Specialist nurse clinic to be built in Albania

TIRANA, Sep 1 – Doctors in Albania plan to build a specialist clinic after a Headingley nurse visited the country to treat patients with a painful disease.
Helen Morris, 45, who works at Wheatfields Hospice in Headingley, was one of the first nurses to treat Albanian patients with lymphoedema, which is often a side effect of lymph cancers and causes swelling of the arms and legs.
Following her visit to the Ryder Albania Hospice in Tirana, senior doctors now plan to send an Albanian nurse to Europe to train as a lymphoedema specialist.
The nurse even made a presentation in front of an entire medical team after a request by Albania’s head of breast care, who wanted to know more about the treatment.
“There is no information on how to prevent lymphoedema, how to recognize it in the early stages or any treatment offered. I did the talk to the whole hospital team,” said Morris.
Once she arrived at Ryder Albania, which is twinned with Sue Ryder Care Wheatfields, she realized just how important her visit was to so many people. One woman made a daily eight-hour round trip by train to see her.