Longtime Volunteer Works with SCI Program Staff

Joan Obecny conducts training with nurses and nursing students

Joan Obecny, RN, BSN, MSN, ANP, has been a volunteer trainer at SBH for over ten years. She brings expertise in wound care and spinal cord injuries that has been key to developing HEI/SBH’s Spinal Cord Injury Program (financed by USAID) since its establishment in 2010.

Joan’s annual visits are a valuable opportunity for the SCI staff to gain new skills and professional development opportunities. This month she has been working with the head SCI nurse, Ms. Barbara Fumelus, on trainings with the nursing staff and reinforcing the care and education that is provided for people living with spinal cord injuries at the center and as community participants in the SCI program. Together they conducted a wound care training for 35 SBH staff nurses and nursing students from other institutions around Haiti. Wound care for pressure sores and other injuries is a critical component of longterm care for persons with disabilities who are confined to a wheelchair.

SCI Program Manager Kevin Melanson talks about the benefits that SBH’s staff have gained over 10 years of support and training visits from Joan. “Her longitudinal commitment to the SCI program is an integral part of enabling our team to provide quality and effective care to our program beneficiaries.” 

Thank you, Joan, for your continued commitment to the SCI program and people living with spinal cord injuries in Haiti.

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