About Us

ABOUT US

International Mutual Aid is made up of US and Sierra Leonean medical providers and support staff.

We are coordinating with local and national governments, WHO, and NGOs to provide medical care and promote community development in Sierra Leone.

We are a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, listed with GuideStar and Charity Navigator.

During International Mutual Aid's deployment to Sierra Leone, IMA partnered with the Kono District's Ebola Response Center, the Gbamandu community clinic, and Kono Eastern Community Development Association.

Impacts: Sierra Leone, 2014 - 2023/present

International Mutual Aid- in coordination with Mofinko Development Association and the Sierra Leonean Ministry of Health- built and maintains the Raymond and Sally Haik Women’s Health Center. The center provides superior antenatal, delivery, and post delivery care to Mofinko Section. It has ensured that all mothers are able to remain as inpatients for 72 hours after delivery, improving maternal and neonatal health.
Maintaining a year round presence of local IMA providers in Gbamandu, assisted by teleconsult services with US providers
Assisting the local clinic to maintain a supply of life saving medications, free of charge for all patients.
Ongoing continuing education for all providers in the section
Partnering with Mofinko Development Association and Wine to Water to improve access to clean and safe drinking water.
Constructed new quarters for local health staff
Treating thousands of patients per year
Ensuring transport and referral of patients needing surgical interventions to Koidu Government Hospital
IMA’s interventions have significantly reduced maternal and child mortality rates

COVID-19 Pandemic Response, USA

Partnered with Salt Lake County Health Department.

Built and implemented a Personal Protective Equipment training program for medical providers working in Salt Lake County COVID Quarantine and Isolation Centers (Q&I), and testing centers
Implemented enhanced Infection Control procedures at Q&I centers (which treated over 2,000 patients)
Based all infectious disease control recommendations on ongoing investigation into the extensive, emerging, reputable research on SARS-CoV-2, a novel disease threat.

Ebola Response, 2014 - 2016

Partnered with Gbamandu Clinic to provide access to free care and medications to all patients in our catchment during Ebola. Treated conditions ranging from malaria, typhoid, and STIs to pregnancy complications and trauma.
Trained and equipped local health staff to safely care for suspected Ebola patients.
Built trust in the section allowing the team to conduct extensive Ebola surveillance and case investigation, leading to the discovery and halting of an extensive chain of transmission involving certain portions of the Kono District population.
Assisted in contact tracing and basic needs support for dozens of quarantined individuals and identified, treated, and transferred suspect Ebola patients from the quarantine as needed.
Worked closely with DFID, UNMEER, CDC and local responders at the DERC to improve quality of service and provided additional Epidemiological support.
Conducted health education sessions with the community.

Staff

Colin Dunn
Director

Colin Dunn is a co-founder of International Mutual Aid.
Mr. Dunn has worked in Fire and EMS as a Firefighter/Paramedic for twenty years and is a retired US Army veteran. Mr. Dunn curently works as a Wildland Firefighter/ EMT for the U.S. Forest Service. He has served in US rural and urban environments, and overseas with the US Armed Forces. His extensive deployments include Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Africa. Fire departments Mr. Dunn has served on include Grand Forks Air Force Base Fire Department, ND, Montgomery Co. Fire in MD, Ganci Air Base Fire Dept., Kyrgyzstan, and Scott AFB Fire-Rescue, IL. Mr. Dunn helped set up and run the first treatment facility at Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khowst, Afghanistan. During his military career Colin served not only as a FF/Paramedic, but also as a specialist in cultural affairs. Mr. Dunn has a long history of working successfully with diverse populations to achieve significant goals. Mr. Dunn has extensive experience leading teams in remote and dangerous environments, with limited support. Colin served as IMA's team leader during our 2014/15 Ebola response in Sierra Leone and as the project lead for IMA's assistance to Salt Lake County Public Health Department during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Virginia Price
Operations Manager

Virginia Price is a co-founder of IMA.
Ms. Price studied at Stanford University on an International Relations/Premed track, and is based in Utah, where she works as a Firefighter/Paramedic. She has performed extensive medical work in the developing world, and has been instrumental in planning and operations for complex technical rescues, expeditions, and ocean voyages to remote locations. This includes a year in Antarctica, providing airfield fire/hazmat protection and medical support for McMurdo Station, and the continent-wide Joint Antarctic Search and Rescue Team. Ms. Price provided disaster relief following the 2011 Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake, as well as after multiple damaging storms in the United States. She has worked with street children in Russia, and responded to Ebola in West Africa in 2014-2015. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, she organized PPE training and infection control in Salt Lake County Health Dept. Quarantine and Isolation Centers, worked as an Infectious Disease Medical Unit Leader on large federal emergency incidents, and provided leadership in a Type 1 FEMA vaccination center in Las Vegas.

Gbamandu Clinic Volunteers

During our 2022 deployment, International Mutual Aid's local Gbamandu Clinic volunteers performed amazing work. Although each one had family and work responsibilities at home, they managed to find time to volunteer many hours of their valuable time each day. Most paused part-time work such as cash-cropping or small business enterprises in order to volunteer with IMA. Most volunteers' days consisted of rising at sunrise, cooking breakfast for family (and perhaps even needy neighbors), arriving at the clinic at 0730, and performing patient care and/or translation services until closing time (between 7pm and 11pm, depending on emergencies). On several occasions, IMA volunteers spent all night at the clinic, caring for emergent patients. A heartfelt thanks to each of our amazing IMA volunteers!

Moses Yambie
IMA Volunteer Local Coordinator - MOH Vaccinator

Moses was born and attended primary school in Gbamandu. When the civil war interrupted his secondary school education, Moses volunteered as a nursing aide with Médecins Sans Frontiers (MSF). Working in a refugee camp just over the Guinea border, the MSF clinic saw over 100 patients a day. After rebel forces began attacking the refugee camp, Moses returned to Sierra Leone and served as a clinician at Koidu Government Hospital. Postwar, Moses served as a field supervisor for the International Rescue Committee before accepting an MoHS position running the childhood immunization program at the newly rebuilt Gbamandu clinic. IMA began working with Moses during Ebola in 2015. Moses’s dedication to patient care is a testament to his character. He embodies IMA’s values of Compassion and Empathy. Moses spent the last two months working long days performing patient care, making countless motorbike rides to Koidu with other staff and (sometimes critically ill) patients, ensuring transparent and accountable logistical support, and building productive working relationships with providers at Koidu Government Hospital.

Amanata Kargbo
IMA Volunteer - MOH Clinic Lead, Health Aide

Amanata is the Lead Ministry of Health Nursing Aide at Gbamandu, in charge of the clinic. She has been a Nursing Aide since 2007. She worked in Freetown at UMC Community Hospital for ten years, followed by five years at UMC Njama Nimikoro. As a child, she loved to see nurses in their white uniforms, and dreamed of becoming one. At age 28 she was given the opportunity to study healthcare. Now, as a Maternal and Child Health Aide, she is able to pursue her dream of providing good health services to Sierra Leone as a whole. She proactively encourages women to come to the clinic in order to safely give birth- she is even known to provide free baby clothes as a bonus! Amanata would love the opportunity to further her education, and become a midwife. She lives in Gbamandu with her husband, and her four children live in Freetown.

Sia Charles
IMA Volunteer - Newly Graduated Health Aide

Sia has just graduated from Health Aide training school, has completed her practical, and is waiting for placement in a paying position. She hopes to eventually go to college for midwifery, and work her way up into health leadership as an MOH Sister. She has two children, who live in the city.

Gladys Koti
IMA Volunteer - Health Aide in-training

Gladys originally hails from Liberia, but attended school in Freetown. She has been posted as a Nursing Aide Trainee in Gbamandu for almost a year, and is enjoying living in the village. Gladys plans to one day further her education and become a Nurse, and dreams of seeing the Maternal Mortality Rate decrease in Sierra Leone during her career. She has one daughter who lives in Koidu.

Margaret Kanawa
IMA Volunteer - Traditional Birthing Assistant

Inspired by a dream of saving lives, Margaret became a Traditional Birthing Assistant in 2003. She loves TBA work and does not want to see any maternal deaths in her community. She dedicates almost every day of the month to volunteering in the clinic. Margaret has 8 children, one of who is seeking a scholarship for medical school.

Sia Nanoh
IMA Volunteer - Traditional Birthing Assistant

In 2012, observing that the clinic needed volunteers, Sia decided to jump into medicine as a Traditional Birthing Assistant. She now spends almost every day of the month volunteering at the clinic. She hopes to one day see improvements in the village such as electricity, better school access for children, and clean water. She has children, including one daughter who wishes to become a nurse.

Aiah M Quee-Johnny
 IMA Volunteer Translator - Mofinkor Development Association Chairman - Headmaster at a Local School

Aiah was born in Gbamandu in 1968, son of Tamba Quee-Johnny and Yei Isata Johnny. He is the youngest brother of Sahr E Johnny- the original founder of Mofinko Development Association (MDA). MDA is IMA’s valued local Nonprofit partner. Aiah has taken up his older brother’s mantle and now leads MDA as Chairman. He possesses a Teacher Certificate and Higher Teacher Certificate, and works as Headmaster of a school on the Guinea-Sierra Leone border. Aiah is married, with five children.

Eric Kanawa
Volunteer Translator and Triage Specialist
MOH Health Promoter

Eric loves health work. He normally works as a health promoter in Mofinko section. Eric worked with IMA during the Ebola epidemic, screening patients at the clinic for Ebola symptoms. This year, he pitched in as a translator and triager. Eric greatly enjoys his role with IMA. He has 6 children in a nearby village, where he also grows coffee and cocoa to help pay their school fees.

Stateside and Internationally- Based Volunteers

 Dr. Seth Enos,
 Board Member at Large, Medical Consultant

Dr. Enos attended Bastyr University. He practices medicine at the Adolescent Medicine Department of Seattle Children's Hospital, as is a Naturopathic Physician at Vitae Health Center.

Ann Scanlan
IMA Volunteer - Treasurer

Ann is a semi-retired supervisor in the hospitality industry. Her formal education credentials include an MBA from Indiana University in Marketing & Finance and a BSB in Accounting from University of Minnesota. She has her own tax practice and has volunteered her financial skills over the years for various non-profits. As a board member for her son's youth hockey team, she devised marketing campaigns, organized fundraisers, and oversaw all financial matters. She filed for 501(c)3 status on behalf of a turtle rescue group. Ann brings perspective on how to serve people and experience in managing the accounting records and tax filings. She raised four successful children and is excited to support a next-generation team at IMA. She is proud of the brave work they do, and says that the relationships with the folks that staff the clinic keep her young at heart!

Tamba Johnny
IMA Volunteer - Sierra Leone Logistics

Tamba Johnny was born in Koidu Town, Kono District, Sierra Leone. He has a long history of working with nonprofits, including the African Cultural Exchange, and International Mutual Aid. He is motivated to work with IMA due to “the experience I had in 2014-2015, when IMA visited my country during the Ebola Epidemic. No one else would visit at that time of grief. IMA eradicated Ebola from my section. I will work with them always”.

Jane Dunn
IMA Volunteer - Deployment Support

Jane Dunn, is retired from a career in Human Social and Legal Services. As a Human Services Financial Specialist with counties in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, Jane has supported public assistance programs and their participating populations. Public advocacy and resourcing have been priorities in Jane’s service of the public. Access to life tools is critical to success and survival. Jane is an ABA approved paralegal.

2024