Hear, we go!

By Matthew Ortiz

Monday January 30, 2012

Up early on Monday morning (or mane as they abbreviate at the hospital) for our first day of clinicals. We donned our white scrubs, and the girls pinned on their nursing caps. The morning was filled with excitement and pictures: lots and lots of pictures! We met half an hour early to accommodate our Kodak moments, knowing our scrubs would never be this white again. We made sure to straighten our caps and wear appropriately colored under garments for the sake of modesty.

We met with the rest of the hospital staff for their morning devotions that they hold each day at 8 AM. We were introduced to everyone and had a time of worship and prayer. This was a great way to start the day and ease any anxiety about starting clinicals. We were each sent to a different part of the hospital.  Our assignments were as follows:

Grace spent her morning in the Lab where blood counts are done visually. She took to it naturally and successfully identified malaria based on a brief description. The lab tech did not want her to leave and even stalled by making her wash her hands, use hand sanitizer, and went so far as to ask for her e-mail. In addition to her awesome lab skills, he may have also been impressed with her blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and charming personality.

Julianne went to medical records where she discovered the complexity of paper charting. She found that English medical terms were not well known here in Ghana and got to put her spelling bee champion skills to good use. She later floated to the eye clinic where she practiced her parchment aeronautic engineering.

Bethany went to the outpatient unit that we may compare to a doctor’s office or even an ER. She helped process paperwork and took vital signs manually (compared to the U.S. way of pushing a button on a machine).  She reached out and connected with several patients and enjoyed the adorable children.

Emily started in pediatrics showing God’s love to the kids and learning the art of creating baby slings out of blankets. She later helped deliver a baby and do the initial newborn assessment.

Hays also started in pediatrics and mastered the sacred baby sling methods of western Africa. Most of the children had malaria, as most children get at some point in their life here. She too helped with the birth and got to see the baby take to the breast in the first 30 minutes: in accordance with a strict hospital policy.

Nian spent the whole day in Labor and Delivery assessing the women and helping them through the birthing process. She was wonderful during the actual birth.

Rachel was initially sent to the school; however, we had not provided enough notice and she was asked to come back another day. She spent her morning in the ante-natal clinic interviewing women about their medical history. She then helped screen for HIV and syphilis. We thank the Lord that there were not any positives. In the afternoon, she went to the eye clinic, men’s ward, and played with some adorable children.

Matt was sent to the men’s ward where he was put through paperwork boot camp and quickly learned the “do’s” and “don’ts” of admitting patients. His first experience in using those skills came from an HIV positive patient, who he got to start an IV on. This was his first IV attempt in four months and the patient only had one accessible vein. After a quick prayer, Matt slid it through and is certain he blew the vein, but God intervened because the IV worked. This was followed by a few shots and lots of IV fluids.

Kaitlin was also sent away from the school, but she was needed in labor and delivery and post-partum. She spent the day assessing fetal heart tones and funduses (fundi?).  She later helped with a delivery.

Mid-day we were invited to a staff meeting with Dr. Ablorh and discussed our schedule for while we are here. Dr. Ablorh runs all of Manna Mission which covers 40 acres and includes a hospital, school, bible school, church, mission house, eye clinic, and, soon, a nursing school. He and his staff have gone out of their way to make us feel comfortable, everything from getting us a cell phone to driving us around to preparing special dietary (gluten-free) meals for Rachel. We are quite spoiled.

We came back to the mission house at lunch and enjoyed a nice siesta. We returned to the clinic at 2 and worked until 4:30. After our clinical time in the afternoon we returned home for dinner. The food here is wonderful. We have two cooks that take care of us, often making us “American” food like French fries. Yum :)           

In the evening we trekked to the hospital and used the WiFi to contact our friends and families. That evening we got to call home on the team cell phone. After a few tries, my mother finally answered. I stressed to her not to ignore a strange number when your son is in Africa, it’s probably not a phone solicitor! Messages were left for those that we could not get a hold of.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Up early, we were joined for the morning by a group of medical students who are off to another village. It was quite the full house. We all joined the hospital staff for morning devotionals. Again, they were very refreshing. It’s great to hear some of the same songs we sing in America such as “Oh, How I love Jesus” and “How Marvelous, How Wonderful.”

We returned home for class. Oh yeah, that whole ‘school’ thing... forgot about that. We split into two groups and brain stormed community projects that we can implement to serve the Ghanaian people and the hospital. Mid-morning we were visited by Joyce, the ophthalmologic nurse at the eye clinic. We gave her 300 pairs of glasses that we had brought for her. (See us model them in the following picture). The afternoon was spent working hard on our projects.

Late afternoon, we went to the beach with a few of our Ghanaian friends. When we arrived, we were rushed to seats and made comfortable. There were natives offering horseback rides or ATV rentals, neither interested us much and they didn’t hang around when we announced we had no money. Again, lots and lots of pictures were taken. We spent a long time body surfing and splashing around.

It wasn’t long until Rachel and Matt found a sand dollar and the search was on for each to claim their fortune. Ms. Poore was set to find her granddaughter, Kinley, a sand dollar for her seashell jar. We walked up and down the beach searching, one by one others found them, but we couldn’t find one for Kinley. We prayed, and moments later, Ms. Poore shouted with delight finding one where Matt and Rachel had looked seconds earlier. We later prayed that the rest of the team would get a sand dollar. It was time to go, and four people hadn’t found one yet, when Matt was approached by one of the horse tenders holding a handful of sand dollars. At first, Matt thought that he wanted to sell them, but he called out saying they were a gift. He had exactly enough for each person who had not yet found one. God showed us how much He cares about the small things in our lives.

When we got home, we all rushed for the showers only to find we had no water pressure. So, we settled down sandy and hungry for dinner. After dinner we had devotionals. God’s presence came in a powerful way. People shared a lot from their hearts and God spoke through testimonies, scriptures, and words of affirmation. He has built strong bonds between the team members and it has led to a greater strength in our ministry here, as we are learning how to support and encourage each other. Each team member brings unique strengths that are invaluable to the team as a whole. It is crystal clear that we are in the center of God’s will, and there is an abundance of peace and joy.