Friday 30 October 2009
Updating our blog is proving to be somewhat of a challenge: it relies heavily on power!
- Electric power - there are frequent power cuts.
- Brain power - this is severely lacking after a hard day at work!
The Gulu Walk.
Last saturday saw thousands of orange-t-shirt-clad people take to the streets to participate in the annual Gulu Walk. This is an international event in aid of the children of Gulu. It remembers the 'night commuters' - the children who walked into Gulu from the surrounding areas at dusk for safety from the Lords Resistance Army. It also remembers those children who were, or still are, abducted by the LRA and used as child soldiers.
In the intensity of the African sun the walk wound round the streets of Gulu, the music and local people creating a real carnival atmosphere. By the time we reached the events field at the end of the walk we had acquired quite a congregation of children around us. We danced with the kids as the band played. We tied a rag from our t-shirts around the wrist of a little girl and before we knew it we were besieged by children wanting an 'orange bracelet'. We were literally tearing out t-shirts to threads to ensure that everyone had one. Can you imagine children at home getting so excited about something so simple?!
A great day had by all!
The Hospital.
We've completed our first full week at work and are feeling both physically and mentally exhausted! As we'd expected it has been a challenging week and the reality of the hospital has hit us quite hard. As a patient's relative today explained, people only present to the hospital when 'the situation is at it's worst' - this basically means that they have probably been sick for some time before presenting. Subsequently these patients require a high level of care and often the facilities and medications are lacking. As a result the staff have to be very resourceful at times. A fine example of this was a patient who needed a chest drain for a pneumothorax (for all you non medical people this was to help re-inflate a collapsed lung). A bottle of saline, a giving set and a green needle later and the chest drain was in place! We will never complain about the NHS ever again!!
Friday 23 October 2009
Our first week...
We are coming to the end of a very interesting first week here in Gulu. As well as an introduction to the hospital, we have tried to master the local language of Acholi, ridden the local boda boda transport, tried the local tipple waragi (otherwise known as poison) and spent an evening at a local home watching traditional African dancing! The Ugandan people are exceptionally friendly and always prepared to share a smile!
GULU REGIONAL REFERRAL HOSPITAL
The hospital is very run down and dilapidated. It was built in 1934 and looks like it has never undergone any renovations. The hospital is severely lacking in equipment and facilities, even the most basic of resources such as gauze to clean wounds. The patients are incredibly accepting of the hospital conditions and never complain. The beds are less than 50cm apart, and privacy and confidentiality are non existent. Many of the beds lack mattresses and bedding must be provided by the patient. Each patient must have an ‘attendant’ - often a family member, who provides for all their personal needs. Large groups sit outside the hospital preparing food for their relatives, otherwise they go without. On a plus note, a new medical and surgical ward have been built and are awaiting to open once the toilet block has been complete. The male medical patients are however currently housed in what can only be described as a barn, and the TB ward is a shack– considering it’s the rainy season with heavy down pours – the windows are sheets of plastic flapping in the breeze! The hospital also appears to have resident chickens that just run around the place – infection control at its best!!!
We’ve spent the last 3 days shadowing Nik and Sally on A and E and the Medical Ward. It’s been really interesting to see the great work that they have been doing at the hospital and be able to prepare ourselves for starting work on Monday. Here are a few stories of the week!
I know Nik has explained this story on their blog but I think it deserves a second mention….A taxi pulled up outside A and E and Nik went to ask if they needed any help. The taxi driver said ‘fine’ so we sat down and started discussing the other patients….about 5 minutes later the Sister came over and said ‘I think there is someone in the taxi who is not breathing so well’. We went straight over to see the patient…..he had already died. He can’t have been older than 20 and his mother was asking us over and over to do something for her son. We asked the Sister what happens next and she said that they would just have to take him back home.
The A and E department is literally a room with about 7 beds. A man came in saying that he thought he had malaria. Nik started taking the history and then the man said that he was going to be sick…I asked the Sister if we had any vomit bowls and she said no, he would have to go outside. So the man had to go and be sick in the gutter outside…he was not looking well at all and there were no beds in the department so we had to examine him outside on the pavement with chickens running around…so surreal.
On the Medical Ward there are some seriously ill patients that would normally be in HDU in the UK. We have been looking after a patient with Sally this week who is HIV positive with cryptococcal meningitis. The patient is desperately in need of anti retroviral therapy and it has been so hard to get the medication to him. Sally has been going to the specialist centre every day but the medication was unavailable and, with no money to buy any, the patient will not recover. After 3 days of trying Karen and Sally ended up going into town to buy them for him as a short term solution….3 pounds to us may seem like nothing but out here it can be so important.
GULU REGIONAL REFERRAL HOSPITAL
The hospital is very run down and dilapidated. It was built in 1934 and looks like it has never undergone any renovations. The hospital is severely lacking in equipment and facilities, even the most basic of resources such as gauze to clean wounds. The patients are incredibly accepting of the hospital conditions and never complain. The beds are less than 50cm apart, and privacy and confidentiality are non existent. Many of the beds lack mattresses and bedding must be provided by the patient. Each patient must have an ‘attendant’ - often a family member, who provides for all their personal needs. Large groups sit outside the hospital preparing food for their relatives, otherwise they go without. On a plus note, a new medical and surgical ward have been built and are awaiting to open once the toilet block has been complete. The male medical patients are however currently housed in what can only be described as a barn, and the TB ward is a shack– considering it’s the rainy season with heavy down pours – the windows are sheets of plastic flapping in the breeze! The hospital also appears to have resident chickens that just run around the place – infection control at its best!!!
We’ve spent the last 3 days shadowing Nik and Sally on A and E and the Medical Ward. It’s been really interesting to see the great work that they have been doing at the hospital and be able to prepare ourselves for starting work on Monday. Here are a few stories of the week!
I know Nik has explained this story on their blog but I think it deserves a second mention….A taxi pulled up outside A and E and Nik went to ask if they needed any help. The taxi driver said ‘fine’ so we sat down and started discussing the other patients….about 5 minutes later the Sister came over and said ‘I think there is someone in the taxi who is not breathing so well’. We went straight over to see the patient…..he had already died. He can’t have been older than 20 and his mother was asking us over and over to do something for her son. We asked the Sister what happens next and she said that they would just have to take him back home.
The A and E department is literally a room with about 7 beds. A man came in saying that he thought he had malaria. Nik started taking the history and then the man said that he was going to be sick…I asked the Sister if we had any vomit bowls and she said no, he would have to go outside. So the man had to go and be sick in the gutter outside…he was not looking well at all and there were no beds in the department so we had to examine him outside on the pavement with chickens running around…so surreal.
On the Medical Ward there are some seriously ill patients that would normally be in HDU in the UK. We have been looking after a patient with Sally this week who is HIV positive with cryptococcal meningitis. The patient is desperately in need of anti retroviral therapy and it has been so hard to get the medication to him. Sally has been going to the specialist centre every day but the medication was unavailable and, with no money to buy any, the patient will not recover. After 3 days of trying Karen and Sally ended up going into town to buy them for him as a short term solution….3 pounds to us may seem like nothing but out here it can be so important.
Tuesday 20 October 2009
And so the story begins......
We've been here a couple of days, enjoying and acclimatising to life in Uganda!
First impressions:
A very bumpy, pot holed, 5 hour ride from Kampala to the place we'll call home for the next 6 months! We've been welcomed with open arms not only by Sally, Nik and Joe (our team from manchester) but also by the NGO (charity) community - very social!!
We've been trying to find our way around the maze of dusty streets in town. There's a huge local market selling everything from live chickens to second hand trainers!
Gulu Regional Referral Hospital:
We visited the hospital today and met the Medical Superintendent and Head of Nursing who were very welcoming. Conditions are far removed from those in the UK! We're feeling positive that working with Dr Nik and Dr Sally, we are going to have a valuable experience.
First impressions:
- GREEN - Uganda is so green and lush, not at all how you'd imagine stereotypical Africa.
- RED - Clay roads...we are constantly covered in a hue of red dust!
- BLUE - Lake Victoria - vast, so vast like an ocean!!
A very bumpy, pot holed, 5 hour ride from Kampala to the place we'll call home for the next 6 months! We've been welcomed with open arms not only by Sally, Nik and Joe (our team from manchester) but also by the NGO (charity) community - very social!!
We've been trying to find our way around the maze of dusty streets in town. There's a huge local market selling everything from live chickens to second hand trainers!
Gulu Regional Referral Hospital:
We visited the hospital today and met the Medical Superintendent and Head of Nursing who were very welcoming. Conditions are far removed from those in the UK! We're feeling positive that working with Dr Nik and Dr Sally, we are going to have a valuable experience.
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