First Day at the Clinic...

It is around 6:45pm here and Kristen, Michelle, and I are worn out after a full day in the clinic today. We each slept in separate beds last night, believe it or not, had there been a full bed we most likely would've snuggled :) we awoke around 7:45 this morning, had a breakfast of boiled eggs and coffee and headed out on a 20 minute walk on a dirt path up the mountain to the clinic. Let me tell you a little more in detail about the clinic, staff, and how things work now that we have had a tad more orienting.

Dr. Lisa, one of four pediatricians in Eastern Uganda, has been in Uganda on and off since 2008. She originally came to Uganda with FIMRC as a volunteer for one month while in medical school, fell in love with the country, and hasn't been able to stay away for more than a month at a time since (I wish I was as strong as she is), leaving all her family back in Colorado. She has single handedly devised the clinic into what it is today. There is an office where they are able to do work from laptops when internet is working, financing, education modules, etc. We shadowed the staff today to get a general lay of the land and flow of the clinic. There is a basic triage room where a nurse obtains vitals signs, height, weight, and chief complaint. It is then up to the nurse to determine if the patient can go straight to the lab for testing, or if they need to see the clinical officer (the equivalent to a PA) who will further investigate. There is a medication room where medications are dispensed for anything from pneumonia to malaria. For severe malaria treatment they start IV's and give a loading dose of antibiotics over 4 hours, then sending the pt home on oral medications. The lab runs tests for malaria (got to see a +malaria blood smear today!), HIV, urinalysis, hemoglobin counts for HIV positive patients, blood glucose, and stool studies. They have quite the system down, seeing an average of 90-100 patients a day. The clinic runs from 9-5 Monday thru Friday and 9-2 on Saturday. People walk hours with their children to come for healthcare which is free for children, while adults are charged a small fee for a visit and medications if needed. Children are the priority and adults are usually not seen until after 2 pm. Due to the high volume of patients, some may not be seen in that day and must return the next day in hopes of receiving care.

So what is it we are going to be doing? EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION! There are several different groups that meet at the clinic to which we will be presenting (mens groups, womens groups, young womens groups, HIV+ patient groups, counseling for parents of children with HIV). We will be presenting on topics such as nutrition, sanitation, sexual education, etc. We will be doing home visits to meet with some of the groups, working in partnership with the school associated to the clinic, Arlington Academy of Hope, and several other activities. On Thursday we are going to be presenting to over a 100 children in gradeschool discussing sexual education. It is a scary thing to think some of these children are in their teens and don't know that sex causes a child or the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. We were speaking with Wilson, the coordinator of Community Outreach, today and he told us girls usually start getting married around the age of 13, boys the age of 16. On average, couples have 6-8 children, and some as many as 10-12, polygamy is also common here. We also spent a lot of today sorting through our 150lbs of medical supplies! We cannot thank you enough, and the staff here cannot thank you enough for all your contributions, donations, and helping us pull together supplies from work. They are truly a Godsend and people here use everything. To my Glennon folk & Mrs. Place, we counted a total of 313 of those small silver scissors! And yes we had to count EVERYTHING! Every steri strip, tegaderm, cloraprep, betadiene (which yes conveniently did explode during our flight), saline flush, t-connector, etc was counted and inventoried. But nonetheless, huge thank you's from Uganda for all your help!

The scenery here is beautiful, we are surrounded by lush green mountains, tons of trees, its so picturesque. The landscape is painted with mud/clay homes, people walking the streets in dresses of all colors, riding motorcycles, and our white skin of course :) well kristen & michelle at least. It is amazing to me how such poverty can still be so beautiful. The children here are nothing but smiles, and constantly asking "How are you? How are you?". People at the clinic speak decent english, but most of the towns people do not. Given that we are in a rural area and several of the children do not go to school, English is not as wide spread here. 

I am taken back by the way that people live, granted they do not know any better, but I cannot keep from asking myself, "What did I do for God to bless me with the life I have? Why am I living safely and securely in the US while thousands of people are living here with one set of clothing they wear for years, no shoes, women making menstrual pads out of towels and old school uniforms, little to no education, and a life expectancy of 40 years. 40 years, wow. Death often occurs here if not due to HIV, due to malaria, dehydration, sepsis, pneumonia, and other infection. Things we never contemplate worrying about here in the US. Not even 2 days here and we have been slapped in the face with the reminder to count your blessings & everyday is a gift from God, embrace it, embrace the people you cross in it. Until next time..