Since 2019, medical teams at Hospitals in Sierra Leone, along with their various supporters and advocates have been patiently waiting and campaigning for access to free professional EEG services to help accurately diagnose people with suspected epilepsy and other neurological conditions.
The team at Medical Assistance Sierra Leone / Epilepsy Association of S.L., Freetown (NGO), reported that the Paediatric service in particular was in need of support as a matter of urgency. The service being overwhelmed, and with almost no resources, the doctors were dealing, ‘with the most complex of children with the greatest neglect in society. Most are the poorest, they cannot afford to pay … their children are not valued‘.
The prolonged wait for assistance was unbearably delayed for two years while the global Coronavirus pandemic prevented travel, training and delivery of equipment. However, we are delighted to report that from the 7th to 8th of November 2022 TeleEEG in collaboration with Professor Gabriel Ofovwe, Consultant at the Ola During Children’s Hospital, Freetown (ODCH), conducted EEG training for 12 healthcare workers at the ODCH in Freetown and enabled TeleEEG remote support for 3 hospital clinics in Sierra Leone.
The 12 training participants comprised nurses and Doctors were drawn from Ola During Children Hospital, Fourah Bay Road, Cannaught, Kissy Psychiatric Hospital, and Princess Christian Mental Hospital (PCMH).
“They were trained on how to place EEG leads on the heads of the patients that will record the brain activity to a computer, this EEG can then be sent to the TeleEEG global team via the UK for volunteer interpretation”, said Dr. Nellie Bell, Head of Department at the Ola During Children’s Hospital.
The training delivered by Dr Steve Coates and Anne Clarke from TeleEEG is part of TeleEEG’s epilepsy aid and medicine support to Sierra Leone faciliated by kind donation from the ROW Foundation who also very generously provide grants of anti-epileptic medication for patients in need around the world.
The support package includes donating the EEG machine, stands, laptops, and consumables to support EEG diagnostics in the various hospitals with an improved diagnosis of patients with epilepsy.
Leading up to and notably during the training and enablement in Sierra Leone, TeleEEG was able to deploy highly specialist technical support and consultancy regarding the EEG medical devices and associated peripherals, which was kindly undertaken by TeleEEG Trustee Michael Wright and Dominic Scognamiglio of Optima Medical, who we thank warmly for their ongoing donations, personal contribution and invaluable support.
TeleEEG will continue to support the hospital teams and patients ongoing with remote diagnosis provided by is global team of volunteers.
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Volunteer EEG Interpreters | Remote Support + Diagnosis of EPILEPSY
“Helping people get access to professional EEG services is incredibly rewarding” – Dr Steve Coates, Consultant Clinical Neurophysiologist, Founder and CEO of TeleEEG.
Could you help TeleEEG by volunteering your time to interpret remotely online?
If you would like to help, please:
Become a volunteer interpreter – remotely report on 1 or 2 cases per week.
We provide under-resourced countries with EEG equipment and train local staff on performing EEG tests. We then report EEGs for them remotely as an advisory service. This is entirely free and provided on a charitable basis.
As TeleEEG is an advisory service, the referring clinician in the designated recipient country remains responsible for their patient and so can choose to act on our EEG interpretation or not at their discretion.
We’re always accepting new requests to help us interpret EEG files.
If you are a CONSULTANT PHYSICIAN, or an EXPERIENCED TECHNICIAN with high quality training in EEG technical reporting, we would like to hear from you.
Note: Technicians will be paired to report in association with volunteering consultants.
Please complete the forms to volunteer: https://www.teleeeg.org/become-an-interpreter/
