VT265,000 raised for ProMedical first aid training on Pentecost

Jul 7, 2026 | Initiatives and Projects, News | 0

Who would have thought that a year of Tuesday dinners would lead to community-based medical training on Pentecost? KaiKai Tusdei did.

On Tuesday, 30 June, KaiKai Tusdei celebrated its one-year anniversary at Waterfall Precinct and Entertainment. This dinner group took the opportunity of this celebration to raise funds for Community First Aid Responder (CFAR) training on Pentecost. Together, more than 60 guests and over 20 children enjoyed a warm and jovial evening where the spirit of community was celebrated.

The event was organised by Julie Lapeyre, who has been hosting Tuesday dinners at various restaurants around Port Vila since July 2025. The dinner group was started after the earthquake, bringing people together once a week at a different restaurant in the hope of helping to stimulate the local economy. They believe that the group has generated more than VT3 million since its creation.

After a trip to Pentecost with her husband, during which they stayed in the village of Pangi, Lapeyre said she wanted to organise a fundraiser for CFAR training to empower the medical team they met.

“On the other islands of Vanuatu, a doctor can be a luxury. The more we train health professionals on those islands, the more we equip them with the right tools, whether material, knowledge, or both. In turn, health literacy, access to care, and a decent pre-hospital response grow too,” she said.

ProMedical is now positioning itself as a key actor in emergency care capacity-building in Vanuatu and the South Pacific. Its CFAR programme, piloted on Efate and Espiritu Santo, has already begun to show promising results. According to follow-up surveys, the majority of participants have used their new skills to treat emergency patients in their communities, and in several cases they have even saved lives. In addition to CFAR, ProMedical has delivered several Basic Emergency Care training courses to local emergency care workers, a series of Advanced Cardiac Life Support training courses for nursing, medical, and paramedical staff from around Vanuatu, and remains a key provider of Basic First Aid and CPR training.

“Our organisation is primarily supported by the local community and local businesses. These capacity-building initiatives are a way for ProMedical to give back to that community, improve skills and knowledge, address health literacy gaps, and reduce barriers to accessing ambulance and emergency care services. Fundraising initiatives such as this allow us to extend our reach to rural and remote areas of Vanuatu, providing a real, measurable health impact beyond our main stations and catchments in Port Vila and Luganville,” explained Matthew Earl, ProMedical’s Clinical Manager.

During the KaiKai Tusdei dinner, everything was done to ensure guests were entertained and inclined to donate more to the cause. Raffle prizes were sourced from 15 local businesses, a scavenger hunt was organised for children, and lucky door prizes, games, and quizzes were planned for adults.

ProMedical reserved a table, and more than 15 staff members, accompanied by their families, enjoyed the evening, witnessing firsthand the generosity of the people of Port Vila towards a project they will implement in the coming months.

“Today’s fundraising is about more than raising money. It is about people coming together to support a project that will benefit our whole community. Every contribution, no matter how big or small, helps us move closer to our goal. Together, we can make a real difference,” shared Yvonne Ben, Office Manager of ProMedical in Port Vila.

The dinner itself celebrated the richness of Vanuatu’s food scene with an Aelan Fusion menu designed and prepared by Chef Peta Turnbull and her Coffee Tree team. All guests left the evening with smiles on their faces, knowing they were part of a community that raised VT265,000 for Pentecost.

“We may only be 97 people in our WhatsApp group, but our community has responded to a call for generosity and awareness. Our KaiKai community has raised money to support ProMedical’s First Aid Responders programme, a project that not only ensures capacity-building across Vanuatu’s islands but also helps place Vanuatu as a leader in pre-hospital care in the Pacific,” added Lapeyre.

Such evenings showcase the power of community in Vanuatu. As people come together to share a moment over food, the importance of standing strong together becomes clear and hurdles become easier to overcome.

The donations raised during this event will improve and strengthen the pre-hospital response on Pentecost and support the extension of ProMedical’s CFAR programme to more islands in Vanuatu, a noteworthy outcome for the price of a simple raffle ticket.

SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST

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VT265,000 raised for ProMedical first aid training on Pentecost

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