US-based doctor offers ultrasound training to local A&E departments

Anastasia Cunningham, Senior Gleaner Writer

Jamaican EXPATRIATEs helping their countrymen at home is the ultimate goal of Dr Trevor Dixon, a Jamaica-born emergency physician at the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in New Jersey, United States.

The medical centre is a member of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System.

For the past four years, Dixon and various professionals from New York and New Jersey have been voluntarily travelling to Jamaica to conduct an annual Emergency Ultrasound Symposium at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), teaching local health-care providers the many uses of the ultrasound machine.

He has been working with Dr Hugh Wong, a consultant in the Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) at the KPH.

"The ultrasound machine is very underutilised, especially in emergency diagnosis. It can help make quick medical decisions in life-threatening conditions," said Dixon.

He said there was a lot of mortality in Jamaica because of wrong diagnosis, and the proper use of an ultrasound machine in emergency rooms across Jamaica could save several lives.

"We do not have ultrasound as a routine part of emergency here in Jamaica," said Wong. "Part of that is lack of training, not knowing how to properly use the equipment."

He said the ultrasound machines at the KPH are located in the radiology department and are used for non-emergency-type procedures. The aim is to have a machine in A&E for quick diagnosis in emergency cases. That is where training comes in for those involved in the critical process.

Wong said Dixon's training course is an important step in moving Jamaica's health-care system forward. Each year, health-care professionals from various hospitals, including Cornwall Regional, May Pen, Mandeville and KPH, gather for the training courses.

This year, Dixon is being assisted by Dr Jason Neilsberg, a Guyanese resident, also from Newark Beth.

When Dixon started the training programme in 2008, he gave an ultrasound machine to the KPH. This year he brought another, more up-to-date one that will now be used in A&E. So far, he has donated two ultrasound machines, intravenous catheters, a defibrillator and various medical supplies to Jamaican hospitals.

Never forgot mom's words

Born in Christiana, Manchester, Dixon migrated to the US at age 10. He never forgot the words of his mother, nurse Hazel B. Dixon, who died in 2005. She had always said, "Instead of complaining about the problem, do something". Always desiring to help his country of birth, he started at the Christiana Hospital. He moved on to a larger-scale effort when he met Wong through Dr Sonia Copeland from the Ministry of Health, and got involved with KPH.

"I am hoping to encourage others to get involved and to give, especially to the public hospitals that have a high volume of patients and are underresourced," said Dixon.

He especially wanted to thank Rodney Brown, the administrator at Newark Beth Israel Medical Centre, who willingly gave him the ultrasound machines, a defibrillator and catheters for the hospitals in Jamaica. Brown is not a Jamaican.

"He promised me some ECG (electrocardiogram) machines as well. And these machines are not cheap," said Dixon.

The ultrasound machine donated to KPH this year is valued at US$300,000, while the ECG machine is valued at J$500,000, he said.

Dixon heads to the Port Maria Infirmary in St Mary on Friday to conduct a one-day lecture on nursing-home care. Psychiatrist Dr Trevor Forbes, a fellow Jamaican from Newark Beth, and nurse Vela Watson from the hospital are scheduled to fly into the island today to train personnel in that seminar. The team is to bring disposable diapers and walkers for the home.

anastasia.cunningham@gleanerjm.com