One of the highlights for me of our clinical experience was the day Bryan and I travelled with Nurse Comfort to a child welfare outreach clinic in the village of Old Akrade. When we arrived at the clinic that morning the midwives asked us if we could canoe. Of course we said “yes!” – and we were soon off on our outreach adventure. (Little did we know that canoeing across the Volta River without a lifejacket would break Global Volunteer policy. We found out – and were scolded! – after the fact, but it was well worth it.) Across the river we hiked the path to the village and arrived to find at least thirty mothers and children already waiting at the clinic...a shaded area under a patch of trees. They brought their own chairs and patiently waited as we got organized. In the Ghanaian health system each child has a booklet in which they keep track of weight, immunizations, and any illnesses the child may experience. The outreach clinic goes to this village only once a month, so it was a busy morning of weighing babies (by hanging them in trees!), giving immunizations, and recording all of this information in each child’s booklet. If a child was not gaining weight properly, the mother was counseled on feeding strategies or the child was referred to the hospital for further care. It was a great day of learning and I was struck with amazement at the great pride and commitment with which mothers care for their children in this part of the world.
--Molly
Monday, June 22, 2009
Travel to Mole National Park
We set off excited for our safari and chance to see some African animals, not fully realizing the travel required in order to get to Mole National Park – or the lasting memories the ten of us would make while spending fifteen hours packed in a small van. Here is a minute-by-minute recap of the day’s events.
7:00am – Breakfast at the St. James Guesthouse.
8:00am – Took a group picture and then departed from Senchi Ferry.
9:02am – Jammed to Kenny Rogers.
9:45am – Tim learns he has to pee.
10:30am – We are offered the chance to stop at a restaurant but decline.
1:05pm – We stop for lunch. Tim goes pee.
2:30pm – After waiting an hour and a half for food, we are finally back on the road.
3:40pm – Filled up with gas with the van still running.
4:00pm – We turn off the highway onto a dirt road…our first “shortcut.”
4:30pm – Spirits were high. Played the movie/actor game.
6:28pm – Still not there.
7:00pm – We place bets on when we will arrive in Mole.
7:30pm – We see a sign that says 136km to Mole. We’re think we are getting close!
7:40pm – We stop and the driver asks directions. “We are going to Mole Park, Mole Mole Park.” Four group members jump out of the van and relieve themselves in the bushes.
7:42pm – We turn the van around 180 degrees. So too does our morale. Our driver decides to take a “shortcut.”
8:04pm – We turn off on another shortcut…another dirt road. Group morale sinks even lower.
8:16pm – Alex tries to crack jokes to lighten the mood. No laughter.
9:35pm – Car sickness strikes the group.
9:55pm – The road turns into pavement. Tentative excitement in the van.
9:58pm – The road becomes dirt again. Group morale sinks to its lowest point yet.
10:10pm – Tessa and Molly see a red flashing light and claim it is the ranger tower in Mole and that we have been circling the park for the last four hours. Tim says it is just a mirage. Molly and Tessa cope by laughing, even though no one else thinks it is funny.
10:28pm – Still not there.
10:34pm – The driver pulls the van over and we all hold our breaths as we suspect a flat tire. Luckily not.
10:46pm – We finally arrive, but the lodge doesn’t have room for all of us. Five of us sleep there and five sleep on the roof. By that point, any place out of the van sounded great!
The next day of elephant hunting, baboon chasing, and sunset watching more than made up for the challenge of getting there…looking back it was good “group bonding time.” :)
7:00am – Breakfast at the St. James Guesthouse.
8:00am – Took a group picture and then departed from Senchi Ferry.
9:02am – Jammed to Kenny Rogers.
9:45am – Tim learns he has to pee.
10:30am – We are offered the chance to stop at a restaurant but decline.
1:05pm – We stop for lunch. Tim goes pee.
2:30pm – After waiting an hour and a half for food, we are finally back on the road.
3:40pm – Filled up with gas with the van still running.
4:00pm – We turn off the highway onto a dirt road…our first “shortcut.”
4:30pm – Spirits were high. Played the movie/actor game.
6:28pm – Still not there.
7:00pm – We place bets on when we will arrive in Mole.
7:30pm – We see a sign that says 136km to Mole. We’re think we are getting close!
7:40pm – We stop and the driver asks directions. “We are going to Mole Park, Mole Mole Park.” Four group members jump out of the van and relieve themselves in the bushes.
7:42pm – We turn the van around 180 degrees. So too does our morale. Our driver decides to take a “shortcut.”
8:04pm – We turn off on another shortcut…another dirt road. Group morale sinks even lower.
8:16pm – Alex tries to crack jokes to lighten the mood. No laughter.
9:35pm – Car sickness strikes the group.
9:55pm – The road turns into pavement. Tentative excitement in the van.
9:58pm – The road becomes dirt again. Group morale sinks to its lowest point yet.
10:10pm – Tessa and Molly see a red flashing light and claim it is the ranger tower in Mole and that we have been circling the park for the last four hours. Tim says it is just a mirage. Molly and Tessa cope by laughing, even though no one else thinks it is funny.
10:28pm – Still not there.
10:34pm – The driver pulls the van over and we all hold our breaths as we suspect a flat tire. Luckily not.
10:46pm – We finally arrive, but the lodge doesn’t have room for all of us. Five of us sleep there and five sleep on the roof. By that point, any place out of the van sounded great!
The next day of elephant hunting, baboon chasing, and sunset watching more than made up for the challenge of getting there…looking back it was good “group bonding time.” :)
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Atimpoku and South Senchi Clinics
Wo ho te sen?
I started my clinic days at Atimpoku with Tim and Kylie (from Loyola Chicago). We quickly found out that Ghana's healthcare system is much more organized than I anticipated. Family planning, prenatal visits, and child welfare clinics take make up most of the clinic time.
Atimpoku is along the river and was the most urban clinic. One day, we walked around the community, visited houses, and told pregnant mothers and sick children to come into the clinic. The next day we participated in the outreach program in which we went to another small village. Here we gave vaccinations and weighed babies. Each child had a book to keep track of his or her weight, vaccinations, and growth chart. It was the most involved that we had been all week and time flew! While one of us hung the baby in a clothe bag from a scale hooked to a tree, others were giving vaccinations or taking the adult's blood pressure. Most of the babies seemed very comfortable with some random Obroni holding them; however, others screamed bloody murder at the sight of me-- yikes.
At South Senchi, quite a few more patients came into the clinic. The nurses here also involved us in their record keeping and prescription writing. They diagnosed a lot of malaria and upper respiratory infections. This clinic was also staffed with a midwife, who helped with a delivery almost every night. I practically begged her to come get me in the middle of the night sometime, but she never did.
One day while I was at S. Senchi with Anne, a 13 year old boy came in with an abscess on the sole of his foot. The nurse, Janet, started off with good disinfecting technique, but then it took a downturn. There was no anesthetic. Janet started off by cutting away the skin, which looked pretty painful, then she took a scalpel blade and jabbed it into the abscess multiple times. The boy was trying very hard not to move his foot, but on multiple occassions he pulled it back. It looked extremely painful! I had to look away for a while because he was in so much pain. When she started to clean up, she would wipe disinfectant over his wound, which was good, but then she would wipe blood from the stool that his foot was on and go back to the wound with the same cotton swab! The foot was wrapped up, the boy was given a 100mg parecetamol, and then he was given a shot of antibiotic. He would be coming back everyother day for another shot and re-wrapping.
Maa che
-- Sara
I started my clinic days at Atimpoku with Tim and Kylie (from Loyola Chicago). We quickly found out that Ghana's healthcare system is much more organized than I anticipated. Family planning, prenatal visits, and child welfare clinics take make up most of the clinic time.
Atimpoku is along the river and was the most urban clinic. One day, we walked around the community, visited houses, and told pregnant mothers and sick children to come into the clinic. The next day we participated in the outreach program in which we went to another small village. Here we gave vaccinations and weighed babies. Each child had a book to keep track of his or her weight, vaccinations, and growth chart. It was the most involved that we had been all week and time flew! While one of us hung the baby in a clothe bag from a scale hooked to a tree, others were giving vaccinations or taking the adult's blood pressure. Most of the babies seemed very comfortable with some random Obroni holding them; however, others screamed bloody murder at the sight of me-- yikes.
At South Senchi, quite a few more patients came into the clinic. The nurses here also involved us in their record keeping and prescription writing. They diagnosed a lot of malaria and upper respiratory infections. This clinic was also staffed with a midwife, who helped with a delivery almost every night. I practically begged her to come get me in the middle of the night sometime, but she never did.
One day while I was at S. Senchi with Anne, a 13 year old boy came in with an abscess on the sole of his foot. The nurse, Janet, started off with good disinfecting technique, but then it took a downturn. There was no anesthetic. Janet started off by cutting away the skin, which looked pretty painful, then she took a scalpel blade and jabbed it into the abscess multiple times. The boy was trying very hard not to move his foot, but on multiple occassions he pulled it back. It looked extremely painful! I had to look away for a while because he was in so much pain. When she started to clean up, she would wipe disinfectant over his wound, which was good, but then she would wipe blood from the stool that his foot was on and go back to the wound with the same cotton swab! The foot was wrapped up, the boy was given a 100mg parecetamol, and then he was given a shot of antibiotic. He would be coming back everyother day for another shot and re-wrapping.
Maa che
-- Sara
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