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Dayne Logan, Editor | Kimber Whanger, Designer | Comments or suggestions about our newsletter? Contact Us.
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Message from the President
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Dr. Ashot Amroyan (Armenia), Dr. Medge Owen, and Dr. Borislava Pujic (Serbia) traveled to Winston-Salem, NC for the Kybele Team Leader Summit in February.
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Wow, how time flies. Kybele is celebrating her 15th anniversary this year! It seems like yesterday when we were planning our first program to Turkey. Now we've completed 82 program visits in 11 countries with the help of 643 volunteers. These special individuals have come from 68 institutions across 12 countries and had their lives transformed. Friendships now feel more like family. We've worked through some formidable challenges across cultures, languages and resource disparities to achieve amazing results. Along our journey, we've kept mom and baby forefront.
This newsletter will highlight a successful chapter concluding in Armenia, an exciting chapter starting in Serbia, recent global health events we have hosted
and
much more. It also serves as an invitation to our 15-year "Crystal"
anniversary
celebration in Boston, which will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesiology and Perinatology.
It will be one special celebration!
With gratitude,
Medge D. Owen, MD, President - Kybele, Inc.
Professor of Obstetric Anesthesia
Director of Maternal Infant Health Programs, Office of Global Health
Affiliate Faculty in the Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity
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Armenia Ends a Successful 10-Year Program
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| Dr. Ashot Amroyan, Armenian lead host physician, holding the Obstetric Anesthesia Guidelines now published in Armenia. |
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Kybele and the Armenian Society of Anesthesiologists and Intensivists have recently completed a successful multiyear partnership. From 2006 until 2015, 31 Kybele volunteers from five countries made six trips to Armenia. Ten of these individuals made multiple trips. The hard work and dedication by the Armenian physicians and the Kybele team paid off; all the objectives established by the partnership were accomplished. One key objective was the development of Obstetric Anesthesia Practice Guidelines. These were developed to provide practicing physicians across the country with up-to-date guidelines to help ensure a consistently high standard of care. Most significantly, these were the first guidelines ever approved by the Armenian Ministry of Health for ANY field of medicine. The ministry is now calling for guidelines within other fields of medicine to improve patient safety across the country.
Armenian and Kybele team members traveled throughout the country together, even to remote areas, to ensure compliance with the guidelines and to provide hands-on training when practices were observed to be suboptimal. The clinical accomplishments have been truly impressive. Most notably, there has been a substantial increase in the use of spinal anesthesia for cesarean section across the country. This change alone has impacted thousands of women. Drs. Shahla Namak and Amy Bamber, both of the Wake Forest School of Medicine, have also led projects that have significantly reduced post-partum bleeding and improved NICU hand-washing hygiene, thus providing life-saving care to mothers and vulnerable newborns. Both projects have been accepted for presentation at upcoming international medical meetings. Congratulations to the entire Armenian and Kybele team for hard work that has paid off!
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ATTENTION SOCIETY FOR OBSTETRIC ANESTHESIA AND PERINATOLOGY MEMBERS AND BOSTON COLLEAGUES:
You are cordially invited to join Kybele and friends as we celebrate our 15th Anniversary of teaching safe childbirth methods in the service of mothers and newborns worldwide.
Crystal is the customary material for a 15th anniversary, and we are planning a
sparkling event to celebrate.
Featuring an excellent menu prepared by Mortons, The Steakhouse, and set in picturesque Boston by the waterfront in a beautiful glass atrium space conveniently located next door to the SOAP Conference hotel, the event will include cocktails and a sit-down dinner with live Broadway-style entertainment. The event is open to all SOAP Conference attendees, spouses and local guests. Cocktails begin at 6 p.m. and the dinner at 6:45. Cocktail attire is appropriate.
Kybele is very proud to be celebrating 15 years in 2016, and we look forward to having you join us for this fantastic event. Individual tickets are $129. Table sponsorships and discounts for residents and students are available. Seating is limited. RSVP by Friday, May 13.
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MOU Signing Ceremony with Serbia
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Article by Sebnem Ucer
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Serbia Team Co-Leader, Dr. Ivan Velickovic, Dr. Medge Owen, Dr. Borislava Pujic,
and Dr. Tihomir Vejnovic following the MOU signing ceremony.
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A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony on behalf of the
faculty of medicine at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, and Kybele was held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on Feb. 26 during the opening night of the 2016 Kybele Team Leader Summit.
The MOU
promotes a five-year program of scientific and educational cooperation between the faculty of medicine at the University of Novi Sad and Kybele and
reaffirms the
provision and exchange of education in the fields of obstetrics and gynaecology, anaesthesiology and neonatology. It also includes a provision for the continuation of the graduate Continuing Medical Education programs with annual Kybele faculty participation. Other elements include commitments to cooperative research endeavours for the shared interest and benefit to both institutions and exchanges of faculty, scientific and technological information, data and equipment.
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Dr. Tihomir Vejnovic, Dr. Medge Owen, and Dr. Ivan Velickovic sign
the official Memorandum of Understanding. Photo by Ron George, MD
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The MOU was signed by
Dr. Tihomir Vejnovic, Director of the Institute of Perinatology Clinic of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Clinical Center of Vojvodine
, Serbia, and Dr. Medge Owen, President of Kybele.
Owen congratulated
Novi Sad Faculty of Medicine and Kybele
Serbia Program team leaders
on
facilitating this operational team framework and acknowledged the important contribution of Kybele's Serbia program team members and Serbian hosts. She said she was looking forward to both organizations working in a collaborative and complementary way to effectively address some of the needs and concerns of the country.
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Kybele Hosts 3rd Team Leader Summit
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Article by Erin Pfeiffer
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| Training package for Helping Babies Breathe and the Essential Care for Every Baby. |
From February 26-28, Kybele hosted its third Team Leader Summit at the Historic Brookstown Inn in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Nearly 50 Kybele team leaders, country hosts and supporters attended the bi-annual event-arriving from several U.S. states, Canada, England, Scotland, Serbia and Armenia. Participants were welcomed to Winston-Salem on Friday, a day that was capped by a monumental Memorandum of Understanding signing ceremony between Dr. Tihomir Vejnovic, chair of the OBGYN department at the University of Novi Sad in Serbia, and Dr. Medge Owen, Kybele president. This revolutionary collaboration represents a five-year inter-organizational scientific and educational agreement between Kybele and the faculty of medicine at the University of Novi Sad. The two parties have agreed to participate in the provision and exchange of education in the fields of obstetrics and gynecology, the donation of materials and equipment, the pursuit of mutually beneficial research endeavors and the exchange of faculty. This initiative will help establish the University of Novi Sad as a center of excellence for training in obstetrics, neonatology and obstetric anesthesia for Vojvodina, other parts of Serbia and surrounding countries. Through the partnership, the institutions will develop teaching and training guidelines for neonatology and obstetric anesthesia for Serbia in accordance with international standards-a trend that is already spreading in other sectors in Serbia. Kybele was thrilled to celebrate this exciting partnership at the Team Leader Summit.
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Small group discussions and break-out groups are a vital part of the Team Leader Summit. Drs. Amy Bamber (Wake Forest) and Simon Millar (Glasgow) meet to discuss results of the Armenia project.
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The remainder of the Team Leader Summit was devoted to country updates on Serbia, Armenia, Ghana Cape Coast and Ghana PATH programs, as well as stimulating discussions on the progress and milestones that have been achieved. Team leaders and country hosts discussed childbirth safety concerns currently being addressed in each country and strategic development work plans for the future. Dr. Yemi Olufolabi revealed an electronic database to streamline data collection and analysis, and Dr. Rohit Ramaswamy presented on the theory behind data-rich monitoring and evaluation to create evidence-based quality-improvement initiatives. Breakout sessions included hands-on practice for new training packages, including Helping Babies Breathe and the Essential Care for Every Baby, and refinement of NICU protocols. Kybele was honored to have such a robust summit of leaders who are tirelessly working to improve the health and well-being of women and babies around the world! The Kybele Team Leader Summit is a bi-annual event conducted to strengthen the leadership within the Kybele programs.
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A special thank you to the Wake Forest School of Medicine Department of Anesthesiology for sponsoring the Team Leader Summit.
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Pediatrician Dr. Magdalena Serpa (PATH Trainer) reviews the Helping Babies Breathe and the
Essential Care for Every Baby training packet for Kybele Team members.
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Dr. Matt Hatch (Wake Forest) and Dr. Yemi Olufolabi (Duke) present the progress
made on the Kybele Ghana project.
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Kybele Sponsors Inaugural Global Health Symposium at
Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center
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Article by Erin Pfeiffer
Kybele was pleased to co-sponsor the inaugural Global Health Symposium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on March 5. Together with the Novant Health Maya Angelou Women's Health and Wellness Center, Kybele invited local health care providers and the community at large to a full day of speakers and sessions focused on individuals and organizations that are serving globally while making an impact locally. The conference's objective was to inform the audience about global health opportunities, how best to prepare
, how international service builds cultural competency and why global health is important to the local community.
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Held at Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center, the event began with a keynote address from Mark Austin, the response and logistics team leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Austin discussed his experience from the frontlines of fighting the Ebola and Zika viruses and the rapid global response that strategically addressed these epidemics. Panel sessions were held on the effect care providers' global health experiences have on their care for patients locally, access to equipment warehouses and other donated resources, travel advisories and cultural competency. The symposium also featured Drs. Borislava Pujic from Serbia and Ashot Amroyan from Armenia, who were able to provide host-country perspectives on how global exchange programs have made a difference abroad. A panel of enthusiastic young people who spearheaded The Bridge Project described their life-change experience of adopting local schools in Ghana and the global impact that teenagers can make. A "marketplace" of local organizations highlighted the work of a dozen local groups that are serving vulnerable populations domestically and abroad by offering services such as emergency care for foster children, food provision to hungry families, the formation international medical partnerships and child sponsorship in Africa.
Through the symposium, hundreds of first-aid items were donated to local organizations making upcoming international service trips. Additionally, through a hands-on activity, nearly 500 baby hats were made by participants for newborn thermal care in Ghana. Kybele was thrilled to be a part of bringing together enthusiasts, experienced veterans and interested novices to a global health platform!
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| Global Health Summit participants marked a world map of all the places they have served doing Global Health Service. |
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Kybele Team Members Present at CUGH
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Dr. Medge Owen and Dr. Shahla Namak
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Kybele Team Members,
Dr. Medge Owen and
Dr. Shahla Namak, along with Forsyth Country Day High School student,
Chris Hawley were in San Francisco April 9-11 at the
2016 Annual Consortium of Universities for Global Health Conference (CUGH).
Dr. Namak (Wake Forest School of Medicine) gave a poster presentation on an abstract entitled
Kybele - Adding Post-partum Uterine Massage to Decrease Post-partum Bleeding in a Rural Armenia Hospital. Bridge Project Volunteer, Chris Hawley gave a poster presentation on an abstract entitled
The Bridge Project: Linking US to Ghanaian Children to Foster Service and Education.
CUGH had 1100 abstracts submitted and 700 accepted. Of these 700, only 36 were selected for oral presentations and Dr. Medge Owen gave
TWO of these oral presentations on Kybele's work in Ghana! These two abstracts were also published in the UK medical journal,
The Lancet.
Multi-tiered quality improvement strategy to reduce maternal and neonatal death in complex delivery systems in Ghana
Great job to all the Kybele Team Members who worked on these important projects!
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Dr. Medge Owen and Chris Hawley
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THANK YOU to our 2015 Donors!
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A very special THANK YOU goes to individuals and organizations who contributed to Kybele in 2015. A special shout out to those who donated during our December $15,000 Challenge to usher in our 15th Anniversary year by raising $17,818 during that month alone!
We especially thank our monthly donors who give a little bit each month to help sustain our operations. Check out the list of 2015 Donors and be sure to add your name to our 2016 list!
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Get the Latest Kybele Updates on Social Media:
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Kybele Receives Major Support from the Following:
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Board of Directors and Staff
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Medge Owen, MD - President
Holly Muir, MD - Vice-President
Curtis Baysinger, MD
Ronald George, MD
Matt Hatch, MD
Yemi Olufolabi, MD
Nancy Pearson, RN
Rohit Ramaswamy, PhD
Melvin Seid, MD
Leigh Stanfield
Staff:
Sebnem Ucer, Accounts Manager
Kimber Whanger, Marketing & Admin
Erin Pfeiffer, Grants Manager
Lynn Snyder, Programs Coordinator
Dayne Logan, Editor
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If you would like to nominate a person for the Board of Directors or would like to more information about Board Committee membership, please contact a Kybele staff person.
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