Status: Completed response
Armenia
After COVID-19 cases in Armenia rose dramatically in October 2020, five UK-Med health and humanitarian experts were deployed to help strengthen the country’s health services as part of the UK Emergency Medical Team.
Concerned about its capacity to manage an increasing number of severe and critical COVID-19 cases, Armenia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) asked for assistance through the World Health Organization (WHO). In particular, it needed support for intensive care and specialized services.
The UK-Med team, which includes doctors, nurses and humanitarian health specialists, is based in the capital city of Yerevan for five weeks. They’re working alongside their Armenian counterparts in the main COVID designated hospitals, providing on-the-job support with case management.
They’re also training staff and helping to make sure health services deliver high quality care.
``We’ll be providing training and on the job support for those treating seriously and critically ill patients – as well as advising on infection control to keep clinicians and patients safe.” David Wightwick - CEO, UK-Med
How we’re helping
The clinical activities planned as part of this response include:
The response
Grigor Lusarovich Hospital is the largest hospital in Armenia, and the flagship facility for its COVID-19 response. With around 400 beds, including a 50-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU), it’s been running at full capacity for several months and has welcomed additional support.
Two of the UK-Med team, ICU doctor Rebecca Inglis and critical care nurse Patricia McCready, have been assisting the hospital’s ICU team six days a week by conducting ward rounds and supporting case management. They’ve also trained 22 nurses in ICU patient management, and been asked to extend this training to other wards.
Emergency medicine consultants Paul Ransom and Dave Clarke have been supporting the main COVID-19 triage centre at Nork Hospital. They’ve conducted ward rounds across both the ICU and the High Dependency Unit (HDU), and delivered on-the-job training to doctors and nurses.
In addition, they’ve encouraged teams to share their expertise around COVID-19 case management by facilitating peer-to-peer learning activities. Paul and Dave have also delivered three sessions of skills training to ambulance crews at two stations.
Miquel’s story
When 63-year-old Miquel arrived at Nork hospital, he was very short of breath and his oxygen blood levels were low. But after treatment with oxygen and steroids, he’s now doing much better.
Emergency medicine consultant Paul Ransom says: “He was pleased to show me that now he was able to walk around without being too short of breath.
“Such low levels of oxygen in the blood would trigger alarm in the UK, but in this context showed a significant improvement and was a cause for celebration.”
Carousel photos: 1) Consultant Paul Ransom treats a patient at Nork Hospital. 2) UK EMT team members visit the UN Armenia. 3) Rebecca Inglis and Patricia McCready run a training session for ICU nurses at Surb Grigor Lusavorich Hospital. 4) Patricia McCready teaches ICU nurses about non-invasive ventilation.
We’re grateful to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) for UK Aid funding from the British people to fund this important response.
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