Day 13

After a good sleep-in this morning a few of us decided to go to into the hospital to find that nothing was going on in minor. I bandaged a few people’s wounds and then a few of us decided to walk around the rest of the hospital. Today was a tough one for me because the state of healthcare and public health became even more obvious. I went into maternity to find newborn twins lying next to each other completely unattended. One of them was perfectly pink, and the other was screaming crying and was dark blue. The three of us immediately noticed the urgency of the situation and tried giving him oxygen and suctioning out his secretions until a nurse meandered in to ask what was wrong. The suction machine ended up not being able to work and I found myself praying for the oxygen machine to be enough.

The ceiling is falling down. There is still no soap. Today I was told to wash my hands with water from a barrel. Warm, stagnant water.

I’m trying to suppress the reaction to be angry at this situation, to resist thinking that these people would have a better chance in a first world country. Most of this is not a healthcare issue because the staff is well equipped; it’s a public health issue. It’s an issue of caring. Caring about the sterile field and caring about contaminating the patient’s wound. I’m choosing to focus this anger into motivation but only after letting it simmer for several hours. Like I said, today was a tough one.  

                                                                 medical supplies

                                                               a room in Minor Theatre

                                                                     The Ceiling

 

                                                             An Xray amongst the trees

                                                            wound and catheter station