December 2019 Newsletter
In this Christmas newsletter we celebrate you, our wonderful supporters. Thanks to your kindness and generosity, this year we have been able to deliver nine specialised training courses in eight countries, training 127 medics from all across the world.
The doctors we train share their knowledge with colleagues, expanding our global network of skills sharing and improving patient outcomes in some of the world's most surgically austere environments.
Without your help, our work would simply not be possible. So, in this festive season, we want to thank you for everything that you do to support us.
We wish you a very merry Christmas and look forward to the new year ahead.
Our Impact Report has Landed!
We're delighted to share with you our first Impact Report. This report celebrates all that we have achieved as a Foundation since we started in 2015.
To read about how your donation has made a difference to the lives of countless patients, and to learn more about the surgeons we train, take a look at our Impact Report today!
Thank You from our Doctors
You may remember Dr Lucien from Uganda, who attended our specialised Surgical Training for Austere Environments (STAE) course in April.
Recently, Lucien travelled to London again for a conference and we were delighted to be able to see him. Presenting David with a beautiful wood carving, Lucien thanked the Foundation, saying: "Thank you for the training. I am so proud to be among the trainees".
Star Supporter: Bis Culley
Since 2016, Bis Culley has been working hard to curate our beautiful range of greetings cards. Contacting illustrators, liaising with donors and arranging all the postage and packaging, Bis is truly one of our standout supporters.
From these cards alone, Bis has raised over £11,000 for the David Nott Foundation, enough to train eleven surgeons on our overseas HEST course. Alongside this, Bis has also run several fundraising events for us and even applied for a grant on our behalf.
If you haven't had the chance to buy your Christmas cards yet, please do take a look at all the designs we have on offer. The deadline for ordering is Wednesday 18th December, so don't miss out! 100% of the profits will go towards training war doctors and saving lives.
Our Impact Report has Landed!
We are delighted to share with you our first ever Impact Report. Thanks to your continued support and generosity, we are proud that the Foundation has trained a total of 772 doctors across 27 courses, improving the patient outcomes for the medical victims of conflict all across the world.
Click on the link below to learn more about the surgeons we train and how they're impacting their communities.
With many thanks to Andrew Rees at Westco Communications and Paul Gray-Nicholson at Fusion Paper for so generously supporting the production of our Annual Report and Impact Report.
November 2019 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to our latest news update.
In this month's issue, we reflect on our recent STAE course with the Royal College of Surgeons, put the spotlight on one of our #wardoctorheroes and celebrate the six runners who took on the Royal Parks Half Marathon to raise £10,000 for the Foundation. We're also thrilled to tell you about our new Friends of David Nott Foundation societies, which are up and running across several UK universities.
Thank you as always for your continued support and generosity.
September STAE Course
At the end of September, we ran our 7th STAE course – Surgical Training for Austere Environments. These specialist courses, which are run in partnership with the Royal College of Surgeons, equip medics with the knowledge, skills and confidence to treat patients and save lives.
But the training does not end with these courses alone. As Dr Koma Akim, one of the surgeons we trained, said: “Being able to practise the procedure means I have the confidence to do it, and if I can do it, I can teach it.” Through our training and through this worldwide knowledge sharing, we are proud that our courses have saved an estimated 1.6 million lives and limbs to date.
Because of your continued generosity, we are able to offer fully funded scholarships to surgeons who work in challenging conditions to attend this London-based course. We are delighted that our September STAE course was completed by 14 such scholars from all over the world, including South Sudan, Cameroon, Libya and Pakistan.
You can read more about these incredible surgeons here.
Taking on the Royal Parks Half
We are beyond grateful to the six runners who took on the Royal Parks Half Marathon for the Foundation last October. Running nearly 80 miles between them and raising a whopping £10,000, their perseverance and dedication means we can now train ten more surgeons to treat more patients and save more lives.
Lindsey Crockett, one of our runners and a senior GP, said: "I'm very proud and thankful for the opportunity to contribute. I cannot think of a more worthy cause to help." You can read more about our other runners and their motivation here.
We're always thrilled to hear from donors taking on challenge events in aid of the Foundation so please don't hesitate to get in touch if you, or someone you know, is doing something special.
Spotlight on Dr Youssef Saab
In this latest instalment of our #wardoctorheroes series, we're proud to introduce Dr Youssef Saab from Lebanon, one of our recent STAE course scholars. Youssef is a Lebanese surgeon who works 3km from the Syrian border. The majority of his patients are child refugees, who, having fled from war, now deal with chronic wounds and burns.
As Youssef explained: "War is not just about the acute wounds. Wounds that have not been properly treated, which become infected or that fail to heal properly can be just as deadly."
Working with just one other surgeon in the Bekaa Valley refugee camp, Youssef regularly sees between 50-60 patients each day. Alongside chronic wounds, electric shocks and hot water burns are also common place, as conditions in the refugee camps remain hazardous, especially for young children.
Friends of David Nott Foundation
We're delighted to tell you about the new Friends of David Nott Foundation societies that are up and running across several UK universities. These societies will be raising awareness for the Foundation's work and helping to inspire the next generation of war doctors.
David and Ammar recently had the opportunity to visit the University of Manchester, where the first 'FDNF' society was established, to deliver a lecture on humanitarian medicine. Speaking to over 200 students, DNF surgical faculty member Ammar Darwish explained: "The best way to get into humanitarian work is to volunteer for these charities and complete your training".
Alongside Manchester, students at St George's, King's College London, Sussex and Durham University have also set up FDNF societies and will be fundraising for us throughout the academic year. If you would like to set up an FDNF society at your university, please get in touch!
You can read more about how these societies will be supporting us here.