Famara Sanneh ’19 uses his nursing skills to provide free health care screenings in his hometown community
By Maddy Scharrer
Famara Sanneh ’19 lost his father at a young age. Sanneh’s father had chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes that contributed to his death. When it his father passed away, Sanneh explained, “I was too young to understand the disease process and none of my family members understood what was going on.”
Sanneh grew up in a densely populated area in The Gambia, West Africa, where he was fortunate to have a neighbor, Aunty Nyanya, who was a nurse. Aunty Nyanya was there to help explain Sanneh’s father’s symptoms, in addition to the constant care she provided to the community.
“She was always available to help everyone within the community who needed nursing care,” Sanneh said. “She did this out of generosity and never got paid for her community services. So, she serves as an inspiration.”
Seeing Aunty Nyanya’s compassionate care for their community and the impact of chronic illnesses on his family contributed to Sanneh discovering his own path: becoming a nurse and starting a free hypertension and diabetes screening clinic in The Gambia. “I decided to study nursing because I wanted to focus on a career path that would be impactful to society,” Sanneh said.
In 2014, Sanneh moved from The Gambia to Madison to seek a college education and begin his nursing journey. While Sanneh explained the move was a “huge culture shift,” he had support from family in Madison along with Madison College’s RISE (Retention Initiatives and Student Engagement) office that helped him adjust. Sanneh completed his nursing prerequisites at Madison College before transferring to the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s School of Nursing to pursue a bachelor of science in nursing degree through the School’s traditional two-year program. Sanneh explained, “I chose UW–Madison for my undergraduate program because of its innovative nursing, style of teaching, and its competitiveness to excel beyond the ordinary.”
During his first-year clinical rotation at the School of Nursing, Sanneh learned even more about chronic illnesses like the ones that affected his father. Growing his knowledge base in the area allowed Sanneh to soar into new territory during his second year in the program: starting to provide free hypertension and diabetes screenings to his family.
“This program started because of the education I received during my first year at UW–Madison. It gave me a better understanding of chronic illnesses and how they affect our daily lives,” Sanneh began, later adding, “I learned about the risks and potential harm of these chronic illnesses, so I decided to start screening my immediate family members and some of my neighbors in The Gambia.”
Upon his graduation from the School in 2019, mere months before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sanneh was also working at the Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee in what became a COVID-19 unit. Amid a harrowing new time, Sanneh was one of the first nurses to volunteer to care for a group of suspected COVID-19 patients in his unit. In 2021, Sanneh moved to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee to work in the intensive care unit (ICU), which was their primary COVID-19 unit. His pandemic nursing experiences inspired him to expand his chronic illness screening services.
“During the pandemic, I saw the devastating impact of COVID-19 on chronically ill patients with hypertension and diabetes. So, I decided to take a step further to provide the screening not only to my family and neighbors, but to the community of Kanifing in The Gambia where I grew up,” Sanneh said.
To expand his services in The Gambia, Sanneh needed to gather medical devices such as over-the-counter medications, glucometers, blood pressure machines, and other health care products in the U.S. and have them shipped to The Gambia. With these tools, Sanneh and his medical team at the clinic have helped so many, caring for over 500 people and counting. “As diabetes is the leading cause of chronic kidney disease, we wanted to make sure the people we see understand the risk of their disease and how to limit it from getting worse,” Sanneh began, later adding, “This program is important to me because I want to help people know their blood pressure and blood sugar levels. If they require treatment, our team will be there to assist with that. It is a privilege to see a healthy community thrive and grow old.”
Through these free clinics, Sanneh and his team have assessed, diagnosed, and treated patients with diabetes and hypertension, minimizing the risk of stroke among the high-risk population through their provisions or referrals to other health care providers. During their screening process, Sanneh and his team take care of transportation, and any hospital visit costs, allowing their patients to get prompt treatment, he explained. And he’s not stopping there.
“Our goal is to create a foundation, welcome more individuals to our program, and create awareness on primary health prevention in The Gambia. This will promote more screening programs within The Gambia and encourage a healthy lifestyle that will improve people’s wellbeing,” Sanneh said. He explained, too, that another goal of the program is to “educate and improve health literacy while treating patients.” Since the screening occurs just once yearly, Sanneh wants patients to know how to treat their illnesses and when to obtain further help. Sanneh and his team are working tirelessly to close gaps between their patients and health care services as many struggle to obtain medication refills outside of the free screening.
Sanneh has the help of fellow nurses, doctors, and health care providers in The Gambia who share his vision, such as Dr. Jainaba Jallow, a physician who Sanneh noted has had tremendous impact on making the screening program successful. Working with doctors allows Sanneh’s clinic to get those prescribed medications necessary to help patients, and this aspect has driven him to his next nursing goal: completing his doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree. “Due to my limited autonomy to prescribe medications, I decided to apply to the doctor of nursing practice program at UW–Milwaukee, which I will be graduating in May 2025,” Sanneh said. He will graduate with a family nurse practitioner specialization, which he plans to make use of in many facets of his career to help bring medical access to more people.
When he’s not running his free hypertension and diabetes screening clinic in The Gambia, Sanneh continues to work at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee where he has earned four DAISY Awards in recognition of his nursing care by patients, families, and his coworkers. Sanneh also spends time volunteering at free clinics and hopes to one day be able to establish screening services in Milwaukee, too. “In Milwaukee, I volunteer at free clinics because it is challenging to start a screening program due to the cost,” Sanneh said. “However, once I graduate from my DNP program I would like to collaborate with other providers and nurses to provide free screenings.”
In the meantime, Sanneh continues to make an impact with his current nursing skills and knowledge. Sanneh’s work in The Gambia has directly impacted his study interests while obtaining his DNP, and he continues to work with and discover more about chronic illness. For his DNP project, he chose to focus on assessing and reducing elevated blood pressure among people living in Walworth County, specifically in Elkhorn, WI. Like many patients his program in The Gambia serves, a lot of the participants under his DNP project face financial constraint and lack medical insurance. “My experience from the screening program will help me better serve the city of Milwaukee,” Sanneh said.
In all his endeavors, Sanneh stresses the importance of constant learning. With his growing nursing knowledge, Sanneh will continue being a positive force for the chronically ill community. “Everyone has a role to play in society, do not limit yourself to what you can do,” he began. “I started this journey as a nursing student with little knowledge about hypertension and diabetes, but I challenged myself to seek knowledge and provide free care to my people. Be brave, make collaborations, and take a shot at what you want.”