Short Story
Over 120 Grenadians took advantage of free foot care this past fall. The podiatry clinic which took place in mid-November at St. George's, Tivoli, and St. George’s University Health Clinics, was run by a father and son team Jay and Robert Helman (SGU alumnus). It was their second in Grenada, the first was in November 2009. About 90% of patients seen required wound care, an area that father Dr. Jay Helman has been involved in for the past six years. One of the techniques he employs is compression dressing which aids in speeding up the rate of healing. This may be a challenge when other medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease or kidney problems exist; since these adversely affect healing.
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Full Story
Dr. Jay Helman shared some tips on what can be done at home to promote good foot health: “I think the first thing to do is self examination. Some diabetic patients have problems seeing. Family members can assist by examining their feet and this should be done daily. Also, if you notice that your legs are swelling at the end of the day, you need to get your feet elevated, not just off the ground but higher than your chest, to get the blood flowing again. Care should also be taken to bring moisture into the skin, so that the skin does not become too dry and flaky. Trim nails so that you don’t scratch the skin. For persons with thin skin, a simple scratch could suddenly develop into a wound.”
The visit also served as an opportunity to exchange current medical knowledge and procedures with practitioners on the island such as nurses and doctors. His son, Dr. Robert Helman specializes in Emergency Medicine and is the director of emergency medicine at Peninsula Hospital Center, a New York City metropolitan hospital. He has dealt with a wide range of medical emergency situations ranging from gun shot wounds, to strokes and heart attack and including all ages. In addition to assisting his father at the podiatry clinics, Dr. Robert Hellman delivered lectures in casualty medicine and care to the Physicians at the casualty department of the General Hospital. He graduated from St. George’s University in 1993 and since 2003, has been returning to Grenada to serve the people of the country that has made his medical career possible. He shared: “I’ve been well received and I’ve gotten to know them (medical practitioners) very well and they have learnt a lot as much as I have learned as well. So it’s been a really great experience...It’s quite rewarding.”
Dr. Jay Helman also gave lectures to the nurses focusing on how to prevent wounds and on the treatment of wounds. He related his experience thus: “The nursing staff is caring, they are interested and they are very competent. The problems we have is that they don’t often have the things they need to fulfill what they would like to do. I try to bring down as many wound-care supplies as I can but unfortunately supplies do run out. What I try to do when I’m in these clinics with these nurses is to try to teach them how to make use of what we have and improvise.”
The trip was organized through the Virtual Hospital programme. The programme was set up to explore avenues through which SGU, its alumni and friends can aid the Ministry of Health and the government of Grenada in improving health care delivery. This is being done through mentoring, lectures and teaching workshops to nurses and doctors and clinics from time to time. Coordinator of the program Mr. Brendon La Grenade comments: “We at SGU are thankful to the vast network of friends and associates volunteering their time and expertise to this venture as we continue to work hand in hand towards the goal of top notch health care delivery here in Grenada.”
The Helmans hope that by working with the Virtual Hospital program and the Ministry of Health, they will be able to establish a wound care team of visiting and local medical personnel - both physicians and nurses, to help care for patients with the ultimate goal of reducing the number of amputations by at least 50%. Dr. Jay Helman relates: “The cost, economic, psychological and physical to the individual and families of ones who have had to have an amputation is enormous, and it also affects society in general. If we are able to prevent about 50% of the amputations, it will save a lot of limbs and a lot of heartache.”
Special thanks are extended to Drs. Jay and Robert Helman and family, St. George’s University Virtual Hospital Co-ordinator Brendon La Grenade, the Ministry of Health, participating clinics, nurses, doctors and patients who were involved in making this year’s clinic a success!
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