2015 Health Team

My eyelids are falling quickly so tonight I will just share a few unique highlights from a wonderfully full and productive day in the life of the Ghana Health Team.

• Kyle performed a very difficult and complicated dental procedure on a woman a number of years ago. He has seen her in Yaara every year since and always worried that she now has a phobia of going to the dentist. Today she approached his station, pulled out a little black bag and handed him 12 fresh guinea fowl eggs to thank him for helping her all those years ago.
• Sheetal was counselling a patient who was receiving medication for neck pain due to carrying heavy loads on her head. The bowl of water she carries is particularly heavy as she has many children. When Sheetal asked her how many children she replied, “I have 7 children … no … I have 8 children because you are now my child.”
• GBP (general body pain) is an official diagnosis here, as is GOK (God only knows).
• Elena, our student volunteer, pulled her first tooth today. (Note to Shelagh: she is drinking LOTS of water!)
• We learned about a neat “Ghanaian find your phone app” today. When Carol lost her phone in a crowd of hundreds, she simply told one local volunteer and in 20 minutes her phone was in her hand.
• Carlye saw a woman who was 11 months pregant. Recognizing there was a miscommunication she asked her translator to clarify. The corrected answer was that she was 12 months pregnant.
• You know you are desperate when you see doctors wiping their brows with lemon scented Lysol cleaning wipes just to try and get a moment’s relief from the heat while asking one another if we think they are carcinogenic.
• Dr. Sue was thanked and blessed by a woman who she treated for an infection that was preventing her from getting pregnant 2.5 years ago. In her arms was her 2.4 year old daughter and she was due to deliver again soon.
• Toylin had some issues with grounding the new laser and couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Nothing made sense until her volunteer, looking at the situation, asked the patient to take off his shoes which instantly solved the problem. He had small nails holding the sides of his sandal to the soles of his sandals so the machine was grounding itself through him. All is well. No defibrillation required.
• Carlye was counselling a patient with a swollen knee only to hear herself suggest he apply ice to it four times a day.
• We left our photographer Erika in Yaara today (on purpose). She spent the night in the village under David’s supervision so she could take more pictures of life in this remote village of Yaara. For those of you who have not read David’s book, this is the village where David was sent to after his father died. The harsh life and maltreatment he received there forced this boy, at the age of 10, to escape on foot travelling over day through the bush to find his mother. The team was privileged to have a walking tour of the village including a visit to the house he lived in. It was a 8×5 foot room.
• I asked Magdi how many hernias were done today and his response was, “We were too busy to even stop and count!”
• Joan and I had a little 7 year old boy Joshua following us around all day. Joan is his Canadian grandmother and I am his Canadian mother because, like Elvis, we saved him from severe pneumonia in 2009.

  

  
  Oh, and I should mention that Elvis has left the building!
• And finally, I was given a very special gift to take home to Canada: my own personal rooster. Graham … please prepare a spot for him!

Until next time!

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2015 Health Team Updates

Asantekwaa, Nov 11
Nyamboi, Nov 10
Carpenter, Nov 9
Carpenter, Nov 8
Accra, Nov 7
Toronto, Nov 6

Elvis is a toddler we brought back with us from Nyamboi with severe pneumonia. He became so unwell late last night that at one point there were 6 doctors and 4 nurses supporting Dr. Jo and Joan who were looking after him. We finally left him on oxygen with mom in our surgical ward at midnight and prayed he would survive the night. This morning his fever was down and he was no longer requiring his oxygen. Tonight he is running around the courtyard ready to return home tomorrow. Life.

All team members reported to breakfast at 0600 feeling strong and healthy. The surgical team set to work early and had a full day of hernia repairs. Just as they closed up and left for dinner at 7:30pm one of the patients booked for surgery tomorrow developed a strangulated hernia. Back to the OR. Life.

Martin and Marion began the laser eye program today. Six patients received vision-saving laser surgery and Dr. Toylin has a full list for tomorrow. Martin said he had so much fun playing “laser tag” all day while Gene Paisley, Brenda’s dad, watched on.

The medical, dental and eye teams hit the road for Asantekwa. The crowds were massive and we were anxious to get to work; however protocol prevailed. The drums were beating and the women were dancing with joy over our arrival and we were expected to join in (quite a sight). After the dance, the chief presented us with a ram, yams, oranges, apples and bananas and could not stop expressing his gratitude. I had the pleasure of presenting some of our rookie team members who represented the different sectors of our clinic to the chief today including Dr. Tom (physician), Valerie (Nursing), Eni (Pharmacy), Dr. Kristel (Eye team), Dr. Ambareen (Surgery) and Elena (volunteers) — all who bravely stepped forward in front of the chief, Queen Mother and elders of the village. We, too, presented gifts and a comical moment ensued when Dr. Tom, presenting to the Queen Mother, offered the gift to the wrong woman! The villagers thought that was hilarious.

Our physician team was all together today in one room which was lots of fun. Once again, before set-up was complete, a critical incident occurred when an elderly woman collapsed unresponsive on the floor. She was treated and was able to go home later in the day. Life.

We had a special moment together when Dr. Bill led us in a moment of silence at 11:00 and all of our patients stood with us.

The eye team functioned amazingly well without their chiefs Dr. Martin and Marion, and the patients they could not get to will make the 2-hour trek to Yaara to be seen tomorrow.

Today was the first day our dental team didn’t get rained on. They finally had to retreat to an indoor classroom (94 degrees F) as the temperature outside was just too unbearable. All in all, our team saw just shy of 500 patients and at least that many were seen and treated by our wonderful triage team of Beth, Leslie and Val. What a tough job they have screening these massive crowds. Pharmacy finished in record time at 4:30 and we hit the road for home well before dark.

I do wish I could end this blog with a happy ending, but I cannot. Lydia died in the clinic today. Lydia was 22 years old and fell ill a week ago. She went to two different hospitals in the North and was sent home without treatment. I’m not sure she was even seen by a doctor. Her family, hearing we were nearby, carried her to our clinic. Despite aggressive resuscitation with our state of the art drugs and equipment, we could not save her. She arrived too late. Our local nurses, who had never witnessed CPR, defibrillation and resuscitation asked me why it is that we all cried when someone we didn’t even know died. A question worth pondering.

Lydia’s death is unacceptable. The deaths that would have occurred, like Elvis and countless others, had we not been here these 3 days are unacceptable too. While it is difficult for us to process the reality of this place, it is a reality that we all must face. This region needs a well-run hospital if these unnecessary deaths are to be prevented. After 8 years of our health team’s involvement here, GRID and NEA are moving forward to build and staff a model hospital right here in Carpenter that will be supported by people like us. Until this vision becomes a reality, people like Lydia will continue to die unnecessarily. Please check our the hospital plans on the GRID website and help us help NEA get this hospital built. Please.

After a delicious dinner (including mushroom soup from the NEA mushroom farm and fresh Tilapia from the fish pond) and wonderful speeches from David and the team leaders, and … wait for it … a priceless Girl Guide song called “Lavatory Man” sung by the one and only Leslie, we retired to our residence to visit with one another. With Michael strumming the tunes on the guitar, Dr. Sue cracking out a big puzzle for us to work on, and Dr. Anthony making instant coffee, we are all refreshed and ready for whatever tomorrow brings.

At 3:00pm every day, Kim drops us off an inspirational quote prepared by former team member Dr Sarah from Stouffville. It is a fitting ending to today’s very long blog:

It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power and may not be in your time that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result. — M. Gandhi

PS: we are loving your messages to the team and they are all being relayed. I’ve officially designated Dr. Carlye to read them out to the team as I turn into a blubbering mess when I try to read them. Surprise, surprise.

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2015 Health Team Updates

Nyamboi, Nov 10
Carpenter, Nov 9
Carpenter, Nov 8
Accra, Nov 7
Toronto, Nov 6

In the 8 years since I have been coming to Ghana I have never heard Dr. David Mensah, Director of NEA, say “it is hot”. Well today he said it. Dr. Kyle’s thermometer read 100 degrees in the shade and 120 degrees in the sun. That’s hot.

The surgical program had a fantastic first full day and is in full swing. What an incredible team, led by Dr. Magdi and supported by a big team of NEA volunteers. Together, they changed the lives of over 30 people in one day. One of our surgeons, Dr. Kathryn, joined us in the village today and added another 44 patients to the list. Dr. Kat happens to specialize in pediatric urology and wouldn’t you know it, we had a little boy with a urologic problem. In Canada, a pediatric urology consult would take months. I was able to consult with her in 1 minute.

The medical/dental/eye team had a fantastic day in Nyamboi villlage. As our team approached the chief and elders to greet them, the village linguist asked each team member to state their name, after which he told it to the drummer who “drummed” the names. What a welcome.

We saw huge volumes of patients despite a 30-minute rainstorm. It was so fierce that is was unsafe to be outside, so within minutes, all the patients were crammed into all our consultation rooms, pharmacy, and nursing station. Classic Ghana. Our newcomers were oriented to the most important procedure of using a latrine (a cement floor with a deep hole … and lots of flies buzzing down in that hole).

The eye clinic is running so well and they are seeing so much glaucoma that Dr. Martin is starting his laser surgeries tomorrow instead of waiting until next week!

It was a great day and once again, I’m reflecting on how special it is to watch this many people collaborate together with such joy and such energy toward a common purpose. When we gather for dinner in the dining hall at the end of a very long day, the room is full of conversation and laughter as we share our stories with one another.

To those of you who are commenting on this blog, I am receiving the comments and messages you are sending and I and reading them out at breakfast each morning. We are renaming the blog “Carly’s blog” since she is getting the most messages. By the way, Carly’s family will be thrilled to know she pulled her first tooth today!

Until next time …

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Monday was a day where time seemed to bend. It does not seem possible that so much action, so many activities, so many memorable moments could have taken place in the span of a day.

After a sleep in, a beatiful devotional time with the NEA staff and a delicious breakfast at 0730 our new team members toured the compound and witnessed the incredible development work happening here.* The old timers were tasked at finishing unpacking and then we all set up for a half-day clinic to see the development staff. Over 300 patients were seen by our doctors, nurses, dentist, eye team and surgical team! All areas of the clinic were in full swing!

The defining moment for me today involved watching our team kick into action when an semi-responsive child was carried into our clinic before we had even set up. Dr. Bill took charge of this boy who had severe malaria. Nurse Lynda got the malaria test done in a snap while Nurse Leslie got a very challenging IV going. Nurse Val in consultation with Linda from pharmacy prepared an injectable anti-malarial. Two hours later the boy was sitting up asking for water. He spent the afternoon under the watchful care of our nurses and by the end of the day was ready to return home to continue treatment there. A life saved before our eyes. One can’t help reflect on the timing of this massive medical team being here on the very day this boy developed severe malaria.

So many stories I could tell about today, including Dr. Chin winning a wet t-shirt contest when his dental tent was hit by a monsoon … but breakfast is at 0600 and we depart for a village clinic at 0630! I wonder what tomorrow will bring!

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*For a glimpse of the development work that team members would have seen today, watch our Sustainable Health video.

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2015 Health Team Updates

Carpenter, Nov 8
Accra, Nov 7
Toronto, Nov 6

As they say in Ghana, “we are all in!”

How amazing that every team member travelling in from Amsterdam, London, Lisbon, Spain and Germany arrived within one hour of one another! Every piece of the Canadian luggage, including “our precious” — the eye laser — arrived intact. Our British team is missing a few boxes that should arrive tomorrow. We were expecting a challenge getting through customs but we were waved through without a single question being asked or bag being opened. Amazing.

The day was seamless due to an incredible group of people who seem to be able to tackle any given task with absolute ease and efficiency. The Accra airport is quite an experience in and of itself and I hope you enjoy some of the moments that our team member Erika Jensen captured so vividly through her camera lens. We will sleep for a bit and then journey by bus to the North to begin this very special mission.

I’m sending love to all our family and friends who have made it possible for us to be here.

Jennifer

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