Training of Trainers: Future-proofing the Foundation
Last weekend, the David Nott Foundation invited 24 leading surgeons to London to attend a Training of Trainers course. The aim of the course was to introduce each surgeon to the HEST Course, with the hope that many will want to travel to conflict zones with the Foundation to teach it.
The Foundation receives many requests to run HEST courses, in so many locations affected by war. By expanding our faculty, we can reach more of these places in a timely manner.
The 3-day course was held at the iconic Wellcome Collection, a monument to the health sciences in Central London. Our extant faculty, led by David Nott, took participants through the different modules that comprise the HEST course. By the end of the weekend, participants felt ready to teach the course overseas. One participant said:
"David and colleagues have lots of experience and I am in awe of what they have been able to achieve. The practical tips in management of patients in humanitarian settings are equally valuable for trainees and established consultants in this country. "
Interspersed with surgical modules was discussion of the practicalities of attending humanitarian missions:
" I found the session delivered by Mr Hakimi on the practicalities of what to expect when travelling and working in countries where HEST is being delivered to be excellent and insightful."
We were additionally delighted to welcome students from the Friends of the David Nott Foundation Societies to the course. Delegates from Manchester, Leicester and Queen's University Belfast came to get a taste of their future humanitarian careers.
Training the Trainers has allowed us to invigorate the Foundation with new and enthusiastic teaching faculty. The DNF is poised to return to in-country HEST courses future-proofed and with more courses than ever.
British Contemporary Artist's Exclusive Offer to Our Supporters
Nadia Day is a contemporary British artist based in Richmond, UK. She paints Impressionist views of nature, both local and further afield through seascapes and commissions.
“I use a brisk technique of flat brushstrokes and pallet knife work, ensuring my paintings reflect the energy and beauty of nature at their core. I love painting a big fresh sky - this is always my starting point”
After reading War Doctor she felt so moved by David’s story that she contacted us to pledge her support and donate four original paintings. Nadia’s work has been selected for national exhibitions including the Battersea Affordable Art Fair. She studied art at Kingston University and gained a BA in Drama & Theatre Arts from Birmingham University. Here is what she had to say about the collaborating with the David Nott Foundation:
“I was profoundly moved reading War Doctor. David Nott was continually taking himself away from his safe set up in the UK, to risk his life to help others. I felt compelled to do something, but helpless - my artistic skills are a world away from the medical practise, so how could they be applied?
I remember seeing Quentin Blake’s illustrations brightening up the walls of Great Ormond Street Hospital, where we often visit with my son Jasper, and the art offers a cheery brightness at a time of need.
My aim was to create pieces which inspire positive feelings of calm and contemplation. The landscape needed to be non-descript but to suggest change and travel – themes residents fleeing war torn countries must often face. I wanted to touch on the base human feelings of courage and hope, feelings required in difficult situations.
I carefully chose names to conjure up the emotions they represented to me; there is Solace, Reflection, Legacy and New Beginnings.
If you bought one of these pieces, the message is clear, you are paying for a doctor to be trained and I personally thank you so much.
Solace
Reflection
New Beginnings
Legacy
April 2021 Newsletter: 10 Years of Conflict in Syria
10 Years of Conflict in Syria
Welcome to the David Nott Foundation’s April update. To those observing, we hope that you had a restful Easter and were able to come together with loved ones to celebrate. Today, we at the Foundation have been profoundly saddened by the new that His Royal Highness The Prince Philip has passed away. We wish to express our deepest condolences to Her Majesty The Queen, and the Royal Family. It has now been ten years since the civil war erupted in Syria. The price paid over the last terrible decade by Syrian civilians is incalculable, and millions still reside in vulnerable, crowded camps. Children have lost schools, friends and family members. So many thousands have lost their homes, businesses and loved ones. Hospitals, deliberately targeted by the Syrian regime now struggle to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. As a show of solidarity with the Syrian people, the David Nott Foundation dedicated our social media accounts to small NGOs, individuals, civilians, humanitarians and journalists who have lived experience of the civil war. We hoped to provide a platform through which to amplify these voices. We encourage you to look back through our Tweets and Re-Tweets (@NottFoundation) to read first-hand accounts of the atrocities and reflect on the profound loss that we all feel after ten years of conflict. The David Nott Foundation has taken our HEST course to Syrian surgeons before, and plans to again soon. You can view an interactive map of where we have taken our training course by visiting the ‘Overseas Course’ section of our website. Good luck to our RPHM RunnersWhile we’re on the subject of challenge running events, the Foundation would like to wish good luck to our Royal Parks Virtual Half Marathon runners for the 11th of April. We asked some of those competing to raise money for the DNF what inspired them to do so:
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March 2021 Newsletter
What is it really like to be a doctor in a war zone? |
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Welcome to the David Nott Foundation’s February update. The pandemic has given us the time to reflect on the amazing doctors that we have trained on past HEST courses. Each one of them has a story to tell. Some go to work every day while bullets tear through the walls of their operating theatres; some fight to save lives while armed groups fight each other in the streets. In this booklet, we highlight eight such doctors and give them the platform they deserve. READ: ‘War Doctor Heroes’ photobooklet on the DNF website with foreword from Elly Nott. |
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Last year, the staff of Wellcome chose the David Nott Foundation as their charity of the year for 2020/21. Since then, they have consistently given outstanding effort to the cause, from completing challenge events to auctioning lunches with Director Sir Jeremy Farrar. To each and every member of Wellcome’s staff: thank you. Your effort will reverberate around the world as we train more war doctors, and they save more lives. For small charities like the David Nott Foundation, every donation can have a disproportionately large impact. Every sponsored run, bake sale or event goes a long way to delivering vital surgical training in locations that need it. |
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David Nott Wins Human Rights Award
On the 2nd of February, David Nott was awarded the Hans Albrecht Foundation’s Human Rights Award for 2021. The award was presented by Lord Daniel Finkelstein.
The Hans Albrecht Foundation’s mission is to advance human rights in the UK, particularly with regards to children, equalities, those with disabilities and refugees. The Award honours individuals or organisations that have made outstanding contributions to the field of human rights. Read more about the Hans Albrecht Foundation on their website.
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As a result of our membership, you will be able to receive full tax exemption status. To donate from the USA, please go to the new dedicated section of our website. |
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Earlier this month, FDNF Manchester hosted a fantastic conference entitled: ‘MDT On the Front Line’. This was a stimulating day of speeches and workshops led by some of the field’s most distinguished practitioners. Alongside David Nott was our own Jon Barden, leading a workshop on humanitarian operations delivery, and DNF Faculty colleague Ammar Darwish who also led a workshop. |
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Make Someone’s Day This EasterEaster is a perfect time to reach out to loved ones and friends. In this time of social distancing, a handwritten card feels like an authentic connection in a way that an email cannot. Make someone's day with this beautiful card by Peter Suart, or choose from our extensive range on our website - proceeds from which will benefit the David Nott Foundation. |
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Wellcome Staff Charity of the Year
Our partnership with Wellcome will have a profound and lasting impact on both war doctors and their patients in conflict zones. Today we say thank you and recognise the huge and very real impact that Wellcome’s generosity will have on our work.
Last year, the staff of Wellcome chose the David Nott Foundation as their charity of the year for 2020/21. Since then, they have consistently given outstanding effort to the cause, from completing challenge events to auctioning lunches with Director Sir Jeremy Farrar. Particular congratulations go to Mala Gaonkar for winning the latter - we can only imagine how fascinating that conversation will be! Mala is a philanthropist and leader in the field of public health, and we are proud to be associated with her as a result of Wellcome's auction.
To each and every member of Wellcome’s staff: thank you. Your effort will reverberate around the world as we train more war doctors, and they save more lives.
For small charities like the David Nott Foundation, every donation can have a disproportionately large impact. Every sponsored run, bake sale or ticket sale goes a long way to delivering vital surgical training in locations that need it.
January 2021 Newsletter
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29 countries in two days: here’s how we did it.
Welcome to the David Nott Foundation’s January update. While 2020 was gloomy, 2021 offers renewed hope. Planning is already underway for new surgical training courses to be delivered in some of the most austere regions in the world, and our pilot digital course yielded promising results.
We would like to thank you for your continued loyalty to the Foundation. It is truly felt by all of us and makes a tangible difference to the lives of doctors in conflict zones and their patients.
DigiHEST: our latest approach to humanitarian surgical training.
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The David Nott Foundation recently completed our first digital, live-streamed surgical training course: DigiHEST. DigiHEST saw 100+ attendees tuning in from up to 29 countries, including many existing members of the David Nott Foundation family in countries that we have previously delivered courses in. This was perhaps the main benefit of a digital course: whereas before we could take our training to one location at a time, now we could bring it to 29. We welcomed surgeons, students, physicians and guests from Ethiopia to Thailand, from Syria to Nepal, from Somalia to Sri Lanka and more - as the map below shows.
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Detailed feedback is being prepared on DigiHEST: how it went, what was successful and how it can be improved for next time. While we hope to be back on the road and travelling shortly, it is greatly reassuring for both our team and we hope for you - our supporters - to know that no matter the global situation the Foundation will find innovative ways to deliver our training. |
New year, same mission.In 2021 we have ambitious goals. Our Operations Director, Jon Barden, had this to say: “Thank you for all your generous support during this very strange year. Despite not being able to travel from March onwards, we have been using the time to make improvements to our training models and make new training videos. We’ve lost count of the number of training skulls we’ve cut into pieces and posted to David so that he can make videos of how to put them back together again. As soon as we possibly can we want to get back on the road and delivering HEST face to face. We’ve got courses lined up for places like Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Somaliland and South Sudan so that as soon as we can we’ll be adding another 150 surgeons to the DNF family. Everyone connected with the David Nott Foundation is looking forward to getting back out there and providing the life-saving surgical training that your fantastic support makes possible. Please consider donating in this new year to get our team back on the road.” |
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Happy new year | عام سَعيد | bonne année |
DigiHEST: How we reached 29 countries in two days.
In December, we piloted our first ever Digital Hostile Environment Surgical Training (DigiHEST) course. We transformed an office space, generously provided by Whitby Wood, into an operating theatre and our friends at Redux Content decked the place out as a recording set.
Over the course of a weekend, David Nott was joined by DNF faculty members Ammar Darwish, Rebekka Troller and Pete Mathew to present an ambitious programme of surgical training that was live streamed around the world. Modules covered included abdominal trauma, neurosurgery, maxillofacial surgery, ballistics and more. David was also joined by special guest lecturers Mounir Hakimi (orthopaedics) and Shehan Hettiaratchy (plastics) to form a world-class team of surgical specialists ready to reach out to surgeons in conflict zones and austere environments.
We were joined by up to 100 doctors from around 29 countries over the course the weekend, who were additionally able to pose their questions in real-time to the presenters and ask for advice on cases presenting to them in their localities.
COVID-19 has changed the way that we are able to deliver our training courses in 2020/21. The DigiHEST pilot study is extremely encouraging to our team as it shows that not only can we continue to deliver a high quality training product, but the use of live-streaming technology has implications for the future democratisation of surgical training for the austere environment. Our aim is to get back on the road and delivering face-to-face courses around the world again as soon as possible, but the hard work that has gone into piloting the concept of DigiHEST will inform how we can best deliver training in the future.
Cycling across Europe!
Beginning on 1st September, a group of friends from the USA and the UK, will be taking on the “challenge and opportunity of a lifetime” to raise funds for the David Nott Foundation and STAR, Inc.
Led by Tony Williams and Tom Nero, the team had planned to cycle Route 20, the longest road in the US, starting in Massachusetts on the east coast and finishing in Oregon on the west. However, due to Covid-19 movement restrictions being imposed in various states, the itinerary had to be rearranged and the team are now circum-cycling Italy.
The route will take the team from Milan, anti-clockwise around Italy. The distance is over 2,000 miles with 19 miles of ascent, making it the toughest challenge event taken on for the DNF so far!
The team have set an ambitious target of $250,000 to match the extraordinary scale of this challenge.
As they prepare for “Over 3,000 miles of saddle soreness,” Tony is proud to announce, “With only two months to go till we start our cycle ride, I am very excited that we now have pledges and donations exceeding $157,000 (split almost equally between the US and the UK charities). This is HUGE and a true reflection of the worthy causes we are supporting. A $50,000 challenge gift will match future donations up to that amount.”
We are completely bowled over by their support and cannot wait to update you on their journey across Europe. The team have also set up their own website dedicated to bringing you the latest news on their once-in-a-lifetime trip. Check it out by clicking here.
If you're feeling inspired, please get in touch with your own fundraising challenges - we love to hear from you!
War Doctor Heroes: Meet Dr Marah
Dr Marah, a medical student from Homs, Syria knows that no matter how young a physician is, they should always be updated with the best skills and practices.
The shortage of medical staff, surgical equipment and training programmes are significant barriers to quality healthcare in her region, and these problems are worsened by a poor socioeconomic situation.
After studying medicine for only two years, Marah assisted in a Mastectomy operation on a fifty-year-old woman. Owing to the anaesthetist’s lack of experience, the patient was not under good anaesthesia and experienced a great deal of pain during the procedure. Although Marah was very anxious, she looked after the patient and decided that surgery was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
In 2019, we invited Marah to attend our overseas HEST course in Lebanon where she was taught how to perform many complex surgical procedures and was able to build up her confidence. She told us that the training course inspired her to “use every source of power I have to help the patients and that no matter how hard the situation is we should always remember that patients must be our first priority.”
Marah hopes her country finds peace soon and believes that by working together and supporting each other, her people can improve their future. We are confident that Marah will make a brilliant surgeon and we are proud to be supporting her on this journey.