the clinic - Blogabond

today was my first day of visiting the clinic.

i went there with ketch after i took an inventory of the items i brought from the US.
it's one large room that you walk into with long school bench seating along the edges. there is a desk a few feet in with a dark woman dressed in white seated behind it. i took a right to the doctors office and checked a room with two beds and an IV pole to one side....and ahead the doctors office. a desk piled with papers and educational literature, a wall stacked beside meager sums of medical supplies. i saw old glass vials of ampicillin along with packages of sterile NS and LR. there were no filtering syringes...no iv bags made specifically for certain vials...

this day we only had perhaps 4 patients. we took two vitals of each patient: temperature and blood pressure...filled out their patient forms on pages that smelt of time and let them wait til the doctor came to retrieve them...or merely called from her chamber.

mostly in this day we sat. we waited for patients. we read from my tropical medicine book, which i'm very happy to bring here. the other nurses and pathophysiologists found great entertainment among her pages.

dingha's laboratory

zinger showed me the basics to labratory testing of syphilis, malaria, and typhoid, which was very exciting. it seemed very ancient to me. the bottles seemed old and used, as did the supplies. due to lack of supply, the experienced bloodworker had to reuse supplies he would have otherwise disposed of. little things like the most basic of eye droppers. everyone was very kind and patient with me...even if they had to explain something twice...even if they didn't have to, but due to hindered communication levels just THOUGHT they had to...

and afterwards helen, and zinger, and franklin and i (all in the medical profession) met at a local pub for grilled beef and onions on a stick and some amstel lager...we spoke of climbing the mountain and furthering our careers and enjoying our families.

it was a good good night.
and it ended with rice and beans!!

and tomorrow we'll go to the community to teach...and to inform of some extra test we will be performing on saturday. i'm looking forward!!

written by

theresa on October 19, 2009 from Douala, Cameroon

from the travel blog: to africa

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Love the blog!

written by Amanda Mullikin on October 19, 2009

written by Sara Branch on October 20, 2009

WOW!! sounds like you are going to really help people. I have saved this address to my favs so I can check on you. I did not realize who you really were when I worked with you. I hope all is well today.

written by Jessica Maynard Lowe on October 30, 2009

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