Team Updates

After watching thousands after thousands of people come through our clinics, it was hard for me to believe that a “last patient” actually existed. Sure enough, around 6:30 pm tonight, the last script was filled and the last patient walked out the gates. We did it!

It was a great day full of highs and lows. A four year old little girl with Downs Syndrome was sick with malaria. Her two eyes were darting around in different directions and it was obvious that she could not see very well. It was quite a sight to see her coming out of the eye clinic with a perfect little pair of glasses (donated by a Canadian child). Her vision was corrected which allowed her eyes to align perfectly. She could not stop playing with the fingers on her hands that she has never seen before. That was a high.

The low for me was the moment I looked up to see a look on Dr Lorna’s face. I recognized the look from across the room … I have seen it too many times before. It was the look of anguish as she counseled an HIV positive woman who was pregnant and whose 3 year old was at her side.

Tomorrow we debrief, pack up, plan for the future and rumor has it that there may be some African dancers arriving. There will be a huge party in the evening for us and all the NEA staff and their families. It will be a pressure free day as we prepare for our long journey home. Now that our mission has been accomplished we are really missing our loved ones and cannot wait to get home to them all. There is just so much to tell you all.

Tuesday started very early for a few of our team members. Around 2:00 a.m a patient who had a tooth extracted the previous day showed up at the NEA compound concerned that the bleeding had not completely stopped. In now typical caring fashion members of the dental team and several others got up to help and got the problem resolved. It was around 3:30 however by the time everyone involved got back to bed but the roosters would have nothing of it and started crowing especially early this morning. Regardless, everyone was ready to start work early despite their short night.

This morning our traveling medical clinic was due to set up at a school within walking distance from the NEA compound for its last two days. The two big trucks carrying all the team supplies and set up equipment were loaded when word came back from the team leaders that due to several unforeseen issues plans had to be changed and that the best available option was to hold this usually very large clinic within the gates of the NEA compound itself. Within two hours the setup was complete and patients were being seen.

Even the large grain warehouse was conscripted into special service for the occasion. After a bit of rearranging and sweeping, the eye team, always looking for darkened spaces to do their work moved in and eagerly shared their new home with hundreds of jute bags filled with peanuts.

As you can perceive we never know what each new day will bring. It mentions in the bible that man makes plans but each step is ordained by the Lord. Today was just one more example of that. Despite the change in plans we had another very successful day of helping many people in all areas. A number of people had to be told to return in the morning as the end of the day approached. No doubt tomorrow will be another big day

At dinner this evening there was talk of people mustering the second, and in some cases their third wind for tomorrow, our last day of clinic. Everyone is healthy and keen to finish well what they came to Ghana to do.

This morning began with a big group laugh as our dentist Dr Kyle reminded us to ask our patients if they are having dental pain. Dental pain is translated “CaCa”. Speaking of Dr. Kyle … he and Amanda are very busy and face many difficult extractions each day. They are doing a fantastic job!

Today was the biggest clinic we have ever had. We were too tired to count our charts. The rains continue to hold off which allowed us to work a long 13 hour day with one quick lunch break. We were faced with some very, very challenging cases and it took a huge team effort to make our way through the crowd one person at a time. Dr. Carol and I spent about 2 hours running what I like to call a “rapid assessment gynecology clinic”. I had a moment where I had to stop and collect myself when I recognized, once again, the reality that the majority of these women had lost one if not more of their children. Their pain was palpable and I found myself trying to imagine life without one or two or three of my children. Most of these kids died of the very things we are treating: diarrhea, malaria and pneumonia.

The surgical team continues to do amazing work despite receiving disappointing news that 2 surgeons due to arrive today for 5 days have been delayed by 48 hours. They are determined to help as many as humanly possible and are making lists and plans for 2011. I think they are up to 120 procedures.

Tomorrow we need to dig deep. We are all physically and mentally weary and we are expecting a huge crowd. David tells us that our fame is spreading so far that people from the Ivory Coast arrived to Carpenter already to wait for our clinic. Oh my. Please pray for strength for each team member and that our supply of drugs will be enough for what sounds like more people than we anticipated. The miracle of the loaves and the fishes would be very timely right now!

We were challenged by Pastor Jacob at church yesterday to consider our life and, in all things, love one another and push ourselves beyond what makes us happy. As I watch this group of people work I recognize that they are doing just that. They are caring for the sick, relieving suffering, and giving sight to the blind in the midst of sweat, tears, diarrhea, and insect bites, and missing their families. They have gone way beyond personal happiness. This mission has been a powerful demonstration of love on so many levels.

Jumboga.

Jennifer

When God in his infinite wisdom proclaimed the seventh day as a day of rest He certainly foresaw the needs of our dedicated medical team today. After six long grueling days in the villages and on the roads to get to and from them it was time to turn off the adrenalin and just allow our bodies and minds to be tired and to rest.

After a later breakfast this morning the vehicles loaded for the short drive to the Bamboi church for Sunday service. Words simply can’t do justice to the time of praise, worship and testimonies at a good African church. Simple uninhibited praise and jubilation expressed in joyful song and dance is so natural here that most of our team willingly joined in with the congregation. Somehow two and a half hours went by very quickly. The rest of the day afforded plenty of time for naps, chats or just plain vegging and for the few of our unwell soldiers to get back to full strength.

Having been in the trenches with this awesome group of people this past week I can only say to all who are reading this, whether children, spouses, relatives, friends or supporters of those here, that you can be very proud of what they are accomplishing. It is truly making a difference in this faraway part of world.

As I reflect on the events of the last three days, it feels as though three weeks worth of events have come to pass and three weeks worth of work has been done.

Our two days in the remote, rustic village of Yaara were memorable in so many ways. We arrived to a huge welcome celebration with drums beating and women dancing. The chief of Yaara, who is David’s brother Joseph, and at least 15 other chiefs and elders from other villages were seated and ready to greet us. Despite the massive amount of work before us, time was taken to greet one another with speeches, gifts, handshakes, and dancing. My African friends teach me so much … they never rush into anything without taking time for protocols involving interpersonal interactions with one another.

The clinic was set up and we went to work caring for many, many people with serious health issues. The breadth of disease we saw was astounding. Every area of the medical, dental, optometry, and physio sections of the clinic worked at such a high level with so much heart and soul over the two days.

We seemed to always have an emergency just as we finished our clinic. This time a young pregnant woman collapsed and we are thankful to report that she is well and has returned to her village. One remarkable story involves a man who presented with acute angle closure glaucoma in both eyes. His eye pressures were 4 times normal. With no laser in the country, our eye team and medical team worked together. Sixteen hours after treatment his pressures were down and he was out of danger. Dr Martin predicts he would have been blind in three days without treatment. “The blind will see” took on extra meaning for this man who was healed in the eye clinic which was held in the church.

This was the first time ever we were able to see all patients who came to the clinic … no one was turned away.

Other highlights include the bucket baths, the stars, the tour of Yaara, and the awkward white people trying to dance! I was presented to some baby Jennifers who were born to infertile women after being treated by the 2009 health team. The village presented the team with yams and another ram and eggs and fruit. The family of Joshua who almost died last year gave the team more yams and a guinea foul and a speech that will not soon be forgotten. We were thankful for the safe three hour journey home on the narrow, muddy, rut-filled road … or perhaps I should say path.

We had a great clinic today in New Longoro. 15 chiefs and elders greeted us in the new Peace Building built by NEA. It rained in the morning which cooled everything down so nicely. We sneaked out at lunch for a quick trip to the local market.

The surgical team have completed 114 procedures and three new surgeons are coming tomorrow! The team is doing an incredible job with the hernia patients and the urgent cases we send in from the villages.

We are two thirds of the way through our mission. Tonight we will play games, relax, and laugh. My jaw has been sore from laughing so much with this fantastic group of people. Tomorrow will be our day of rest. We will go to the local church and rest up for our final three days of work.

Much love to all our friends, family and supporters. We miss you and can’t wait to tell you even more when we see you face to face in one week.

Jennifer Wilson, a physician in Uxbridge, Ontario, launched GRID’s annual health team several years ago and continues to lead it. She and her husband Graham are committed to alleviating suffering among Ghana’s poor. Jennifer is a board member of GRID.

The team finished two very busy days in Yaara. They saw an incredible number of people in all of the stations; patients came from far and wide, some even came by canoe.

On Thursday night a party was thrown in the team’s honour. Local women patiently taught their ceremonial dance to the Canadian women.

They saw baby Joshua from last year and he was running around completely healthy which was an emotional time for the people that saw him so sick last year.

The bloggers are too tired for an official update tonight. More details to follow soon.

So much has happened this day that it is hard to capture in words. Through a beautiful display of teamwork, cooperation and generosity the team saw over 500 patients in sweltering heat in the village of Nyamboi.

It was quite a sight to see the headlamps blazing as everyone worked to finish in the pitch black. We thought we were finished when a young boy was carried in after falling from a moving motorbike. Team members worked in the dark to provide emergency care to this little boy who is going to be okay. The village thanked us with a huge pile of yams, a beautiful ram, and a stool (that you sit on) which is a symbol of welcome.

Despite such a busy day the bus ride home was full of animated conversation and it was 9pm when we returned to the compound. The surgical team also had a very busy day operating on 22 patients!

We are packed and ready for our two-day adventure to the very remote village of Yaara where we will sleep over. Yaara is my favorite village and we hear the village is just so excited about our arrival tomorrow. I don’t think we will be able to get a message to you tomorrow but will update as soon as we are back.

Thanks to all our friends and families for your support and prayers!

Until Thursday …

Jennifer

Jennifer Wilson, a physician in Uxbridge, Ontario, launched GRID’s annual health team several years ago and continues to lead it. She and her husband Graham are committed to alleviating suffering among Ghana’s poor. Jennifer is a board member of GRID.

Today we could really see how the months of preparation by the medical team have paid off. Once we arrived in the village of Nyamboi, within an hour three truckloads of equipment and medical supplies were unpacked, set up and Medical staff fully operational to start seeing the crowds of patients who had been waiting since long before we arrived.

By the time we had closed for the day and packed things securely away for the night with the help of our wonderful Ghanaian helpers it was already dusk (there’s no electricity in Nyamboi).

Great stories from every sector were shared later over dinner. A patient who had suffered a heart attack just before the clinic was dispatched to a hospital and was later reported to be stable; then there’s the story of a young mother who had already lost the sight of one eye and whose other diseased eye was able to be saved with dispensed eye drops; and finally the eleven year old Fulanese “cow boy” who was diagnosed with multiple ailments and for whom our pharmacy staff delayed their close to provide him with his pouch of medicines before he had to immediately return to watch over his herd of cows.

The evening finished with a surprise birthday (she will have to tell you how many herself) cake and presentation to team leader Dr. Jennifer Wilson, affectionately known here as Dr. Jenn.

We thank all of you for your prayers and we thank God that every team member is healthy and doing well.