao residency graduates at Khon Kaen University and other regional centers, thus reducing the need for HF volunteers. To date 29 have completed fellowships with 19 more in training. HF will continue to help to train the residents, but our financial and administrative support of the residency programs will drop to zero by year five of the MOU.
When all this began in 1990, Laos had only a handful of fully trained medical specialists. They were determined to launch in-country training programs, and they asked HF to help them do it. Hundreds of volunteers later, the current HF team in Laos is headed by pediatrician Aleksandra Prochowska. She augments the Lao faculty, supports the residents, coordinate a flow of visiting teaching specialists and expends the HF social welfare fund, which helps desperately poor Lao families to afford hospital care.
The Lao graduates are now helping to transform primary health care in one of Asia’s neediest populations, and taking increasing responsibility for the training programs. Lao faculty and residents are coping with changes in program logistics necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic.
In the Children-in-Disasters project, HF volunteers recently supported a workshop in the United Arab Emirates, and the annual workshop in Cleveland. The HF manual “How to Help the Children in Disasters” is available at the HF website, IPA website or from Amazon. Our Mind-Body program is supporting translation into Arabic, Chinese and Thai of an online video to teach children nonpharmacologic pain management skills.
HF channels support to neediest children in Muang Sing Laos, Uganda and beyond.
Hakon Torjesen, Founding President
More information on Laos Project and Children in Disasters
