Ugandan Certified Nurse now at Hope Alive!

Hope Alive! reached another milestone and set a new standard as the program gained a Ugandan-certified nurse to its staff this last week.

While Kacie Josifek joined the Hope Alive program last October, she was finally granted her Uganda Nursing License Certificate this last week in February.

The process for obtaining this professional license for the Hope Alive! nurse involved a rigorous interview process, working at Nsambya Hospital in Kampala for 4 weeks, as well as countless trips, phone calls, and visits to the local nurse's council.

Even though Kacie already had a US nursing degree and experience, this process and licensing was an important step as it not only brings official recognition to the medical component of Hope Alive!, but also helps the organization to comply with Uganda's legal and ethical requirements and boosts partnerships with the local healthcare system.

Setting standards

Hope Alive! is currently working to set health and wellness standards for its 500+ sponsored children.

Readers native to the US are familiar with school health standards.

The Florida Department of Health requires that "students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade who are making their initial entry into a Florida school must present a record of a physical examination completed within the past 12 months."

Similarly, the California Department of Health Care Services has "the requirement of having a completed health assessment 18 months before or up to 90 days after enrolling in first grade," which includes a health history, physical examination; dental, nutritional, and developmental assessment; vision and hearing screening; as well as blood and urine tests.

In places where these requirements are considered normal, their benefits are taken for granted.

In Uganda a child is enrolled in school based solely on his/her ability to pay school fees.

Reaching for healthy

Hope Alive! now has the goal of giving its children the same chances of healthy living that the same school-aged child in the US would have.

To begin, Kacie has begun assessing the Hope Alive! children of Kampala by getting accurate health histories and physical exams.

Last month, Hope Alive! held

its first "school physical exams," where children had their vital signs, height, weight, ears, and eyes, checked.

For most, this was their very first physical exam.

They plan to keep this as a sustainable part of their program as now this will become part of the enrollment process to new Hope Alive! children.

Kacie continues to say, "I'm really excited because I get to include and mentor some older Hope Alive! students who are interested in medical professions. This is essential not only because I need people to help me, but also because they are the ones who can give back to this program and their country when they become doctors or nurses."

Two of Hope Alive!'s brightest students help with physical exams. Alfred is applying to nursing school and Moses is studying orthopedics.