Healthy skin is life...be good to it

Since our last two blog posts have been cultural and historical, I thought I would switch things up and write about an educational project that the Tanza Crew is working on. 

Let me take you back to our pre-Tanzania days...In September, we were approached by an occupational therapist affiliated with IF-SBH (International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus) about a project related to skin care for kids with spina bifida in Tanzania. Spina bifida is a condition whereby the neural tube does not fully close and some vertebrae overlying the spinal cord are not fully formed and remain open. The opening causes damage to the spinal nerves. Pressure sores are prevalent in this population.

A pressure sore is an area of skin that breaks down when constant pressure is placed against the skin. Pressure against the skin reduces blood supply to that area, and the affected tissue dies. This may happen when you stay in one position for too long without weight shifting. Due to the nerve damage, individuals with spina bifida often have loss of sensations, which means that little or no discomfort is felt and therefore there is no trigger telling them to move and reduce the pressure on a particular part of the body.

Our project is to develop an educational tool for children with spina bifida and their parents on pressure sore prevention. Our plan is to develop a poster that can be placed in hospitals and clinics, and accompanying leaflet or brochure that children and their parents can take home. The content of the poster and leaflet will be similar. They will discuss the what, where, why, and how of pressure sores: what they are, where they develop in the body, why they develop, and how they can be prevented. We want to keep words to a minimum, and use photos and drawings. Although there has been much work done on management and treatment of pressures sores, little attention has been paid to prevention. Left untreated, pressures sores can be deadly; thus, it is important to prevent them from developing.

We have had the opportunity to meet with the OT affiliated with IF twice while she was in Moshi and we were able to arrange a skype meeting to discuss the project. We received input and suggestions from various nurses, and parents who attended the IF-SBH parents' meeting. More recently, this week, we had the opportunity to present a rough protoype of our poster to participants of the IF-SBH youth convention at CCBRT. The youths had some great input and we hope to continue discussing the poster tomorrow with the two facilitators of the convention, who are PWLE (People with Lived Experience). Both of them have spinal cord injuries and have had pressure sores in the past. It was great to see that instead of having therapists as facilitators, the convention used peer workers. As an aside, I just wanna say that I have really enjoyed sitting in with the youths from the convention during various sessions. Even with the language barrier, the smiles on their faces exude so much optimism and hope. Their willingness to tell their stories and support one another demonstrate courage and kindness.

Without further ado, I now present you with our prototype...

Our next steps are to incorporate all the input and suggestions we have gathered, translate the phrases and words from English to Swahili, and meet with a local artist who will do the drawings (please excuse our drawing abilities in our protoype). I am really excited to collaborate with the local artist. He has done an amazing job with all his paintings for CCBRT, like the ones on the walls of the seating clinic. I love coming in to the clinic every morning where I spend most of my time when I am at the centre.

 

Wish us luck on the project! And be good to your skin...

-E