Home Oxygen for St. Mary’s Lacor Hospital: Care and Proactive Response to COVID-19

Oxygen for St. Mary’s Lacor Hospital: Care and Proactive Response to COVID-19

Published on

9 January 2024

Within the hills of Gulu, nestled in northern Uganda, St. Mary’s Lacor Hospital remains a bastion of compassion and hope. Established in 1959 by Drs. Lucille Teasdale and Piero Corti, this medical institution is a vibrant legacy of compassion, dedication, and solidarity towards the most vulnerable in society.

Quebec surgeon and distinguished humanitarian, Lucille Teasdale, left an impressive legacy in Uganda after her passing in 1996. Alongside her husband, Dr. Piero Corti, she took charge of a modest field hospital initially founded by the Comboni Missionaries in the northern part of the country.

Today, thanks to the couple’s hard work and devotion, St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor in Uganda has grown into a major medical centre with 500 beds. Every year, 300,000 patients are treated there. The hospital’s mission is to provide affordable health care, in particular to the disadvantaged and those who do not normally have access to proper care.

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital added an intensive care unit that was designated a reference centre in Uganda for the management of complex cases of the illness. The Roncalli International Foundation contributed to the high quality of care provided in the unit by financing the purchase of seven portable blood pressure monitoring systems worth $33, 871 CAD. This type of unit can measure blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, body temperature and heart rate, which allows personnel to provide specialized treatment to those afflicted with the most severe cases of COVID-19.

This contribution builds on a previous project put in place in 2020 in collaboration with the Foundation that allowed for the purchase of four monitors for the intensive care unit.

These new monitors enable doctors to provide safer and better-quality care, and to keep track of a patient’s vital signs in real time. As well, the hospital’s staff has the necessary qualifications and experience to install, use and maintain these monitors, which will guarantee their proper functioning and durability.