Pharmacists Without Borders (PSF) in collaboration with the St. Camille Association will be conducting a developement mission from 2016-2019 in Benin.
Cities: Avrankou, Adjarra, Bohicon et Djougou
The Saint Camille Association is an African charity established in Benin since 2004 that provides services for the mentally ill. It leads a fight against all forms of social exclusion. It targets primarily the mentally ill people homeless, chained or nailed in the woods. It also combats ignorance regarding mental health, and makes efforts to eradicate ill-treatment of the mentally ill. By the hard work of its founder, Gregory Ahongbonon, surrounded by a team he has built around him seven centers operate in Benin. The patient is welcomed into a shelter, diagnosed by a psychiatrist or nurse, treated and surrounded by stakeholders (former patients) which ensure a caregiver living environment, loving and revaluation. An external network provides medication and medical care in the community. In 2010, there were more than 30,000 men and women who have benefited from the care of the organization and that are now active in their community. The Saint-Camille Association counts on donations to operate: no government funding is provided.
Objectives:
Volunteer Contribution: A contribution as a donation of approximately $4000 to $4500 to PSF Canada is required. This donation will automatically confer annual membership to PSF Canada. An income tax receipt will be issued.
Duration: Missions of four to twelve weeks from
Two to three pre-mission meetings and one post mission meeting will be required with the Mission Lead. The mission will include at a minimum a pharmacist, occasionnally accompanied by pharmacy students and pharmacy technicians.
Mission Objectives:
Please note that no compensation is provided for the volunteers. The following costs must be assumed by the volunteers, approximately 4000$CDN.
Please send your application as follows:
Motivation letter and updated Curriculum Vitae at http://psfcanada.org/benevole-volunteer.asp
For more information, contact Mary Ghattas, Benin Mission Lead at mary.ghattas@psfcanada.org
Third day of the 2016 September mission in Benin: We began the training of assistant pharmacists of the 5 psychiatric clinics of the Saint-Camille Association. Our students, all former patients, are ready to learn. Notebook in hand, visibly enthusiastic and grateful to be there, it is pleasant to see. So much interest and attention is heartwarming. While the inventory and order management training initially planned to take several days, was completed after one day as our students quickly integrated the concepts. They also easily completed the exercises we gave them.
Their thirst for learning and understanding seems insatiable, they want to learn more, much more than simply managing inventory: malaria, typhoid fever, HIV, cholera and many other subjects. They have so many questions: How do Largactil, Elavil, Tegretol work in the brain? Why choose Artane when a patient experiences side effects with antipsychotics?
We are impressed and we feel privileged. Obviously, there is an important training potential in these medical centers. A beautiful week has just finished, a week filled with fun, smiles and sharing that certainly guarantees future sustainable results in the field of pharmacy management.
Other news, september 2016 Benin Mission, second week:
The second week of the Benin mission has just ended, it's time for mid internship assessments for our pharmacy team. Various activities have taken place in the last days: Training on clinical topics for pharmacy assistants, review of inventory management concepts, stock card modifications, development of the new pharmacy center in Tokan. Rose-Marie and Marie-Eve are progressing well according to their mission objectives, and are still delighted by their experience.
Highlights of this week:
The PWB team, in response to their students' requests, offers them complete course on different infectious diseases (malaria, HIV, infectious diarrhea). They focused mainly on modes of transmission and disease prevention, as well as on the clinical presentation of these infections. Rose-Marie and Marie-Eve are making pharmacy assistants very happy thanks to this initiative; students seem really satisfied with the training they received. Our pharmacy volunteers even prepare exams to verify student learnings, but most importantly to offer them a little challenge. All of them finished the week with very good results!
Moreover, while Gregoire had given the PWB team the mandate to design plans for the Tokan pharmacy during the first week, our team have obviously taken this project seriously. They are currently working closely with a local carpenter, guiding him in building the shelves of the future pharmacy. The pharmacy premises are slowly starting to look like a dispensary center, perhaps will we see the result of all their work in a few weeks ... Stay tuned!