This morning at Morning Handover I was able to present Part II of CPR to all the nurses. The beginning went pretty well, but near the end when I asked for questions I started to feel like they were just trying to come up with excuses and situations not to perform CPR. I was very frustrated, but tried to concentrate on how well Part I and the beginning of Part II went. And many of the nurses told me afterward that they really enjoyed it, so I’d say it was a win.
After Morning Handover, I made a deal with Dr. ABD: If I get to see one more surgery today, then I have to come back within the next two years to the hospital for a visit. I have no idea how I’m going to be able to afford another trip to Africa when I’m graduating and hopefully headed to med-school, so I’ll probably be pretty far in debt by then. I guess I’ll have to figure it out!
After Big Rounds, we tried to organized Danielle to get her hair braided, but the nurse who braided mine wasn’t successful in finding someone to cover her shift, so she wanted Danielle to hid in the supply closet with her so she could braid her hair on the job. Not very good work ethic. Plus Danielle has been feeling on and off because of having malaria and all. The Matron also found me while I was following the doctors on big rounds and gave me a personal note. It was a request that I purchase him a laptop. I don’t know what I’ll tell him yet, but unfortunately I can’t promise him a laptop.
Around mid-day we gathered everyone into the hut for a live demonstration on proper oral hygiene. It went really well! We had decided to do a live demonstration so that we could pass out Taylor’s toothbrushes and toothpaste that her dentist gave her to bring and give out. When the demo was over and we started passing out toothbrushes, people started showing up out of the woodwork to get the ‘free stuff.’ We had to tell people that if they didn’t sit and watch the demo that they didn’t get a toothbrush or we wouldn’t have enough for the people who actually watched the demo.
After the demo we went back to the house and had lunch, and afterward I decided to stay behind at the hospital while the other girls went into town one last time, not only because I don’t have money but because I was hoping to catch a surgery. I waited until about 16h30, and when they still hadn’t started surgery I decided to go help David cook on last time. Dinner was great, and had all our special favorites.
After dinner I had one last phone call with my family, and then went over to the Morning Handover room for on last Wednesday Night Lesson. Tonight it was about the stabilization center and the protocol they use to diagnose and treat. It was very interesting. At the end of the lesson the doctors and CHOs talked about the funding problem in the stabilization center. Not only has UNICEF cut two-thirds of the funding already, which means no plumpynut, but the last shipment that the hospital was supposed to receive still hasn’t arrived. It was stuck in the port for a while because the government wouldn’t release it, but now it has been released and last I knew it was nowhere to be found. While they were talking about whether or not the hospital could afford to supply the milk themselves once UNICEF cuts that too, I remembered Steve, the gentleman I met in the Brussels airport who knows someone (his son maybe?) who could possibly help supply the center with food and formula. I gave his contact to Dr. Erdi and Dr. ABD, and when I get home I’ll contact him and see about getting him to help fund us.
When we got back to the house, we hung out and shared pictures until late. We were going to go over to Steve’s, but by the time we were ready to head over there we were exhausted so we just went to bed.
This post is dedicated to one of the two twins that was delivered earlier this week, and died during the night last night.
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