Goudiri: Building Local Capacity

Goudiri presented similar challenges to Tambacounda (See Tambacounda article), with limited medical infrastructure and resources. The Vermont National Guard team stationed there conducted intensive training sessions, emphasizing practical skills and resourceful problem-solving. They worked closely with local health workers to develop protocols for handling medical emergencies and routine care under constrained conditions. This collaboration has significantly boosted the local medical community’s ability to respond to health crises and improve overall patient care.

Goudiri medical center operates much like an urgent care center mixed with primary care. It is a small facility in a very remote part of Senegal that still requires medical access for its population. Much of the support staff at the center are locals who learn on the job. The Vermont National Guard team was able to impart some knowledge and also learn about how they adapt and overcome situations that arise.

Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Frizzell, Healthcare Specialist, noted, “I was able to work with the ambulance crews here and teach them about how we handle certain aspects of emergency response, which was a wholly new concept in this very remote location. Typically the responders here may simply be drivers and not trained medical professionals. It was good to integrate with them and assist in some of the emergent trauma response cases that occurred while on duty.”

Lt. Col. Cristopher Winners, physician assistant for the Vermont Army National Guard brought years of forward operating experience to the small facility and immediately scrubbed in for surgical interventions.

“It is such a small and remote area that at times the best you can do is really stabilize a patient and prepare to move them to a higher level of care” emphasized Lt. Col. Winners, “We came in not to necessarily change how they operate but to provide some more knowledge and of course assist in care ourselves.”

Sgt. Haley Kennedy-Quinn worked in a couple of different departments. She focused on emergency medical care and prenatal care.

"Observing their procedural operational flow was very interesting," said Kennedy-Quinn, "from how patients were triaged and then sent to different sections of the hospital to retrieve items for care was unique compared to the way we do things in the states. We aren't here to implement change on how they function but more to understand how they do things and to learn from each other."

Two Austrian Bundesheer doctors also took part in the exercise at this location as well as others. Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Frizzell and the two Bundesheer doctors responded to a trauma call on the outskirts of a local village while working alongside the Senegalese ambulance crews.

“It was quite a unique experience,” Said Col. Cristoph Bierbamer, Austrian Bundesheer, “We were able to help two individuals that were severely injured and bring them back to the local care center. Typically you have teams like an ambulance who hand off a patient to the emergency department staff, but here we were with the patients from the initial point and during the emergency care at the hospital.”

Col. Bierbamer further illustrated the need for local staff to adapt to certain situations and make due with the personnel they have on hand. Goudiri, while austere still had a vibrant and welcoming atmosphere further showcasing the “Teranga Healthcare '' approach of warmth and hospitality of its people.