What a day!!!
It started off innocently enough with plans to visit St. Anne’s hospital in the district of Nkhotakota. We received a call advising us that our time table was pushed back an hour and a half,which was good new as it allowed us time to catch up on our email. We are finding the hours between 6 and 7:30 am provide the best internet response times.
Once on the road, heading northwest towards Salima, you could see the real beauty of Malawi. There were rolling hills for as far as you could see in the distance and it seemed that every 5KM we were driving past a village. These villages were amazing as they were made up of between 10 to 15 edoby style huts with thatch roofs. Most of the villagers stayed very close to the shade trees because the temperature this morning around 9:30 -10:00 was already closing in on 30 C….
On the way to St. Anne’s we dropped Jude off at Ngolowindo where she’s beginning her assignment working with local farmers and the co-op organization creating a marketing plan. Back on the road we were detoured due to road construction. On our new route we ran into a barrier/bridge that would have caused most people in North America turn around…. we stopped briefly, but there was no way our driver was turning back on the only paved road taking us to our destination. Phallys put her standard Toyota in low gear and inched her way on to that bridge (I don’t think I was the only one holding their breath until we got to the other side) The only sound you could hear was Phallys giggling – I’m sure due to tension
We made it to Nkhotakota 3 hour late but was graciously met by Dr. Kizwa and Lester Kamanga, the clinical officer. I was very happy to deliver the medical supplies which were desperately needed. As we were unpacking the supplies I was given a tour of the pharmacy which, in my opinion, looked very under stocked. I spent the rest of the afternoon being introduced to the hospital staff and touring this amazing hospital.
The hospital services 6 regional zones by providing out patient services, HIV/AIDS treatments services, Maternity department (averaging 5 births day), surgery (performed Wednesdays and Fridays) The average number of admitted patients at any one time is 50 and they currently have 140 registered outreach “palliative” care patients which have home visits twice monthly. The reason I stated this was an amazing facility is they only have one Physican on staff! Dr. Kizwa and his staff of clinical officers, nurses, midwives and community volunteers manage this facility.
During our debrief at the end of the day I was asked to say a few words on behalf of WUSC, for providing an ambulance bike to one of the outreach communities tomorrow. These bikes have really made a difference in the quality of care provided to Patients. Patients in some communities don’t have the resources or district support for ambulance services and these bikes are the main way to transport patients to the hospitals.
It started off innocently enough with plans to visit St. Anne’s hospital in the district of Nkhotakota. We received a call advising us that our time table was pushed back an hour and a half,which was good new as it allowed us time to catch up on our email. We are finding the hours between 6 and 7:30 am provide the best internet response times.
Once on the road, heading northwest towards Salima, you could see the real beauty of Malawi. There were rolling hills for as far as you could see in the distance and it seemed that every 5KM we were driving past a village. These villages were amazing as they were made up of between 10 to 15 edoby style huts with thatch roofs. Most of the villagers stayed very close to the shade trees because the temperature this morning around 9:30 -10:00 was already closing in on 30 C….
On the way to St. Anne’s we dropped Jude off at Ngolowindo where she’s beginning her assignment working with local farmers and the co-op organization creating a marketing plan. Back on the road we were detoured due to road construction. On our new route we ran into a barrier/bridge that would have caused most people in North America turn around…. we stopped briefly, but there was no way our driver was turning back on the only paved road taking us to our destination. Phallys put her standard Toyota in low gear and inched her way on to that bridge (I don’t think I was the only one holding their breath until we got to the other side) The only sound you could hear was Phallys giggling – I’m sure due to tension
We made it to Nkhotakota 3 hour late but was graciously met by Dr. Kizwa and Lester Kamanga, the clinical officer. I was very happy to deliver the medical supplies which were desperately needed. As we were unpacking the supplies I was given a tour of the pharmacy which, in my opinion, looked very under stocked. I spent the rest of the afternoon being introduced to the hospital staff and touring this amazing hospital.
The hospital services 6 regional zones by providing out patient services, HIV/AIDS treatments services, Maternity department (averaging 5 births day), surgery (performed Wednesdays and Fridays) The average number of admitted patients at any one time is 50 and they currently have 140 registered outreach “palliative” care patients which have home visits twice monthly. The reason I stated this was an amazing facility is they only have one Physican on staff! Dr. Kizwa and his staff of clinical officers, nurses, midwives and community volunteers manage this facility.
During our debrief at the end of the day I was asked to say a few words on behalf of WUSC, for providing an ambulance bike to one of the outreach communities tomorrow. These bikes have really made a difference in the quality of care provided to Patients. Patients in some communities don’t have the resources or district support for ambulance services and these bikes are the main way to transport patients to the hospitals.
The pictures above are of St. Anne's hospital.
No comments:
Post a Comment