Pacific Islands Orthopaedic Association
Bringing quality orthopaedic education to the Pacific Islands
At the PIOA module held in Suva, Fiji, we celebrate the success of two of our trainees in their exit exam. We welcome Areta Samuelu (Apia, Samoa) and Pita Sovanivalu (Labasa, Fiji) as Fellows of PIOA. The examiners were Dr Richard Lander (New Zealand/Aotearoa), Dr John North (Australia), Dr Shaun Mauiliu (Samoa) and Dr Stephen Kodovaru (Solomon Islands).
After almost 3 years due to the COVID pandemic PIOA will hold the Spine and Hip module in Suva Fiji in co-operation wth the Fiji Ministry of Health and Medical Services and CWM Hospital, Suva. We are grateful to the Pacific Eye Institute which is kindly hosting us at their conference room. The module will be held between 12 – 24 September 2022.
We look forward to seeing trainees from Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Kiribati and Cook Islands.
Talofa and good evening to all the faculty and students of PIOA
First I would like to thank Dr Des and Prof Nik and all our research committee for your hard work and teaching in the last couple of years.
I just want to share with everyone especially our trainees in the various pacific islands my own experiences.
Above is an article that just been published I know it’s not a much , but I thought it would worth to celebrate.
But first I thought it would best to start from my own experience going through the PIOA training program.
First of all I started like all of you guys, I was scared and had no idea about orthopedics even worse I had no idea about how to look after an orthopedic patient. But through the guidance and education that I have learnt from PIOA, this has given me the platform and courage to do the impossible. I was just like you, I was alone, working 100 hours a week, slaving like a dog to maintain a service, and at the same time neglecting my health and especially my family and the people that matter the most.
Yes we all have excuses and reasons not to do assignments and not to fill your logbooks , or that you are overwhelmed with patients, but i can bear testament to all the teaching and mentoring from PIOA, that you can make a positive change to the lives of our patients if you WORK HARD , HONEST, RESILIENT, HONEST & TAKE RESPONSIBILITY
During my years of training I worked alone and had a lot struggles and at times being treated like a nobody. But I stuck to my training in PIOA and to god be the glory for he has guided me to were I am now
My challenge to all the trainees please don’t not take advantage of the opportunity you have, take it and use it wisely please. Look after yourself and family first before your look after your patients.
The article I shared above is not much but testament to my mentors and especially to our PIOA faculty
We should all learn to celebrate our achievements when we can and we should all work together as a team
Once again a massive congratulations to Viola for passing your exams looking forward and to working with you in the future. You are a true testament of resilience.
Once again thank you Des and Prof Nik and our entire faculty for your ever ending support and mentoring
Just wanted to share with everyone in this forum even if you are alone in an island you can still do research and give the same level of care for your patients as you do in first world countries
Hope that this pandemic ends soon so we can all meet up and have a proper module😂😂😂
Kind regards
Shaun
Musculo-‐skeletal pathology has always been both a diagnostic and management dilemma in almost all of the Pacific Island Countries. The lack of general knowledge and skills necessary for basic proper diagnosis and subsequent employment of complementing management principles has always been a challenge for most of the islanders’ medical practitioners.
Whether it is on a remote atoll or the hinterlands of our bigger islands, the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean and the rugged terrains, has always posed great difficulty for our population to access basic orthopedic services, which apparently for most of our islands, appear to be a service enjoyed by the few who are living in and close to the capital towns or cities.
The introduction of Pacific Islands Orthopedic Association (PIOA) training has certainly been a blessing for us since its birth. It has served as the conduit for delivery of quality knowledge and skills necessary to equip one to deal with our common, and also not so common; musculoskeletal problems.
We take our hats off to our faculty and their families, from far and near; who have given us their undivided attention and time in this journey in building our island capacity. Knowing well that the islands will present to them its many challenges, they have continued on in this journey. Building from strength to strength.
For sure, the vision held at some time in the past by a few, is now taking its form and is now embraced by many. Though it might seem a slow walk for some, but for those of us impacted by the very training and are seeing results, it is progress. It is such that gives us the hope of a better tomorrow for our people in the islands of the Pacific.
2020 Academic Year.
New Trainees.
A warm welcome to our new fellow trainees for 2020. The trainees were:
1) Kini Serevi – Fiji,
2) Upa Kaupa – Papua New Guinea, and;
3) Agnes Auto – Solomon Island
Finalist 2019.
Congratulations to our finalist trainees of 2019. Namely,
1) Shaun Mauiliu – Samoa,
2) James Tewa’ai – Solomon Island,
3) Mark Rokobul – Fiji, and;
4) Alex Munamu – Solomon Island.
Continuing Trainees.
Congratulations on your perseverance through 2020 despite the many challenges through out the 2020 academic year.
In light of the COVID 19 pandemic, it has been a challenging year in delivering modules for the trainees. Travel restrictions with closed borders have made it impossible for travel in general for the modules.
However, the COVID 19 pandemic experience has also brought forward brilliant thoughts for the way forward for living in general and of course delivering of our modules. The Zoom Platform was our greatest friend and aid.
2020 Zoom conferences: The Challenges, Solutions and recommendations.
It was surely great that the sessions were delivered using the Zoom platform. The sessions were delivered as per the schedule. However, trainees were not able to attend in person at times for the following reasons:
1) Trainees were on call during Zoom session times. It was in itself a challenge as call schedules were made to factor in trainees as all were on the ground and had to continue to take calls. Surely, the sessions were recorded and shared but would be better to sit in a live session for many reasons. Hopefully, 2021 will be better.
2) Internet signals. At times Internet connectivity is a problem across the islands. I
find personally that you can have multiple ISP connections. For example, I use both Digicel and Telikom cell phone companies here in PNG. So I can swing between the companies whenever signal drops in one. We cannot depend on just one. Have a back up option.
3) Practical Sessions. Obviously, we did not have the practical sessions. Probably, we
can have video recordings of the practicum and shared with the trainees. We can have the actually hands on when we have the opportunity.
Conclusion.
All in all, 2020 was a successful year despite the limitations that we had. Though COVID 19 closed off our borders, it never closed off the opportunity for continued learning. The Zoom Conferencing platform paved the way for our new normal in learning. Thank you from all the trainees to our faculty members of PIOA for your
undivided support through 2020.
May 2021 be better as we continue to grow in strength.
To God be the Glory!
__________________________________
Raymond Saulep
PIOA Trainee, Kundiawa
Student Representative, 2020.
Bula, Talofa, kia ora, Mauri, G’day
Greetings to you all from Honiara
I’d like to welcome you all to this PIOA AGM virtual meeting hosted from Brisbane, Australia.
The past year 2020 has been a very challenging year for everyone and unprecedented in many respects. Covid 19 has restricted world travel that impacts many programs including our associations 2020 programs. As we meet we are not sure when most of this restrictions will be lifted. In general our part of the world has been spared the health impacts of Covid 19 seen in other parts of the world but certainly in other aspects like economy, our island nations have not been spared, impacting on our health systems.
Challenges offer opportunities for innovation and am proud to say PIOA as an association has continued to maintain weekly presentations over the platform zoom to offer its trainees continuous learning this past year. We were able to deliver topics on trauma and orthopaedic conditions that I believe assisted us in our delivery of services in our respective hospitals.
We are not able to conduct many of our programs including exams and delivery of twice a year face to face modules this past year but were able to accept new trainees and i’d like to welcome our new trainees to this meeting. We have new intakes from PNG, Fiji, Solomon Islands and East Timor.
PIOA was formally registered with the Australian Charities and No for profits commission on the 27th of March 2020.
I would like to acknowledge the many partners who supported our association, AOA and Orthopaedic outreach, NZOA and Orthopacifix Charitable Trust, Surgeons from NZ, Australia and Switzerland providing time for delivery of lectures, Hospitals in NZ for hosting our trainees attachment, the Samoa National University for accrediting our program and AO alliance, South Pacific Projects, Peace Nexus Foundation and others for funding.
I would like to acknowledge des and shaun for organising and facilitating our training programs and ensuring the association maintains its registration requirements, but moreover continuing to advocate and seek new partners in our association programs.
I believe todays meet will be fruitful and look forward to our discussions
Thank you
Dr. Stephen Kodvaru
President PIOA
The PIOA AGM was held on 21 February 2021 at 4pm AEST using ZOOM. It was attended by members from Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, and Samoa.
On 6 March 2020, the PIOA training committee decided to cancel the Apia module scheduled to commence on 23 March. Since we made the decision the Australian government placed a ban on overseas travel for all residents. This ban was then extended by many other countries. We have now also cancelled the second module planned for this year. We hope to recommence training modules again in 2021.
However, we have not wasted any time. We rapidly pivoted to holding a weekly seminar using Zoom. This has been well attended by our students from 7 different Pacific Island Countries. We have been privileged to have lecturers from Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland.
Our students have embraced the future with enthusiasm and commitment. PIOA has offered access to the tutorials to people who are not on the PIOA program, as a way of giving back. We look forward to returning to more hands on and face to face learning in 2021.
The PIOA AGM 2020 will be held on 1 March 2020 at 4pm AEST (Brisbane time)
The next module in the PIOA program will be held at TTM Hospital in Apia, Samoa. We will welcome 3 new trainees (one from Fiji and 2 from PNG). This module will cover Introductory topics, Research, Spine and Hand and will run from 23 March to 10 April 2020.
A highlight during the module (and the reason for the module being delayed from February to April) is the graduation ceremony at the National University of Samoa for 4 of our PIOA graduates who successfully completed their exit examination in August 2019.