Pastoral care visit

Pastor Jason Elsmore from Gateway Baptist Church in Brisbane Australia  spent some days at Yotkom . He was accompanied by a small team , including Nick Paton, who was able to make an audiovisual record of the work being undertaken in our project.

This will be used to report back most especially to the Gateway community who support us in so many ways .
The fulfilment of the vision we have to respond to injustice, poverty and sickness in Northern Uganda  would not be possible without  the constant presence of this  very special outwardly -looking church community in Australia.
While he was here, Jason gave us some inspirational messages and encouraged us to have love at the centre of our relationships within the team and as a distinctive way in which we respond to  our patients.

Young blood

Dr Jonathan Tey was embraced by our medical team of nurses and doctors and provided inspiration to them by modelling good medical practice in the daily activities at Yotkom and through formal teaching at Continuing Medical Education forums

He is mentoring a young man, Denis who is undertaking medical studies at nearby Gulu University . Denis has been bonded to work at Yotkom at the completion of his studies as part of our human resource planning for the future.

Chelsea Edwards has background in medical research and was able to introduce a new pathology test kit to our laboratory for Leischmaniasis. 

She also developed close relationships with our administrators, theatre nurse and medical record department.

We really benefit from these visits and our partnership with Australia

Building up Dental Services at Yotkom

In April, Dr John Yared has been spending time with two of our key Ugandan dental workers, Godfrey and Annette.
John brings a wealth of experience from working in Australia and also in Africa .
He has been able to work alongside our dental team, sharing knowledge and skills and helping establish good clinical guidelines for treating common dental problems.
He also kindly donated some dental equipment from Australia including a mobile dental unit which will assist us to conduct rural outreaches.
We hope this very valuable mentoring relationship will continue into the future.

April 2018

April 2018 is going to be a busy time at Yotkom Medical Centre

It all starts on Easter Sunday, April 1 , when four people will be leaving Brisbane to travel to Kitgum:

Andrew Wright : Doctor and Yotkom Director

Jonathan Tey; Doctor

 Jonathan is going to get alongside our doctors and nurses and learn about tropical health as well as be involved in teaching on various topics, modelling good history taking and examination to our clinicians and teaching them about computer based records and on line learning resources.

Chelsea Edwards: Researcher :

Chelsea has a background in research into various tropical diseases like Malaria and Leischmaniasis . She is interested to learn more about medical missions and is going to look at ways of helping us with research and also introduce some new test kits for a disease which is often missed in Uganda. 

John Yared: Dentist

John Yared will be working with Godfrey our Yotkom dentist and his assistant Annette

It will be time of building relationships and focussing on  teaching and mentoring 

It is also important that we establish good Dental guidelines and practices in the clinic and John will be a great help in this process

        We are so thankful to these people who are giving up their time and investing their resources into the community of Northern Uganda
Yotkom is a partnership between Australia and Uganda  to improve access and excellence in Primary health care to Northern Uganda.
We are striving to achieve our mission by building  relationships, resources and self reliance.

Yotkom Uganda registered as a Company in Australia

In December , YOTKOM  registered as a company in Australia and formalised  a board of directors from amongst our Yotkom Australia Support Team.

Our company details are :

Name: Yotkom Uganda Ltd

ACN  :  622 357 331

ABN :   36 622 357 331

We have a new bank account:

NAME: Yotkom Uganda Ltd

Bank : Commonwealth

BSB: 064 186

Account Number : 10884542

We are currently doing the work necessary to register with the Australian Charities and Non for Profits Commission .

We believe all these organisational and structural developments will help us improve  legitimacy, transparency and sustainability. They will  provide a foundation for future growth in our work in Northern Uganda.

We  welcome the help of a very active and involved board of management  to lighten the load and facilitate accountability .

Tax deductible donations should still be made through:

HealthServe

on line at: 

donate.yotkom.com

or by post to :

PO Box 247

Cherrybrook

NSW  2126

designating Yotkom Uganda as the recipient.

Medical conditions in Uganda

Here at Yotkom Medical Centre we see a variety of presenting problems,
Trauma, lacerations , broken bones and burns are common.

We use our operating theatre to treat and our X-ray department to help diagnose

Our medical staff are able to manipulate fractures under anaesthesia and apply plasters to immobilise for healing.

We admit patients to our wards with various complaints, including malaria, pneumonia, seizures,

Babies and children are particularly susceptible to infections in this community and Yotkom Medical centre is able to deliver life saving therapy, sending these little ones home to their families .

We can also diagnose in our laboratory tuberculosis and other tropical diseases like schistosomiasis

Dental services begin at Yotkom

This November we are excited to be able to commence a dental service to the community .
The area we service has a population of over 300,000 and people with tooth ache and decay suffer so much without skilled interventions. The Yotkom Medical centre has employed Godfrey as a dentist and Annette as a dental assistant . We have set up a well equipped basic facility and plan to expand this.
In 2018, a dentist from Australia has indicated a willingness to come to Kitgum and assist with ongoing mentoring and teaching.
We believe this is a significant leap forward in our mission to bring wholistic high quality health care to northern Uganda.