Patients at Kibagabaga
Team members with Diane, Hospital Administrator and Pediatrician
Today we woke and had breakfast together in the dining room- beautiful fruit- papaya, banana, avocado and crusty french bread with raw honey and jam. The tea is wonderful also.
We gathered in the garden for a team orientation and to ask questions-- so many things to think about- local customs, tipping, travel around the city, hospital questions, etc. We broke into our specialty teams for strategy development and a plan of action. Karl is going to try to get us some press coverage through the local media.
The medical system here is quite different. If you have a nurse in a building somewhere you have a "clinic". They nurses use their judgement to diagnose and treat things like pneumonia, malaria, etc. If you have a physician in house it is a "hospital" and each region has a hospital of varying capability. There is one physician for every 48,000 people in Rwanda. There are perhaps 15 surgeons in total in the country and they rest of the time people just learn as they go. Kibagabaga hospital has one midwife and between 6 and 15 births per day.
So, we finally got to the hospital. Its hard to describe it exactly. The hospital is 2 years old- a beautiful building with courtyard in the middle. It was built by the Belgian government as one team member said "out of guilt". Anyway, the surroundings are very open- all the doors hang open to the outside. Medications sit here and there, supplies are very limited. The patients always have family members with them to help them out - no call buttons here! The result is that there are many people everywhere- sleeping, preparing food, etc, but at least no one is left alone.
The neonatal unit is probably the most advanced- 5 incubators in one room with the mothers on fold out chairs sitting next to them. There is no ventilator. They had a newly born 28 week baby awaiting transfer to King Faisal hospital- no nurses hovering, no monitors alarming, etc.
It feels a little intrusive to tour the hospital and not to be helping, but that will all change tomorrow when I am put to work. I really enjoyed visiting with the families and children running about, the children love to be photographed and to see themselves on the screen. I took some video to show them and it was clear they had never seen that technology. So, of course this is where the homesickness reached the maximum. One of the women wanted me to use her cell phone to call home because she could see I was sad, but I knew everyone would be sleeping. Cell phone minutes are expensive here, so it was a touching gesture.
I don't know if I have ever been so exhausted, but this work is important and I am really looking forward to getting busy tomorrow.
*** the photos are taking forever to upload so there may only be a few, wish I could post more. Also we are struggling with cell phone issues so it is really hard to be out of touch.
