Honey in a hospital?: St. Luke’s nurse reflects on teaching — and learning — in Africa

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — St. Luke’s Hospital Network wound care specialist Lorillie Soleta was a volunteer teaching nurses in West Africa, when, she said, she saw a bucket of honey come out in a medical setting.

“When I went there and looked at it, it’s the actual honey,” Soleta said with a laugh. “It’s like, you know, one gallon of honey that they gave to me, and it’s not even sterilized.”

Soleta, of Salisbury Township, said it was among the experiences during a recent visit to volunteer in Kumasi, Ghana, that have enhanced her nursing practice and world view.

“I came from the Philippines, and there we only use Guava leaves. So I do understand them, but it’s very impressive.”

St. Luke’s Hospital Network wound care specialist Lorillie Soleta

For a week in October, Soleta shared didactics and hands-on training at the Kumasi-based Komfo Anoyke Teaching Hospital.

According to St. Luke’s, she taught rehabilitation skills and advanced wound treatment to a group of 35 of the country’s nurses who had little or no experience in the specialties.

She said she was surprised when the honey came out at the hospital

“But, you know, I came from the Philippines, and there we only use Guava leaves,” Soleta said. “So I do understand them, but it’s very impressive.”

She said honey has been used for wound treatment for thousands of years, and multiple medical studies have shown that it accelerates healing time and even serves as a potential alternative to antibiotic treatment.

Lacks expertise and resources

Kumasi is the second largest city in Ghana and lies 90 minutes north-west of Accra, the capital. Ghana, a country of 30 million inhabitants, is next to the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean.

According to St. Luke’s, many patients in Ghana suffer from pressure sores, amputation-related infections and diabetic wounds and other skin conditions.

Soleta, of Salisbury Township, has more than 25 years experience in nursing. She has a master’s degrees in nursing and education and a doctorate in nursing practice.

St. Luke’s Health System

They also have nerve-related gastro-intestinal and urologic disorders stemming from strokes and traumatic injuries.

The economically and medically challenged country lacks the expertise and the resources to effectively prevent or address issues that plague it, according to St. Luke’s.

Soleta, of Salisbury Township, has more than 25 years experience in nursing. She has a master’s degrees in nursing and education and a doctorate in nursing practice.

She has been employed in St. Luke’s Wound Management Center since 2019. She has been a wound specialist for five years and spent 13 years at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network as a rehabilitation specialist.

The recent trip to Ghana as an expert-invited speaker for the International Rehabilitation Forum, a non-profit, Philadelphia-based organization, was Soleta’s second. She also went in 2017.

‘Don’t provide enough training’

According to IRF’s website, it is “committed to expanding access to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, empowering all individuals with physical limitations to unlock their full leadership potential.”

Soleta made the trip in support of the World Health Organization’s Rehabilitation 2030 initiative.

Soleta said she learned when she was first contacted by the International Rehabilitation Forum that Ghanaian nurses don’t always get hands-on experience with patient care.

I guess they realized the vital role that nurses are playing to improve rehabilitation care in Ghana, including care. So somebody sent me an email and invited me to be an expert speaker and go to Ghana and train the nurses, so that’s how it started.”

St. Luke’s Hospital Network wound care specialist Lorillie Soleta

“I guess they found that one of their weaknesses is they don’t provide enough training to the nurses,” she said.

“And I guess they realized the vital role that nurses are playing to improve rehabilitation care in Ghana, including care.

“So somebody sent me an email and invited me to be an expert speaker and go to Ghana and train the nurses, so that’s how it started.”

The IRF paid her airfare, and Soleta took vacation time to go there and covered her other expenses.

St. Luke’s donated wound dressings and medications, and the St. Luke’s Simulation Center lent mannequins that Soleto used to teach rehab techniques.

‘Best they can with the resources they have’

Using tried-and-true nursing teaching process — see one, do one, teach one — Soleta lectured to the nurses using the 12-hour curriculum she created for the course.

Then she gave direct patient care in a clinic setting with the nurses, who first observed, then assisted and took over the treatment.

Soleta said she learned that, because of the shortage of “modern” medicine, traditional treatments for wounds and other ailments in Ghana include ginger, hibiscus and honey.

“I would love to teach this vital knowledge in needy places throughout the world.”

St. Luke’s Hospital Network wound care specialist Lorillie Soleta

She explained the benefit of using MediHoney, sterile gel in wound healing, but was and startled to learn that the local version was unfiltered and unsterile but often applied to treat wounds.

“The healthcare providers there do the best they can with the resources they have,” Soleta said.

Soleta said the United States health care system could be a little more open-minded to studying natural medicine — for example, the inexpensive herbal ingredients, such as honey, used in Ghana.

People in Ghana and Africa intuit such knowledge, and have used the substance for wound care for ages, while it’s not likely a U.S. hospital would pull out a bucket of unsterilized honey if you showed up with a wound.

Soleta said she wishes more natural remedies would be at least studied in the United States, to at least examine the possibility that they could save lives and reduce costs.

“It’s very important, because especially now, medication is very expensive, and truthfully, the people [in Ghana] are using a lot of holistic care,” Soleta said.

“Like herbal medication, and it’s, I think, it’s very effective. I think we need to do more research about that.”

Soleta, who has two adult children, said she hopes to return to Ghana and share her expertise in other places such as Asia and other parts of Africa.

There, according to St. Luke’s, “formal wound care and rehab programs are desperately needed, but either nascent or nonexistent.”

“I would love to teach this vital knowledge in needy places throughout the world,” she said.

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