When I planned my day shadowing pharmacy staff at Birmingham Children’s Hospital I was worried about my lack of knowledge about hospital pharmacy systems and my clinical skills regarding paediatric medication.   What I don’t anticipate is my emotional reactions, especially as a Mum confronted by these seriously sick children and their families. The day is a real roller coaster of an experience.   I meet a very mature teenager who knows all his medication and when his next injections are due, a couple with a baby of only a few months old that has never spent a day outside hospital.   I see siblings play around the beds of very very sick children including those awaiting transplants.   I can see those that have had transplants in isolation rooms. I suppose the children on the wards in Blantyre will be surrounded by family too but I know the

Happily Club seem really keen on the T towel idea and I get the go ahead to do this.   This gets husband Dave and me thinking about other fun ways my Club could raise money to support the training of paediatric nurses in Malawi. But we are not a fund raising organisation I hear you cry!   True, but when I’ve discussed this before with longer standing members of my Club, I accept that it’s not all about lobbying and service.   In order to make a difference, and educate, empower and enable, we sometimes will need to raise funds.   And we do have the reassurance that 99.7 pence in every pound will get to this project via Friends of Sick Children in Malawi.   So – ideas all based on raising £2 per person.   Show and tell evening – pay £2 to bring an

I don’t have any sisters (or brothers for that matter) but what I love about the Soroptimists in my Club is the wisdom and advice that they are always so willing to share with me and the positive way they direct my over-enthusiasm on occasion. I eagerly outline some of the plans for when I’m in Malawi including husband Dave taking photos of the children to send back to Club, and keep them updated.   Fortunately for me, two Soroptimists with a lot of experiences in child safeguarding and mistreatment point out the dangers of posting photos of young children on the internet.   I feel immensely saddened by this; the internet is such a useful tool but clearly open to abuse.   These children are vulnerable enough and Friends of Sick Children in Malawi supports a One Stop Centre for Victims of Abuse. (See item in their

Ok so some of my friends think I should be committed.   Husband Dave tells me that he has finally booked the flights, just as well as we are due to fly in 8 weeks.   As he says ‘we have to go now’!    I’m a bit worried about the luggage allowance, we still have 2 x 23kg each of hold luggage but the cabin allowance is now only 7kg.   Hmmm, this is going to require some imaginative packing; either that or we go native and buy our clothes when we are out there. My magnificent Medicines Management Team is the best in the world.   At the last team meeting before the summer break, as I’ve promised not to spend the money on my flight, they ‘sponsor’ digital thermometers, urine testing strips, syringes and needles to the tune of £120. They also bring in piles of good

Well they say that in every cloud there is a silver lining.   Before the end of flaming June we have deluge Saturday.   Our plant sale to raise funds for Friends of Sick Children in Malawi at the Lion’s Show is a complete wash out in every sense of the word; sadly it rains all day so only the hardy brave it to Abbey Fields. I take a large boot full of plants into work to sell on the Monday, and as they are such fantastic quality and value courtesy of the generosity of the nursery one our Soroptimists works for, they sell very easily. Someone in the office buys an African daisy as a gift for a consultant she is working with. Another amazing co-incidence, the consultant has worked at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital supporting the training of paediatric medics!   And knows some of

We’ve just come back Holland from a fabulous friendship week-end with our sister Soroptimists in Arnhem and Remscheid to the utterly brilliant news that –   We have been short listed for the next Quadrennial Project!   Wow!!!   As Elaine, our President points out, now the work begins and if we are fortunate enough to be voted in, then we will really have our work cut out.   Thankfully, Club is so passionate about supporting the education of paediatric nurses through the auspices of Friends of Sick Children in Malawi; I think we are up for the challenge.   All part of why enjoy being a Soroptimist. I think it’s about time I tell Elaine, and Club of my plans to work in the hospital as a pharmacist. Elaine and Georgie put me in contact with SI Blantyre; it would be great if during my fortnight I

I contact the paediatric department and offer the luggage space.   The shopping list they come back with is not at all what I had expected.   Antibiotic and antiviral drugs yes but the rest seems very basic. Digital thermometers, for all staff to carry in a pocket Needles and syringes Urine testing dipstix Some recent editions of the British National Formulary for Children What shocks me more is the request for scissors, the sort that we would normally throw away after single use for a minor op, they will re-sterilise and use again. I’m doubtful about the request for potassium permanganate crystals to make up into solution; this can be explosive so I’m not convinced that in these days of heightened security, it’d be a good idea! They would also like good quality bright clothing for young children.   Malawian mums don’t do pastel shades; I know

Life can be very odd.   We live in leafy Kenilworth, population approximately 25,000.   My recently retired husband, Dave, went on a walk with U3A.   There were 6 people on it, three of whom were retired pharmacists and one was the associate professor for the School of Pharmacy in Blantyre! Dave arranges for his new friend and wife to come round for a chat about Blantyre and the hospital etc. Happily for me and our marriage, the couple wax so lyrically about Blantyre, and are able to put me in contact with people there.   The ex professor emphasises the importance of how beneficial it will be to the pharmacists out there to take an interest in their work, and how motivational this could be.   Apparently pharmacy is not thought of as quite the same valued profession as it is in this country, or it wasn’t when

The April newsletter on the Friends of Sick Children in Malawi (FOSCiM) website makes salutary reading.   It gives a comparison of UK to Malawi statistics.   Although improving they still make heart-breaking reading.   From the newsletter:   The figures for child mortality under one – For every child under one in the UK that dies ELEVEN die in Malawi I have every reason to be grateful to the NHS for the care I received when giving birth to our two girls.   I’m quite sure that had I been a mum in Malawi I would have experienced the heartbreak of either a stillbirth or handicapped chid due to complications.   I, myself, may well have died.   The figures for under five year olds make even worse reading – for every child under 5 in the UK that dies FOURTEEN die in Malawi. I cannot comprehend what it