Celebrating Nurses Week

May 6, 2020

Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and ends on May 12th, Florence Nightingale’s birthday. This year’s theme for Nurses Week is Compassion, Expertise, and Trust. In our current global situation, this theme truly highlights the meaningful work nurses are engaged in.

During this time, we would like to share our story of our healthcare and nursing program and celebrate many of our REACH graduates who are know on the ground serving their community at our clinics.

The REACH for Uganda, through the generous donations of Beatrice Tierney, established two clinics to serve the local community. The first was opened in July 2006 on the grounds of the Arlington Junior School in Bumwalukani, in Bududa District, in partnership with The Foundation for International Medical Relief. The second was opened in February 2008 in Buputo, in Matuwa District.

However, REACH did not have any local nurses or medical personnel to run the clinics, which required recruiting new nurses from outside the area to help run the clinics. This provided another opportunity for REACH to make an impact. To help support the community, REACH established a scholarship program to identify students in the local community to receive funding for training.  Today, REACH has graduated 41 nurses who are working in different clinics and hospitals all over Uganda and has 6 students training as doctors at different Universities in Uganda.

To date, our clinics serve nearly 25,000 people annually, providing childhood immunizations, malaria treatment, HIV counseling, pneumonia treatment, skin care treatment, antenatal care, midwife services, and more.

We would like to introduce you to some of the staff that have been part of our REACH schools and scholarship program, and are now serving their local community as health care providers.

Faustina Nambuya was one of the first graduates of this program. She attended Mbale School of  Nursing and Midwifery and graduated in 2014 as a midwife. Here she is providing care for premature twins at our REACH Beatrice Tierney Clinic in Bupoto.  The maternity section at Bupoto clinic was established in memory of REACH’s Co-Founder Joyce Wanda’s sister Kanah who died in child birth.
Faustina Nambuya is pictured here with Julius Mukoni, who graduated from the Mbale School of  Nursing and Midwifery in 2017. He was sponsored throughout his educational journey by Beatrice Tierney’s daughter Monica Tierney. He works at the Beatrice Tierney Clinic in Bupoto.
Wamula Nicholas (on the right) graduated from the St. Francis School of Health Sciences in Mukono. He was in the REACH program for 11 years (2006-2017) and currently works at the second Beatrice Tierney Health Center in Bumwalukani.

Malali Vicent was part of the REACH program from 2014-2016, and after graduation joined the Beatrice Tierney Health Center in Bumwalukani.
Sarah Namulembwa was in the REACH program for 11 years (2006-2017). After graduation she joined the staff at the Beatrice Tierney Health Center in Bumwalukani.
Staff of REACH Beatrice Tierney Clinic Bupoto
Staff of REACH Beatrice Tierney Clinic Bumwalukani.

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