Care across languages: A closer look at WTI’s impact in Togo
Strong healthcare partnerships are built on trust and shared understanding. Providing telehealth support across oceans and languages, such as French-speaking countries like Togo, requires thoughtfully bridging cultures and tailoring each program to the community and hospital’s needs and resources.
At World Telehealth Initiative (WTI), we ensure that language is never a barrier to care within our programs.
A vision rooted in community: Dr. Folly and El Elyon Hospital
Dr. Komi Folly founded El Elyon Hospital after growing up in Togo and witnessing firsthand the gaps in access to healthcare. “The challenges that the community has there, are enormous. Healthcare is something that everybody needs… If you are sick and you go to a facility where they don't have all the necessary talent and equipment to take care of you, it’s a scary situation. That's how these people live on a daily basis.”
Now living in the United States as an internal medicine physician, Dr. Folly regularly supports patient care at El Elyon Hospital via telehealth through WTI. He consults on patient cases, mentors clinicians, and helps guide complex treatments.
“Our goal is to provide the best care... with the help of WTI. I can share my talent. And other people who are using this device to also teach the people working on the ground... So it's helping the community. They are all grateful for it because it's bringing a change in the community.”
Other WTI volunteer specialists also connect into the hospital to lead hands-on trainings and support bedside consultations. Together, they create a network of expertise that is improving healthcare access in Togo and building the skills of local clinicians, equipping them to tackle local healthcare challenges.
Tailored support for lasting impact
The goal is to provide support in a way that is clear, practical, and tailored to the local team and their clinical environment. Volunteer specialists who speak French work directly with local clinicians, and translators help when needed to make sure communication is accurate and efficient. Training materials and clinical resources are translated into French so local staff can continue learning on their own. This approach allows volunteer doctors to provide real-time guidance via telehealth in addition to self-guided training materials to help local clinicians strengthen their skills, making patient care more reliable and accessible.
In February, WTI completed our hands-on ultrasound training course at El Elyon, where clinicians learned various ultrasound applications over six weeks and now confidently use ultrasound to improve diagnostic accuracy. The course was led by Emergency Medicine specialists from Orlando Health, with a translator onsite at El Elyon to support and bridge the language barrier. The course was a great success, with clinicians regularly incorporating ultrasound into their practice to diagnose patients that previously had no access to diagnostic imaging.
Dr. Folly shared, “A six-week training, more than a million people will be safe, because it allows us to know what we are dealing with, how to get IV access, how to look at the lung... And that's already changing life at El Elyon. And we thank WTI and all the people who are teaching the ultrasound.”
Looking Ahead: Expanding Access to Care
Dr. Folly hopes to continue expanding the reach of telehealth at El Elyon Hospital, increasing the number of patients served and the depth and variety of training and support available to local clinicians. The goal is for the hospital to manage increasingly complex cases with confidence, supported by a reliable network of global specialists as needed. “What I'm eager for in 2026 is for patients to have specialists available to them anytime, any hour, any day, through telemedicine.”