Thank you, friends and donors of the 2013 Ghana Health Team. What can we say? You have given so generously, and we have already reached our team’s general fundraising goal of $65,000! Thank you! [Read more…] about Thank You from the Ghana Health Team
Team Updates
2013 Medical Team
We continue to be grateful for the partnership of the Ghana Health Team. Each year for the past five years, Canadian health professionals have volunteered their time to provide health care to some of the poorest people in Northern Ghana.
This team has typically worked alongside of NEA in Ghana in the month of November. However, the planned election in Ghana in late 2012 could complicate their work for them, and so we have moved the date of the next team to April 2013.
For those interested in participating in this team, applications will be posted online in April 2012.
2011 Medical Team Presentation
The 2011 Medical Team will be sharing their experiences with us all this Sunday, November 27 at Uxbridge Baptist Church. The service starts at 10 am. Come and hear the full story!
Until We Stand On Our Own
Friday morning we gathered once again under the gazebo with the entire team from Canada, UK and Ghana. It felt like just a moment had passed since NEA’s chef, Abraham, had challenged us to play our roles well two weeks ago. Joan, whom we nearly evacuated out by air ambulance the day before, was able to share her thanks to the pastors who prayed so powerfully for her. Dr. David shared scripture from 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3:
We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
He challenged us to continue to move forward together to alleviate poverty in this region through work produced by faith, labor prompted by love, and endurance inspired by hope.
We received an unexpected visit from the Regional Medical Director and his district team. He shared the many challenges this vast area faces. Right now there are 17 doctors for 2.5 million people in the 19 districts of this region. (Note: We have 15 doctors on our team.) Many of the district hospitals have no doctor at all; they just do their best. There is one opthamologist for 2.5 million people and he is semi-retired. They have very few obstetricians and too few midwives. As a result, 90 women in the region have died in childbirth this year alone. My thoughts immediately went back to our patient who delivered twins in Busweme that we were able to help. She could have been the 91st death.
He concluded by saying that “until we can stand on our own, this partnership to provide medical, surgical, dental and eye care is making a difference in thousands of lives.” It is going to take time before sustainable health care reaches this area. Until then, he requested the continued support of Canada, and the UK and NEA. I will never forget those words “until we stand on our own.” It describes so perfectly the vision that we all have have for these people.
In our honor, the NEA staff and the team of translators played football (soccer) to the cheers of the “expats” as we are fondly called. These men know how to play soccer.
The grand finale was an outdoor party to celebrate the success of the mission with the entire team. When I say team, I’m including the almost 100 local Ghanaian volunteers who support us during our two-week stay, along with all their families. These people have become our dear friends and we know each by name. Many of us were decked out in our new outfits made by the local tailor. Some of our translators didn’t recognize us with dresses on, hair down and make up on.
Abraham cooked a feast of cream of tomato soup, roast beef, salads, vegetables all grown on the compound and grilled tilapia pulled out of the pond that day. Dessert was a pumpkin tart. After the children ate there was a flurry of activity under the gazebo and the kids were jumping and clapping and singing. I went to see what the excitement was about and discovered that each child had been given a juice box. I have never seen those kids so excited. After dinner and speeches we read out the names of each volunteer and presented them with gifts from Canada. It was a special moment, especially for some of the Ghanaian women as they heard their name over the speaker and walked to the front to the applause of the crowd. David and Brenda presented generous gifts to each team member. David concluded the party with a beautiful prayer of thanksgiving and asked God’s blessing upon us all until we can meet for supper once again. It was an emotional goodbye.
As I write, we are on the bus heading back to Accra where we will catch our flights home to UK and Canada. Most of the team is fast asleep after giving their all each and every day. It will take a long time to process all we have seen and heard and learned and felt during these two weeks. In the end over 10,000 people received medical, surgical, dental and eye care over these 2 weeks. Operation Hernia hit a record number of 288 surgical procedures.
It is impossible for me to find words to close off and summarize this mission and so I will close with a Franciscan Blessing that was passed along to our team during one of our final clinics:
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people so that you may wish for justice, freedom and peace. May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in the world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
Signing off on behalf of the 2011 team with thanks to all our family and friends for supporting us and praying for us along the way.
Jennifer Wilson
Time to Pack
Yesterday was our last clinic, and what a day it turned out to be. As I was walking back to the compound from the eye clinic I crossed path with a few coworkers from pharmacy and nursing who also had just wrapped up their day and were heading to the showers before dinner. I knew that they had to be as tired as I was, but I noticed that we all had a fresh bounce to our steps, knowing that the job was done and that we had all done the best we could.
An estimated 1200 people had come to the clinic this day and those that had needed treatment had received it. Although we had run out of certain drugs and diagnostic supplies earlier in the day alternatives were found and in some cases we saw miracles happen.
I’ll tell you a quick story of a very sick little girl who was brought to the clinic by her very desperate mother in the afternoon. Malaria and anemia were some of the ailments affecting her and our team of doctors agreed that she did not have much of a chance to survive. An immediate blood transfusion would possibly improve her chances so she, along with her mother and Ernestina, a nurse practitioner who has been working with us, were sent to the Wenchi hospital which is about an hour away. The team saves some of the funds donated each year for just such purposes. Later in the evening we received the amazing report that by the time they arrived at the hospital new life was being breathed onto her little body. Her hands and feet had returned to a healthy pink colour. Within a short time she was sitting and eating and no longer in need of a blood transfusion. I believe in miracles because sometimes that is the only explanation that fits
As far as the team’s health is concerned a few people have caught a bug that has been going around and all but one were back at their post within a day. Joan, one of our veteran nurses, had been down for several days with something that hit her more severely. Despite the best possible care she had to be moved onto an air conditioned room. Arrangements for a medical evacuation were initiated and a group of local pastors began praying for her. This morning Joan was up early, feeling much better and attended devotions where we were all able to praise the Lord for her recovery.
After dinner last night the Mensahs hosted an “open house” at their home. Everyone’s attention was on Dr David who, on unanimous request, recounted some of his stories from his early years in this area.
Today is our packing day. Clinic facilities must be dismantled and our remaining supplies must be sorted and packed for the trip back home or to be put in storage at the compound. It’s a long process and this, too, must be done well to help prepare for subsequent trips. Tonight all the teams, including the Ghanaians, the British, and the Canadians will get together for one final time of celebration and after a few hours of sleep it’s on the bus for the beginning of the long trip home.
We’ll see you soon.
Jan Broni, Jan David
Each day there always seems to be a special moment that is etched in our minds. Today’s moment was when an albino woman with skin as white as ours came to present three small yams to Susan and Sherry from pharmacy. Susan had remembered her from last year and made a point of bringing sunscreen and lip balm for her which she gave to her yesterday. Today, the woman walked 3 miles in the hot African sun to present these gifts of thanks to them. David reminded Susan to give her back her plastic bag as it was very valuable to her. She didn’t have much but what she did have she just gave away. What a great illustration for Chief Charles’ sermon on Sunday.
The gratitude of our patients is hard to describe on paper. Few patients leave our stations or our operating rooms without thanking us, blessing us and often blessing our children and our children’s children. Isaac, the Ghanaian optician, shared with the team that after the patients get their glasses and look around the room they say over and over “Jan Broni, Jan David” which means “thank you whites, thank you David Mensah”.
The day was full of many very moving moments for me. I was moved when baby Joshua’s father Peter carried a paralyzed woman on his back across the field to the doctors. I was moved when women would present us with their babies after being seen by us for infertility last year. I was moved when the nurses spent so much time cleaning and dressing a Buruli ulcer which covered a young man’s entire lower leg. I was moved when Dr. Gillian and Dr. Martin recalled a suffering patient from a previous clinic after considering some additional treatment options for her. I was moved to watch the 2 pediatricians Dr. Sean and Dr. Julie care for an endless stream of the sickest children all day long. I was moved to see a picture of man with a huge smile who, just yesterday, had a disfiguring tumor of his upper gum which prevented him from smiling. Dr. Kyle removed it yesterday and Dr. Rob sutured him up. I could write a book about all of the special moments from this day alone.
Dr. Magdi kidnapped Dr. Joe today and the department of anesthesia doubled in size. Dr. Joe did the spinal anesthetics while Dr. Ira did the general anesthetics for some very, very large hernias.
Every day at 3:00 Mary circulates a red tin box to each team member. The tin has the British logo “STAY CALM AND CARRY ON” written on the lid. Inside the tin is a treat and a little piece of paper with a quote of the day on it lovingly prepared by Dr. Sarah. Today’s quote was by Mother Teresa and said, “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest to you.” It is easy to be paralyzed by the massive crowds, the long hernia wait lists, and the many, many needs of the patients here. This team is doing such a great job of skillfully and lovingly helping the patient nearest to them to the best of their ability.
The evening closed under the gazebo as we all shared our stories of the day and stories of our lives at home.
One clinic to go! We plan to finish very strong.
Jennifer
And Now I See!
Everyone was back at their post today for what is now the home stretch for this year’s Medical and Surgical mission. Today and for the next two days we are seeing patients in the facilities at the Carpenter project site. There is electricity for those who need it but the biggest bonus is that there is no traveling the rough roads to the remote villages where clinics were held last week, thus saving time and energy to serve more patients. In her daily summary at dinner time Dr. Jennifer informed the team that this had been record-breaking day in terms of how many patients had been seen in a single day.
The highlight in the eye clinic involved one of NEA’s staff members who had been working as a translator with Brigitte in dispensing glasses for the past two years. Pastor Phillip, when he is not translation for us, is the pastor at Kintampo church where he leads a fairly large congregation. Brigitte had noticed this year that he was struggling to read patient charts. After much coaxing he finally agreed to have his own eyes examined by his team members this morning. After all was completed he was prescribed a pair of bifocals that corrected both his near and far vision. Pastor Phillip had seen hundreds leave the eye clinic with better vision and now it was his turn. He kept repeating that he had no idea that his vision had been so poor and that it could corrected so easily. He was very thankful that he could read patient charts but even more thankful that reading his bible would be easier again.
In her summary of had been seen by the medical team today Dr. Jennifer simply said that the doctors had seen a number of conditions that they had only read about in medical school.
The continuing common theme during debriefing tonight and most evenings was the the excellent teamwork within and between the groups. Everyone has been willing to help where there is a need. All the team leaders agreed that this was a great team again this year and that our first timers were fitting right in.
Finally Dr David Mensah got everyone’s undivided attention when he reminded the group that about 98% of those who show up at our clinics cannot even afford the $5 annual health insurance fee that would give them free access to local medical services.
On that note I think I will close for tonight, but more to follow.
Beating to a New Drum
The Sunday morning church service started to the beat of a much-needed, brand new drum set donated to the Carpenter church by chairman of the GRID board Jacques and Brigitte Lapointe. The shiny red drums arrived from Kumasi on God’s timing — just in time for worship.
Under the Kapok tree Pastor Rance and Dr. David Mensah, dressed in full chief attire, led us in the true spirit of worship with clapping, singing, and line-dancing. The African church does not need to be reminded to praise god with their whole heart.
Pastor Charles read the scriptures 2 Kings 4:1-7: Elisha asked the poor widow what she had to repay her debtors. She responded that she had nothing but a little olive oil. Elisha asked her to bring several empty jars to him and told her to pour a little oil into each one. The jars were miraculously filled to the brim.
The significance of the widow’s oil was not lost on us as we reflected on the work of our medical mission here in Ghana. Sometimes we feel as if what we have to offer isn’t enough to fill all the jars of the sick. Pastor Charles reminded the entire congregation of Africans and “the experts” as they call us, that if we are willing, God will take whatever is in our hand and multiply it and work through it to serve humanity.
After more clapping, singing and dancing, a heart-warming testimonial was given by Ernestina, the Ghanian medical assistant who has accompanied us on all five missions.
Her testimony assured us that indeed the Lord is working through our team to fill the jars of oil. She said our team has taught her “tremendous wisdom, insight, gentleness, love and compassion.” The Ghanaian government has recognized her exemplary care of patients in her region that they have put her in charge of a large clinic which has 30 staff. She is now training all of her nurses and midwives using what she has learned from us. She is transferring clinical skills. There is no doctor at this busy clinic that has a 6 bed ER and 8 bed maternity unit. Ernestina is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We were moved by the impact we have had on this remarkable woman and now, on her staff. More jars are being filled.
As the worship service came to a close and while we were still dancing, clapping and singing we were reminded once again that our work has left many Ghanians beating to a new drum.
Sunday evening our convoy of vehicles arrived at the Mole National Game Park, a 4,577 square kilometer reserve dedicated to the protection of wildlife. Last night we celebrated Dr. Laurence’s 40th wedding anniversary by singing a few different versions all at once of “Happy Anniversary” while his wife listened on the phone from Vancouver.
Today we had the option of going on a walking or jeep safari. The guides told us we probably wouldn’t see any elephants as none were seen on the safari the day before. Well … there were elephants everywhere. Some groups saw as many as 12 majestic elephants as close as 100m away. We also saw crocodiles, deer, antelope and water bucks all in their natural habitat. The monkeys were getting a little cheeky while we were cooling off in the swimming pool and one took a bit of a run at our dear friend Sarah Hasted from the UK. She was cool as a cucumber and handled that monkey just fine!
It was a wonderful, well-needed rest and we all feel recharged, refreshed and ready to finish hard for our 3 remaining clinics which will be held here on the NEA compound in Carpenter.
Glenda DeVries