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| Used car and 4X4 lot in front of the hospital |
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| How old is this Massey Fergason? Anyone have parts for it? |
Happy Anniversary MOM & DAD 58 years Life on the Wards Please pray 2/12/2012
When events happen that I feel so helpless about I just want to come home and blog. I have resisted this time so I can have time to analyze. I want to think I am not just biased and self serving and maybe seeing myself as a martyr. So, this is life in the OB ward where people come to have babies. Some come because they want to, some come because they live in a village and the home birth did not go well or the village health person (one village this person is a nutritionist) is unfamiliar with what to do next, if there is a hang up or problem, so they get sent to the District Hospital here in Arua as we have an obstetrician and a surgery. I am only looking on the wards for students to make sure they are showing up and not “dodging”, (disappearing to some where else) these are the work force for the hospital as well as learning time for the students. “Baptism by fire I call it”.
So, I wander in the delivery part of the ward at about 9AM and they have a mother in labor and they know she has a abrupted uterus so they are planning surgery. They also have a mother with baby having shoulder distocia who needs surgery, a mom who has prolonged labor with failure to progress and water broke meconium stained, waiting for surgery. And 1 more mom in need of a C Section. The Theater (which they call the surgery) has one large suite and I don't know how many sets of instruments and 1 Dr to do the surgery’s. So, it is a bad day for babies today. (Interesting there is a team of 5 residents from Northwestern in Chicago here following around the DR in the specialty they want to pursue for a week to observe) I asked the woman in the OB dept what she has been seeing and she shakes her head, widens her eyes, and says “A lot of stuff described in a text but not often seen”. I won't bore you with detail of all these problems, but I needed to leave, I find it breaks my heart to even know about what is happening. I went to check other students in the wards and by about 1 I got around to the theater. They were doing surgery on the second mom. First mom is back on the maternity post delivery ward where mothers whose babies have died or who have cancer are kept. She recovers there. I don't know how closely monitored they are after surgery. The indicator of how well you are doing is if you can take tea. It is highly sugared, so it gives you “strength”. I asked the surgical charge nurse how the mom did with the abrupted uterus. “She is very weak, the baby died and the mother needs blood but we do not have any at the blood bank.” 2 days before this, I was talking with a student in the theater and she was waiting for a mom who had an ectopic pregnancy and before they did the surgery they were waiting for blood for a transfusion. There was 1 unit in the district for her and it had to come from a hospital ½ hour away because they had power all the time (thanks to the Germans building them a hydroelectric plant) to be able to keep the blood refrigerated and we do not. So, with 4 critical surgerys in one day (which may really have started the night before but with no power and no fuel you cannot do surgery until sunlight) you have no blood in the area. T I A
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| Who is that strong man? |
So, I wander in the delivery part of the ward at about 9AM and they have a mother in labor and they know she has a abrupted uterus so they are planning surgery. They also have a mother with baby having shoulder distocia who needs surgery, a mom who has prolonged labor with failure to progress and water broke meconium stained, waiting for surgery. And 1 more mom in need of a C Section. The Theater (which they call the surgery) has one large suite and I don't know how many sets of instruments and 1 Dr to do the surgery’s. So, it is a bad day for babies today. (Interesting there is a team of 5 residents from Northwestern in Chicago here following around the DR in the specialty they want to pursue for a week to observe) I asked the woman in the OB dept what she has been seeing and she shakes her head, widens her eyes, and says “A lot of stuff described in a text but not often seen”. I won't bore you with detail of all these problems, but I needed to leave, I find it breaks my heart to even know about what is happening. I went to check other students in the wards and by about 1 I got around to the theater. They were doing surgery on the second mom. First mom is back on the maternity post delivery ward where mothers whose babies have died or who have cancer are kept. She recovers there. I don't know how closely monitored they are after surgery. The indicator of how well you are doing is if you can take tea. It is highly sugared, so it gives you “strength”. I asked the surgical charge nurse how the mom did with the abrupted uterus. “She is very weak, the baby died and the mother needs blood but we do not have any at the blood bank.” 2 days before this, I was talking with a student in the theater and she was waiting for a mom who had an ectopic pregnancy and before they did the surgery they were waiting for blood for a transfusion. There was 1 unit in the district for her and it had to come from a hospital ½ hour away because they had power all the time (thanks to the Germans building them a hydroelectric plant) to be able to keep the blood refrigerated and we do not. So, with 4 critical surgerys in one day (which may really have started the night before but with no power and no fuel you cannot do surgery until sunlight) you have no blood in the area. T I A
Next day I am wandering again finding students and there is a hospital wide meeting on quality of care. All the charge nurses of the wards and clinical officers are there along with management. The staffs rated the hospital on how well they thought it was doing
Excellent
Very good
Good
Fair
Poor
Very Poor.
Dumb me stuck up my hand at fair, my criteria is some people live and go home but too many are dying. The people of the hospital rated it very good. I wonder what poor looks like? (Maybe that is what the health centers are with a nutritionist as educated staff for all the health problems. Each sub county village has a health center with a assigned staff. Whether the staff actually comes or not is another matter.) So, I need all of you to pray!!! How can his be different for the Ugandan people? How Lord, would you have me serve? Please Lord Jesus, return quickly to make the world anew in your order. Thanks, it helps me to know I am supported. From Uganda where the full moon is spectacular, the breeze today is cool, and the church services are inspirational. Marc
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| Newer ambulance with no fuel. |
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| HOW OLD IS THIS TRUCK AND WHAT COUNTRY DID IT COME FROM? |
You may wonder what these pictures have to do with this blog. They don't. I know guys are reading this too so, I have left out details of medical words as my son said that is gross so I included pics of the various junk laying around the hospital. It dies where last parked and if you want to move it or revive it, it now becomes a way of someone somewhere to try and make money off it. The people interested in it are poor, so it stays were it is and the constantly blowing dirt of Africa eventually buries it. See tires. Enjoy the pics boys... Does anyone know since the super bowl is over where I can just watch the commercials?
