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2020 | N.4 | 2020 NOVEMBER XVI YEAR

EDITORIAL Dr. Venice Omona, Head of the Children's Ward BEING A HERO MEANS...

Dear friends, STRUGGLING WITH SCARCE RESOURCES TO TAKE CARE OF PATIENTS just a year ago we were celebrating Lacor’s first 60 years together. though, I am frustrated, as I don’t feel Today we gently tiptoe in your homes, Our doctors, I have done enough. Then I realize to remind you that we are here, that nurses and that the limitations of my country are we keep going, that neither you nor midwives to blame. Limitations in diagnostic, we are alone. at Lacor are heroes. in available treatments, in being The alliance we started in able to follow up with a patient after many, many years ago, has been They represent an examination. strengthened into a deep friendship. the that And the challenge becomes even During these times that are so full studies, works, harder if we go out of my hospital and of trouble for everyone, donors from strives to excel look at Uganda as a health system. across the world have received with what they Lack of medicines, structures, staff, messages of solidarity from Lacor. have. to the point where patients don’t get We have witnessed examples of an examination because too few are resilience, the art of adapting to And does not available. As a doctor, I am not in the hardship, and even examples of give up. position to do my job as I'd wish for. heroism. This issue of News from Despite this, I keep trying my best: I Lacor brings you stories of the heroes Dr. Emmanuel Ochola, epidemiologist, Head of Department tell my patients how to prevent the of yesterday and today, together for HIV, Research and Documentation most widespread diseases, and I often with the most heartfelt Christmas find myself reaching into my pockets greetings. May it be a year of health Let us enter Lacor Hospital’s gates differences. In one place, doctors so that the patient can eat and buy and serenity, both here and at Lacor. and see it with new eyes. It is a huge, can rely on cutting edge diagnostic some medicine. I have organized From everyone at the Corti 500-bed structure, and cares for 250 investigations and readily available initiatives to improve the quality of Foundation, Merry Christmas and thousand patients each year. It is as if drugs. In the other, physicians must care we offer, I have marched through Happy 2021. the whole city of Verona was in need fight diseases mainly through their the city asking people to give support of care. The difference is that clinical skills and a basic supply for the health of our youngest, and I Daniela Condorelli counts almost 40 doctors for every system that seems to come in only took advantage of every opportunity Head of Communications ten thousand people, while Uganda drop by drop. to appeal to people’s generosity”. Fondazione Corti, Italy has less than two. Indeed, this African Are these doctors, these nurses, Opportunities like this one. country is one of the 26 countries in heroes? We’ll let you decide after the world that still faces the illnesses hearing the words of Dr. Emmanuel of poverty with less than three Ochola: “The most painful thing doctors for every thousand people. P. 3 BEING A HERO MEANS... is that our children mostly suffer from preventable illnesses. Simple STRUGGLING WITH SCARCE RESOURCES In Uganda, for every hundred Donate 45 TO TAKE CARE OF PATIENTS thousand births, 375 mothers die and diseases, which are often fatal. Like € 48 children out of one thousand never malaria, pneumonia or infections to contribute P. 4 BEING A HERO MEANS... reach the age of five. To understand that in Western world are far from RAISING SOMEONE ELSE'S CHILDREN being harmful. to admission TO GIVE THEM A FUTURE the magnitude, in Italy only four women die in childbirth out of every It is painful to admit, but these are the of a child with P. 7 BEING A HERO MEANS... hundred thousand, and three children evils that kill our babies. As a doctor, pneumonia GIVING ONE'S OWN LIFE FOR OTHERS of every thousand births will not make my heart fills with joy when I can help it to their 5th birthday. Incredible P. 10 AND THEN THERE IS YOU a child recover and smile again. Often

P. 12 HOW TO HELP

2 3 BEING A HERO MEANS...

18, sometimes 20 children need a blood transfusion each day. It's the first time Dr. Venice donates his blood. “What made me do it? Having to see one or two children dying every day for lack of blood. With just my donation I will save two or three lives. Blood should not be bought or made. It should be donated”. If someone who saves lives is a hero, then one who donates blood is a hero.

Dr. Venice Omona, Head of the Children's Ward Milly Atoo, Executive Secretary Agnes, Health Educator

RAISING SOMEONE ELSE'S CHILDREN TO GIVE THEM A FUTURE

Many of our nurses and midwifes they will be able to guarantee food Italian and how to format letters, but would have never grown up.” Resilience is at home in Lacor are the sole wage-earner in their and education for children in their also to believe in myself. “What do you It was probably the first loan from Resilience, the ability to take a has shown that northern Uganda’s family and they work hard to pay communities, it is vital that the Corti want for your future?” He used to ask what would later become the Hospital blow without breaking, to adapt and young people have characteristics not only their own children’s school Foundation keeps believing that the me… and he would add “go after it with Loan Cooperative which was founded fees, but also those of the extended hospital’s running costs are the most everything you have”. He offered me thrive despite traumatic and deep such as self-esteem, discipline and in 1997 and has since loaned more changes. It is a word well suited to a developed social network that family: orphans or children whose essential donation. one of the small apartments inside than 6 million Ugandan shillings Lacor and to the staff’s strength in helps strengthen their resilience. parents are sick or unemployed. What the hospital where many employees Women and men employed at Lacor (more than ,3 million euros), allowing responding to challenges, both in we consider as an exceptional or Even the widespread often bear an additional burden with lived, but I refused. thousands of people the chance to the past and today. extreme generosity, here is common entrepreneurial creativity seems resourcefulness. During the weekend One day I picked up the courage to buy some land, build their own house “The tenacity, the determination to have been a key element for occurrence. Solidarity is extended or early in the morning before work, ask him for a loan of 300 thousand or send their children to school to give and the will to not give up that recovery after the war. A vast to the entire village and to the almost everyone goes to their fields Ugandan shillings (about 70 euros). Dr. them a better future. people of North Uganda have array of business ideas flourish, community, maybe emphasized by to dig and care for their crops. Corti spoke in Italian with Sister Lina, shown in the face of extraordinary mostly aimed at paying school the misery of the war. Agnes, a health educator, grows the Comboni nun that at the time was hardship and suffering have been fees, an investment on the future the subject of studies”, explains that comes with great sacrifices. Every employee at Lacor supports and sells peanuts. With resolve and both matron and tutor, who asked me Thomas Molteni, internal auditor Furthermore, the strong bonds of seven or eight children with their commitment she has built a brick and to follow her and gave me the money. at the hospital. “One of these was solidarity that characterize the salary, which is about 120€ a month mortar house next to the hut where Every month I would have to give back ECDPM’s Resilience and high local culture are an essential social for a nurse. Ensuring coverage of the 40 thousand shillings”. Donate 120 € she used to live, and where she now performance amidst conflict,capital that fosters economic hospital’s recurrent expenses which raises her nephews and other girls Later Dr. Corti told me that I was the epidemics and extreme poverty: The growth. The countless loan schemes includes salaries, but also medicines for the monthly who are relatives. first woman to ask for a loan to build Lacor Hospital, northern Uganda that coexist within the community and functioning diagnostics is salary of a nurse The story of Milly, executive secretary a house. Three months later I showed and showed the ability to face are but one example. Resilience therefore crucial. in Lacor, is meaningful: “In 1996 I him pictures of my new house and I difficult situations in a collective itself is a strong indicator of future To help Lacor’s staff face the was Dr. Piero Corti and Dr. Lukwiya’s told him “doctor, this is why I refused and innovative way”. Other research development. difficulties, feeling confident that secretary. Dr Corti was teaching me to live within the hospital. Because I

4 5 “We can be tired, disheartened by the death of our loved ones, we can be afraid as human beings BEING A HERO MEANS... and at any moment consider the possibility of leaving. But if I leave now, I won't be able to exercise GIVING ONE'S OWN LIFE FOR OTHERS the medical profession any longer"

Matthew Lukwiya

On December 5th, 2000, Dr. Matthew Tropical Paediatrics at the Liverpool Comboni sisters and of a few nurses, Lukwiya died after contracting Ebola, School of Tropical Medicine and goes and was released only after more a virus that causes hemorrhagic fever. back to serve his people. than a week had passed. Dr Matthew was also a crucial member of the 20 years later, the wound still feels as He was born in Northern Uganda in peace movement. raw as if it had happened yesterday. 1957. Hard work and determination brought him as a young intern to In the summer of 2000, after And hurts even more these days as St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor. Here he completing a Master’s in Public Health the world is torn apart by another became head of paediatrics and then at in , pandemic that is as frightening as Medical Director. And here he left his Dr. Matthew was called back urgently Ebola was. heart and life. to investigate the death of two But who was our beloved dr. Matthew, “To me, Lucille was the symbol of students from the Lacor nursing the young doctor whose face now this hospital”, Piero Corti declared school. After examining the medical welcomes patients at the gates, at Dr. Matthew’s funeral, “and then records, Matthew declared it was smiling from the monument that Matthew appeared, almost as if a viral hemorrhagic fever, probably portrays him together with Piero and by magic. His task was to lead the caused by Ebola, and notified the Lucille Corti? hospital for another 30, 40, 50 years, government authorities. He organized a special isolation ward, trained the He was a hero, is the first thought that as many as the Lord would have staff and inspired all with his courage. comes to mind. Where “hero” means granted him. He was one of those During a memorable speech (page 9) a person of extraordinary virtue and people that can work night and day, that resonates now more than ever, courage, strong and fearless. day after day...” Passionate, brave, devoted to his people to the point he convinced 100 health workers to An extraordinary man. This was Dr. of risking his own life to save them. risk their lives for the care and the Matthew Lukwiya. During the bloodstained attacks by transport of infected patients and for Extraordinary in his youth, one of the the Lord’s Resistance Army, he took burial of the victims. best students in the whole of Uganda, care of thousands of victims. During But it is not only Dr. Matthew’s and as a young doctor when he turns one of the rebel incursions within the words that are alive today: even the down an invitation to remain in the UK hospital, in 1989, he gave himself up protective strategies and devices, the after achieving a Master’s Degree in as a hostage, taking the place of the suits and masks that can save the

6 7 1 2 From father to son. A vocational heritage

“When I grow up? I will become a goal. “It wasn’t easy, but I always had doctor, like my dad.” Daniel Lukwiya’s my family behind me. dream has become a reality: after I still remember when my twin brother achieving his medical degree, he is said “there is and there always specializing in paediatrics. will be a way to make your dream “I was about 4 or 5, my father had come true”. just come back from work and had Today Dr. Daniel faces the Covid-19 hanged his doctor’s coat on the wall. I pandemic, 20 years after the Ebola took it and I put it on. My mother was outbreak that killed his father. doing the washing as I was walking “The 2000 Ebola outbreak made me Dr. Daniel Lukwiya up and down the dusty veranda and, stronger and gave me a purpose”, when she saw me, shouted “why he says. are you dirtying your father’s coat?” “My father died too early, and 1. Dr. Matthew visiting an Ebola patient I replied: “but, mum, I’m a doctor: Dr. after his death I felt the need to 2. His children, mother and wife, Margaret, Lukwiya”. So she said: "if you study continue his work. I was so excited attend Dr. Matthew's funeral ceremony hard enough, you will become a on the day of my graduation. doctor.” 3. Margaret laying flowers on her husband's I finally had the tools to carry on the grave Daniel has worked hard to reach his work that my dad had started”. 3

health worker’s life are the same. “The honorific title of hero… falls easily Another facet of heroism: heroes not hide his strong personality, his We will do our part One night, after days of almost from our lips these days… Yet the true inspire others to follow. Sister Dorina moral stature, the sense of justice and uninterrupted caring for the patients, title of hero should be hard-won. It Tadiello, a Comboni nun, his great love for peace. "I will go where there is no road. The I have never hesitated in helping Dr. Matthew was called to help with a should capture the sacrifice of self- pays tribute to dr. Lukwiya’s high His sense of responsibility, his storm is very strong. It is bright as patients when there were no seriously ill nurse, Simon Ajok. interest for the benefit of others. It moral character in her book Matthew considerate and selfless commitment you all stand here today. You told protections, masks or anything should describe those whose actions Lukwiya, un medico martire di Ebola always stand out. He never acts moved He forgot to don the protective me about the dark and when the else that could protect us from the surpass by far what duty demands”. (Matthew Lukwiya, medical doctor by personal gain. He can be credible glasses and was infected. He was time comes we will do our part. bullets of the rebels. We were just and Ebola martyr – EMI editor). and compelling because he lives first- only 43 years old, leaving his wife The commitment and bravery shown thinking about how we could help We are all suffering… we are not Margaret and five children. A few by Dr. Matthew contained the spread Sister Dorina, who worked alongside hand what he’s asking of others… our patients. free, we are not comfortable, days before dying a nurse heard him of the virus, reducing the number of Dr. Matthew during the Ebola He has an innate ability to deal we cannot abandon the mission we This is the guiding principle utter these words “God, I think I will victims. emergency, highlights the values with conflict and to enhance the have embraced for all our life: being of the hospital: that everyone, die in my service: let me be the last”. that permeated his life: “Solidarity positive aspects of reality. He can be Even the Center for Disease Control doctors of Lacor. without distinction, be welcomed towards the most fragile, compassion understanding, human, respectful, And so it was. and Prevention of Atlanta, a world- and cared for. in the face of pain, service, research but at the same time he is a This is the time in history when the At Lacor 13 health workers died in renowned United States national and affirming truth”. demanding teacher and professionally hospital has to play its part, we I believe this is our greatest the struggle against Ebola, and Dr. public health institute, recognized uncompromising. In order to always must stay united. responsibility. Matthew was the last to die. “He just that many lives were saved thanks She describes him as a “simple, offer the best.” was a hero” wrote Audiey Kao, MD, to his quick actions and his outbreak humble, open and welcoming person. I could never leave this hospital And I will go on until the end”. PhD, chief editor of the American management actions both within and His characteristic smile”, Sister Dorina The best to the greatest number of because the mission of saving the most needy is greater than me. Medical Association Journal of Ethics: outside of the hospital. writes, “and his sincere kindness do people, at the lowest possible cost. Matthew Lukwiya

8 9 AND THEN THERE IS YOU

Lacor Hospital STOP COVID DON'T STOP THE CARE

STOP COVID-19

Both victims and heroes. Far away yet own homes and the radios spewing poor and the rich. in Regional Referral Hospital, needs support to put a stop to Covid, to reach the 20 thousand Euro goal. as close as we have ever been. the numbers of the outbreak and the What we can do is to reach out, Lacor Hospital never left me alone. but not to the care. You’ll find it on www.retedeldono.it. images of the city squares invaded They bought food for my children, Let’s think about it. When we read like Lacor Hospital did with Ruth’s Every week Lacor Hospital needs THANK YOU. by the marching crowds whose jobs visited them and gave them precious the words of a mother who has children. funds to buy gloves, gowns, surgical tested positive for Covid, scared for and means of survival has been psychological support”. masks and N95 masks. And then Ruth Atim, head nurse of the surgical her children who are alone at home, interrupted. Despite all this, you are Today, thankful for everyone’s help, there are the drugs, the maintenance unit, has three sons aged 16, 8 and we can understand what she is heroes because you raise your eyes Ruth is back at work educating of the oxygen production system (the 6. Ruth contracted the infection in going through. Now, more than ever. above beyond this and remember that patients and colleagues on Covid only one in Northern Uganda), and the Search for September. Because it is not an illness from you are not alone. prevention. distribution of HIV medicines in the "Fondazione Corti" “I cried so much when I got the result remote lands, bearing a name that Pandemic, global health, these But the hospital itself also needs villages, among many others. in arouses no emotion. Now we face words find a new meaning: we are confirming I was positive to Covid”, support. In order to keep protecting In order to succeed, this year www.retedeldono.it the same disease: same name, same all in it together, 7.8 billion people all she confides, “I cried for days, until the health workers, to welcome and we call upon you to contribute DONATE symptoms, fears, strategies. breathing in unison. a friend from Lacor encouraged me care for the ill to continue the teaching together in a new, vital way. Take Today the heroes are also those who With one substantial difference: Covid and told me I would make it. Friends activities within the communities, to part in our crowdfunding campaign: SHARE STOP keep striving for the more vulnerable, is highlighting the gaps and digging and colleagues kept calling me for make sure that the peripheral health “Stop Covid, don’t stop the care”. PROMOTE COVID-19 despite the uncertainty within their an ever deeper abyss between the support. And when I was being treated centers work at their best. Lacor Donate, share, promote, help us

10 11 HOW TO HELP

UGANDA DONATE DIRECTLY TO LACOR HOSPITAL Or cash with receipt from the administration office www.lacorhospital.org - [email protected]

ITALY DONATE THROUGH FONDAZIONE CORTI

Tax benefits applicable to Italian taxpayers IN UGANDA, PER LA CURA E LO SVILUPPO www.fondazionecorti.it - [email protected]

CANADA DONATE THROUGH TEASDALE-CORTI FOUNDATION Tax benefits applicable to Canadian taxpayers www.becomepart.org- [email protected]

USA DONATE THROUGH SOCIAL PROMISE Tax benefits applicable to USA taxpayers www.socialpromise.org - [email protected]

70 Euro will pay for a child A GESTURE OF to be born at Lacor. The amount includes LOVE the cost of a caesarean birth and the mother and child’s stay in the hospital

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News from Lacor is a periodical issued by Editor in chief: Daniela Condorelli Fondazione Piero e Lucille Corti Onlus Editorial board: Valentina Colini, Daniela Condorelli, Dominique Corti, Chiara Paccaloni Piazza Velasca 6, 20122 Milan Translation: Alessandro Colombo, Sharon Crary Inscription in the Registry of Legal Persons of the Graphics: Chiara Paccaloni Prefecture of Milan Photos: Mauro Fermariello, Fondazione Corti archive, Seamus Murphy / Getty Images, Order no. 491, page. 870, vol. III. Kalokwera Gerald, Samuel Moro, Claudio Dalla Bernardina Legally recognized through Ministerial Decree 7-11- Fondazione Piero e Lucille Corti Onlus, Piazza Velasca 6, 20122 Milan 95 No. 75976 registered on 14-12-95 Registered at Tel.: +39 02 8054728 | E-mail: [email protected] | www.fondazionecorti.it the Court of Milan under No. 750 12/12/2003 Tax code: 91039990154