GRID and NEA

Sustainable Development in Ghana

Dr. Jennifer Wilson

Lifting Stones

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The experiences, memories and challenges of providing health care to our global neighbours over the past two days could fill a book.

Tuesday was full of firsts as the medical team ran its first clinic in the village of Nyamboi. Doctors had their first cases of severe malaria, tropical ulcers like yaws, and even a scorpion bite. Our dental team dealt with a child who could not open his mouth due to an untreated jaw fracture, while our optometry team had their first cases of trachoma. My daughter Claudia witnessed, for the first time, the appearance of a child near death.

A huge volume of patients were cared for by this unbelievable team effort and a Canadian and Ghanaian logistics team that is second to none. Every single team member worked hand in hand with our Ghanaian friends and colleagues to achieve results that surpassed our expectations.

Back at the compound the hernia team had an extremely busy and productive day and were ready to join us for dinner when yet another emergency arrived. Without a moment’s hesitation they were back in the OR theatre. Around 8:00pm our leaders were debriefing together and planning for the next day with the NEA team leaders when a messenger came running: another patient with a strangulated hernia who would not survive until morning without help.

Our day ended with a little birthday party for our pharmacist Mary. Her teammate Francois presented her with a lovely gift: a shoe box full of treasures from the team, including a tea bag, stickers, protein bar, and some Imodium. Special entertainment involved Leslie singing “Lavatory Man” — an ironic choice considering our growing body of latrine stories and unfortunate mishaps.

Today we were greeted by refreshing temperatures of 18-20 degrees and an NEA security guard wearing a winter coat and hat.

After an early morning bus ride our medical team was back to Nyamboi and hard at work by 8:30am. At 9:08am Leslie, one of our most seasoned triage nurses, came running towards me with a frantic pitch to her voice that I had not heard before. A 16 yr old boy with severe malaria arrived by car and was too sick to even walk. Dr. John and our nursing team of Joan, Val, Jessica and Lissa jumped to action. After IV antimalarials and IV fluid he was sitting up by noon and was discharged from the clinic mid afternoon.

Other highlights today included the start of our laser eye clinic to treat glaucoma. Yesterday Dr. Mai identified a patient who was blind and unable to walk unaided from acute glaucoma. After 24 hours on medication and laser surgery today by Dr. Martin, her vision was completely restored and she walked herself out of the clinic.

At the end of the day the Chief of Nyamboi presented the team with their first ram and a large pile of yams. He thanked us profusely and sent us off wishing us “more grease to your elbows” and a prayer that God would replenish all that we had lost in serving his people.

The last two days have also required incredible flexibility, adaptability and resilience by this team and our leaders as they faced each challenge that came their way. Abraham compared it to the story in the Bible when Jesus was in a boat trying to get to someone needing help when a storm arose. Our storm today involved power challenges. Magdi reminded us that “machines failed but we humans did not.” This was so true as pharmacy kept going despite computers not working for two hours, the surgery team kept operating when their A/C broke. (It got to 35 degrees and even our Ghanaian anaesthetist said it was hot!) When the laser surgery clinic’s laminator went down (needed to provide patients with their official medical record), they simply found an iron and carried on.

After our incredible day of work, Patience prepared a feast including pumpkin ginger soup with fresh bread, roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, pasta, salad and fresh watermelon. We are not suffering and the few pounds some of us were hoping to shed do not seem all that likely!

There is an African proverb that says, “If you wish to move mountains tomorrow, you must start by lifting stones today.” A lot of stones were lifted over these past two days — I wish I could speak of them all — as this group of dedicated volunteers continue to serve NEA and their vision for sustainable health care for all.

Love to all our family and friends back home, who we are missing very much.

Right on Time

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It was not hard to choose the title of tonight’s post.

Our morning began under the gazebo with the NEA staff as our hosts led a beautiful time of singing and prayer for this mission and for our families back home. Abraham, who is in charge of this mission and who will be the administrator of the NEA hospital, shared a message which he entitled “Right on Time.” He explained that there would be many sick people that would come to us “right on time,” and that in healing those individuals we would wipe away many tears and restore joy to many communities.

You know where this is going … about an hour later an eighteen year-old man arrived with a life-threatening strangulated hernia.

Everyone kicked into action: pharmacy had their medications ready to go and that surgical and anaesthesia team saved a life before the theatres were even completely set up. Right on time indeed! I had the privilege of bringing Abraham in to see Dr. Martin and Dr. Kat and our surgical nurses in action — and to see for himself the significance of what he had just shared with us moments prior.

Our medical, dental and eye team ran a clinic for the families and friends of the NEA staff who needed care. We were struck by the seriousness of many of the cases we saw — some heartbreaking. Dr. Steve looked after one of our sickest patients of the day, who had severe sepsis requiring fluid resuscitation. She was too sick to return home so she is spending the night with us on the compound where our nurses Jessica, Joan and Sandra are caring for her. We pray she makes a full recovery and are thankful she, too, arrived right on time.

It has been a very full day, yet back at the residence there is much laughter, visiting, reading, and journalling going on. And shopping. We women find a way to shop even when we are in remote, rural Northern Ghana. A local seamstress has some very happy customers this evening.

I’m extremely thankful tonight for this team of selfless men and women who, on our very first day working together, executed their duties with excellence, with compassion and with a sense of humour that resulted in an incredible team effort right on time.

Abraham was bang on.

Safe and Sound

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As I write, we are crossing the beautiful Black Volta river and shall arrive at the NEA compound in Carpenter in 10 minutes. It has been an amazing journey and this team has held up so very well.

More to come later but we just wanted to let our family and friends know we have arrived safe and sound!

PS: Anyone want to hazard a guess as to how long it will take us to unpack 10,000 pounds of equipment and meds???

With Whole Hearts

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ght-2016-arrival

Welcome to Ghana!

If what just took place at the Accra airport is any indication of how this team is going to function, we are in for quite an incredible mission. I’m thankful to God to report that all 61 team members and ten thousand pounds of medical equipment have arrived safely in Accra without a hitch.

We were quite a sight at that airport let me tell you! As the men on our team were flexing their muscles loading the big trucks with sweat pouring down their faces, a local man said to me, “You people really work with your whole hearts, don’t you?” He is correct and we got out of the airport and back to the hotel in record time, thanks to an amazing team effort.

Claudia’s response: “Major props!”

Nurse Emma’s response: “There is some pretty great work going on here!”

They are so right!

We have been fed and watered and are now grabbing a very few short hours of sleep before the third and final leg of our journey.

Onward …

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To Be Canadian

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What a special day to be Canadian. A day where we pause to remember the sacrifices made to preserve the values we hold so dear — values we often take for granted. A day when we remember those who believed their actions in the present would make a significant difference in the future.

And on this day, Remembrance Day, I have the privilege of departing on a humanitarian health care mission to Ghana with 48 fellow Canadians, to be joined by 13 friends from Europe. What a beautiful opportunity to look at our mission through a slightly different lens than I usually do.

Adrienne Clarkson once said,

We only need to look at what we are really doing in the world and at home and we’ll know what it is to be Canadian.

My kids may think my CANADA fanny pack is a major fashion faux pas. Let me tell you, I’m not sure I have ever been as proud as I am at this very moment to clip on that fanny pack and be Canadian on this November 11th.

Onward to Ghana.

The Canadian members of the 2016 team - ready for departure!
The Canadian members of the 2016 team – ready for departure!

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2016 Team Posts

Heartfelt Thanks
HPIC Provides Team with Medical Kits
Team Receives Support from Scarsin

Peace on Earth

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2015 Ghana Health Team
2015 Ghana Health Team

It has been more than three weeks since returning home from Ghana. The transition home is always rich with a variety of emotions as I process all that took place and try and share that with loved ones and colleagues. There are so many wonderful memories that I just want to seal in my heart so that the busyness of life doesn’t crowd them out and cause me to forget.

I heard from Brenda last week that everywhere they go, they receive reports on how healing has come to so many. My favorite report is from James Afoi, who looks after NEA’s chickens. He reported to the entire NEA staff that, after receiving treatment from our team, he can work like when he was a young man. And he can see his flock so much better thanks to a visit to the eye team.

But I must report on the phone call I had with two very excited individuals last week. David and Brenda Mensah have received one of the most prestigious awards in the country. They are the Laureates of Ghana’s Millennium Excellence Award for Peace and spent an evening at a black tie event with the Asantehene (Ashanti King) and many of Ghana’s dignitaries to celebrate this unbelievable achievement!

So as I continue process our mission, the phrase “Peace on Earth” is ringing in my heart. It is a special mystery to me why so many of us have been brought into partnership with this incredible organization called NEA, whose development work has now been recognized in the highest way by their country. At this time of year, as we reflect on the birth of Christ, who himself came to bring “Peace on Earth,” my heart is full of gratitude. At a time in history when there is so much unrest and so much evil, I’m grateful for the opportunity to partner with so many friends and supporters like you who want to use their time, skills and resources to bring a little bit of peace to a group of people in Ghana who suffer so much.

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and may God himself help us to continue to be agents of peace in our homes, in our communities and around the world.

Fondly,

Jennifer

The Catalyst

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I am so happy to report that our team has arrived safely to the Accra Airport after a very interesting journey that began at 7:00am today. But first let me rewind a little …

Yesterday, our packing and inventory day was interrupted by an envoy that arrived to the compound. David called us all together under the gazebo where the District Chief Executive of the Bole-Bamboi District came to thank us on behalf of the President of Ghana. Speeches were exchanged and a photo of our entire team with the government representatives was taken. The gift he brought was a gift we have never received on any of our missions. The President of Ghana gave us a bull. That’s right, a bull. And according to Brenda’s dad, Gene, it is a fine animal! David was so happy to add this bull to his collection. The bull didn’t look at all pleased.

While we were meeting with Honorable James Janga, an artisan arrived and filled the gazebo with local crafts, material and jewellery, so we spent the afternoon shopping.

The kids on the compound decided to have a football (soccer) match and they were thrilled when Dr. Martin and Dr. Anthony joined in. With sticks as goalposts and a brand new football (given to the boys by the surgical team), we witnessed the incredible skill of these young players. As I sat watching the match with David and Ernestina, the intensity of these two weeks seems to dissipate. We didn’t talk about disease and death. We didn’t talk about the future of health care delivery to this region. We were just three friends genuinely enjoying a great game of football. I will cherish that moment.

And the party. I must tell you about the party. Decked out in our Ghanaian outfits, we all arrived to an outdoor dinner party where every NEA staff member and every volunteer had gathered under the stars. I’m guessing there were 250-300 people there. We enjoyed fufu and mushroom soup as an appetizer followed by a roast beef dinner and custard for dessert. It was incredible. David and Brenda took the time to honour each and every team member with a gift, and three team members received their five year anniversary gift. This was the fifth mission for Dr. Kyle, Joan, and Dr. Magdi.

The best part of the night for me was when David’s mother, Abena Fulamuso, asked to speak. She spoke in a soft voice that we could barely hear. As David translated, I couldn’t believe the words coming from her mouth. This woman who had witnessed so much suffering told us that she never dreamed that one of her children would be the catalyst to bring health care delivery to this region. She told us that she had 10 children and had lost most of them to preventable diseases. Then she said “Tonight it does not feel like my children are dead because now you are all my children.” These words speak for themselves.

We set off very early this morning for Accra. Fried egg sandwiches were packed and ready to go, as were fresh meat pies for lunch. Our journey was seamless until some “maintenance” needed to be done on the bus. It seemed there was an issue with the cooling system. We had an extended stop at the roadside next to a little village. You should have seen the look on the kids faces as 60 of us stepped off the bus. Within moments, Michael had the guitar out and we were all singing.

As time started to tick away I thought I would check in with the driver as to how the repairs were going. With a big grin he said, “Things are very positive, madam. We are just waiting for a saw.” Right. I returned to the singing only to hear those kids singing a song for us. It is a old hymn of the church called “Trust and Obey.” What a timely message. So, with a pediatric cardiologist, two surgeons, an anaesthetist and a family physician looking over his shoulder and offering the odd comment, this gracious master mechanic fixed the problem and off we went. The look on the faces of those kids while we drove away was priceless. Another special experience to add to our collection of lessons and memories from Ghana.

And so we wait to board our various airplanes to return to our various countries. It is hard to say goodbye to our dear friends. Our time has been rich and we have all been impacted in different ways. We will all return a little different that when we arrived. We have completed our mission with excellence. We have served thousands of patients wholeheartedly and are now ready to return to our loved ones and our places of work.

JanJam (thank you) to each person who has been involved directly or indirectly to make this mission possible. So many individuals contributed in so many ways. Thank you all for helping NEA be the catalyst — “an agent that provokes or speeds significant change or action” — to bring sustainable health care to Northern Ghana! Let’s continue to link hands with our brothers and sisters in Ghana until this dream becomes a reality.

Adjoa Jennifer
(born on a Monday)

2015 Health Team Updates

Carpenter, November 20
Carpenter, November 18
Heroes
Iddrisu’s Story in Photos
Yaara, Nov 12
Asantekwaa, Nov 11
Nyamboi, Nov 10
Carpenter, Nov 9
Carpenter, Nov 8
Accra, Nov 7
Toronto, Nov 6

No Longer Forgotten

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Carpenter – Thursday, November 20

Our work is finished. We can hardly believe it.

The team kicked into “full throttle” for these last two days in Carpenter. There was a massive coordinated effort to serve as many patients as possible. It was a sight to see. Over the past two days, 1700 patients were provided care by our medical, dental, eye and laser teams. Our surgeons have successfully completed 247 hernia repairs.

Patients came from all over Northern Region. There are fewer than twelve doctors to serve three million people in Northern Ghana; we have seventeen doctors on this team. One elderly patient who had his hernia repaired remarked to David that he had never, not once, had a doctor lay a hand on him until today.

There are so many patient stories I could speak of from these last few days. Stories of babies with severe malaria, a child with severe croup we nursed through the night, emergency surgeries being performed, vision being saved, and the list goes on and on.

But there is one young woman whose face I will never forget. This twenty-year-old woman presented to our clinic in Banda with a cloth over her face. She has been suffering with pain and bleeding from here nose for two years. When I looked in her nose there was something in there. It was a mass or a growth of some kind. I tried to remove it but it was fixed down. We brought her to Carpenter where, despite a full roster, our surgeons fit her in and removed the growth. It turned out to be a stone or a piece of metal that had been there for years. At dinner last night David explained to us that the family of this woman were destitute because they had spent all of their money travelling around Ghana for someone to help her. Her siblings had to stop going to school in order for the family to afford these hospital visits. The life of this woman and this family is now changed forever as a result of the most basic procedure.

David summed up this mission by telling us that, in the past, his people would say that they have been forgotten by God and by the rest of the world. Through the work of NEA and the work of the health team (David calls us the “icing on the cake” of their development work) he no longer hears his people say this anymore. They are no longer forgotten.

As we were returning to our rooms exhausted last night, some of us enjoyed a “classic Ghana” moment. An ostrich had escaped and was standing on the driveway refusing to let us pass. Only in Ghana!

This morning we rose early for a devotional service under the gazebo with all the NEA staff. It was a moving time to hear testimony from Ghanaians and from our team about how thankful we are to God and to one another for making this mission possible. This partnership is becoming more and more special to more and more people and we will be sad to say goodbye again.

Right now we are heavy into inventory and cleaning and packing. Tonight there will be a big party with our team, all our Ghanaian volunteers and their families. David says it will be a great party. I asked him what makes a party “great” in Ghana. He responded very quickly, “Lots of meat!”

We will begin our journey home very early tomorrow morning. Now that our work is done, we all wish we could beam ourselves home to our loved ones who we miss very much.

I’d better get back to packing!!

2015 Health Team Updates

Carpenter, November 18
Heroes
Iddrisu’s Story in Photos
Yaara, Nov 12
Asantekwaa, Nov 11
Nyamboi, Nov 10
Carpenter, Nov 9
Carpenter, Nov 8
Accra, Nov 7
Toronto, Nov 6