News From Lacor Hospital – Spring 2016
THE PATIENT COMES FIRST
Dear readers,
Lacor is a special place. Many doctors from around the world visiting the hospital for the first time express their admiration for its excellence of care, the quality of its teaching, and the staff’s dedication.
Lacor Hospital has been bringing health care, employment, and development to the region of Northern Uganda for 57 years. A pillar of support to the local population, it has also brought relief and care to others; many migrants come to Uganda from neighbouring countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, and even from the Republic of Central Africa. But the hospital has also opened its doors to many patients from further abroad. Many of these patients remain deeply grateful to the hospital and its staff for their care, and have decided to give back by supporting Lacor.
“Many of these patients remain deeply grateful to the hospital…”
In this edition of our newsletter, we share the story of two of these former Lacor patients.
Mr. Frank Davison of Barbados was treated at Lacor in 1966 by Dr. Teasdale and Dr. Corti. Mrs. Heather Deeth of Vancouver, Canada was more recently treated at Lacor and decided to raise funds for the hospital.
These are only two of many very special stories inspired by Lacor. But all of them share a strong sense of recognition and appreciation for the great work the hospital achieves. You will find these stories on pages 2 and 3. On the last page, we present the 2016 Become Part of the Story campaign.
We wish all our readers good health and happiness this spring and beyond!
Sincerely,
The Teasdale-Corti Foundation Team
Mr. Frank Davison’s Story
Mr. Frank Davison lived in Uganda from 1966 to 1970, working as an Education Officer for the British Ministry of Overseas Development. He met his Barbadian wife, Dorothy, in Uganda and they married there in 1967.
On the afternoon of December 14th, 1966, while fishing at Chobe National Park in Northern Uganda, Mr. Davison was attacked and very badly injured by a young buffalo. Mr. Davison and his wife drove the 70 miles to Lacor Hospital, where Lucille and Piero admitted him, operated on him for four long hours, and managed to save his life. He remembers Lucille with her white lab coat. “She looked very neat. She was a fine surgeon to serve me,” he recalls.
Although the attack happened 50 years ago, Mr. Davison has never forgotten it and feels forever grateful for Lucille and Piero’s skills and dedication. To this day, he and his wife donate monthly to Lacor Hospital as a sign of their gratitude. Last Christmas, the Davisons sent a touching letter to Dominique Corti recalling the event, expressing their thanks and sending their blessings to Lacor Hospital.
After leaving Uganda in 1970, the couple moved to Barbados, where Mr. Davison worked for the country’s Ministry of Education. When he retired, he worked as a secondary school teacher. They never returned to Uganda, but he wishes that the hospital continues helping Ugandan mothers and children.
At the age of 78, Mr. Davison still lives with his wife in Barbados. Both healthy, they will soon celebrate their golden 50 years of marriage. They have been blessed with children and grandchildren. Lacor Hospital and the Teasdale-Corti Foundation are extremely proud to share this story with you, our readers, because it demonstrates the broad impact of Dr. Teasdale’s and Dr. Corti’s work and dedication from the very early years of Lacor Hospital.
We are deeply touched by the Davisons’ gratitude and wish to thank them for their commitment and regular donations to Lacor Hospital.
Mrs. Heather Deeth’s Story
Mrs. Heather Deeth lives in Vancouver, Canada. In February 2015, while travelling for work in Gulu (in Northern Uganda), she had a miscarriage at 13 weeks. Despite the difficulty of this experience, she felt fortunate to be able to get to Lacor Hospital quickly. She recalls receiving good care from the doctors and kindness from the nurses.
Two days later, Mrs. Deeth was transferred to Kampala to take a flight home. On the way, she learned that miscarriage is so common in Uganda that people believe the first child is for the ancestors.
A few months later, she communicated with the Teasdale-Corti Foundation, sharing her experience:
“As part of my emotional recovery, I promised that I would give back to the hospital that looked after me and so many others through such hardship. I have heard from people in the community that St. Mary’s Lacor Hospital has done a lot for Gulu District in terms of training local doctors, employing Ugandans and providing much needed access to care. I heard that many local people say that if it weren’t for Lacor, the disease and mortality consequences of the war would have been much worse.”
Because of her experience, Heather has started a fundraising campaign to support the Teasdale-Corti Foundation in the area of Mothers and Children. Her fundraising goal was $10,000, but she was able to raise over $24,000 in less than four months.
We are truly honoured that Heather shared her story with us and we are tremendously grateful for her desire to give back to the hospital. From Lacor Hospital and the Teasdale-Corti Foundation, we thank her, her friends, and her family for this great fundraising effort.
Campaign’s latest news
Lacor Hospital is able to achieve what would be unthinkable in other similar environments: with low resources, Lacor manages to treat hundreds of thousand patients with minimal annual running costs. And it is people all over the world who contribute to support and maintain this organization, ensuring that it can offer better and healthier lives to the local population.
We would like to congratulate all our partners, collaborators, donors, leaders and the Lacor Hospital’s staff; thanks to you, we have achieved our objectives of the 2015 Become Part of the Story campaign! The campaign has now started a new year with new goals. For this second year of the campaign, the chapters remain the same but the objectives have slightly changed to better take into account Lacor’s evolving needs. Here are all the chapters and their objectives.
For more information or to donate online, please visit the campaign’s website at: www.becomepart.org.
Thank you very much for your support!
