I slept pretty well for being on a hard bed & very overstuffed hard pillow, but I did last night put my own pillowcase on the pillow & believe it or not that makes a difference - a little bit of home here in Ghana! It rained here ALOT last night - no lightening like there was in Accra but a similar loud storm with lots of rain. I suppose that is why it is so green here in this valley. Normally I love the rain, but I am not sure if it will make it even more humid? I was up by 6:15, at breakfast by 7 and the first person on the bus before it was to leave at 7:30 even with a side trip back to my room to get scrubs since we will set up the PACU today :)
I still started my day with my hair down & thought I would see how long I lasted before ponytail mode! Surprisingly at the hospital the sun was not out & it was cooler & less humid than yesterday - so grateful! There was only about 12 patients waiting when we arrived & we set everything up for screening pretty quickly. There were a lot fewer patients than yesterday and it was much slower paced for sure -but still so many cuties!!! There was a 4-year-old girl who was the sister to a patient & she was a very active lil girl keeping all the students busy & she had the cutest smile. We colored together when I was in between screening patients. There were also a couple of sad stories. The first was a teeny tiny baby I thought was maybe 3 months old but she actually was 7 months & had a cleft lip. She & her 16-year-old mom traveled over 24 hours from a mining town north of Ho - they have been involved w/ Op Smile & seen their nutritionist to try to help her gain weight, but she just isn't "thriving". She can sit up & grabs for toys so is meeting some milestones but also has no hair on the back of her head so perhaps is laying down much of the day. I asked Clover whether she thought the baby would be eligible for surgery & she did not think so because she won't meet the weight for surgery requirement even though she meets the 6 mos. age requirement. he has no caloric/energy reserves for the stress of surgery and the calories needed for recovery put her at too much risk,,,it's such a catch 22 to be in & her mom is so young :( The 2nd little girl had her lip repaired but still had a cleft palate & a "syndrome" of clefts -her fingers on both hands & toes on both feet & her ears. I am unsure if all these areas were developing & impacted the same way in utero bue she was cute & ran up to me & hugged me whenI was by the play area.
The surprises...Surprise #1 Vida the Clinical Coordinator came up to me & said since you are the "PACU Nursing Team Leader" I need you to make the on call list Monday to Friday with names, phone #s & rom numbers (which is typical) & since you have Provisionally Credentialed Nurses you would have to come in with them if we got called in....so much for not being in charge...I had no idea I was the PACU Nursing Team Leader & was happy to defer to Beatrice who was happy to be in charge but now that has changed - I am unsure if as the Educator/Trainer I am in charge cause Beatrice is also training or if its because I am on my 20th mission? I took Mon & Wed to be on call & did get all the nights covered. Beatrice will take Friday night since I think I will be heading back to Accra to get my 9 am flight Saturday morning & that airport required you to be there 3 hours before your flight? Fortunately in my previous 19 missions I think I have had to go in or stay overnight 4 or 5 times so I am hoping there will be no callbacks or late nights - if you are the praying type - pray for that please :)
We did go set up the PACU. Op Smile has moved to getting supplies in country instead of flying in cargo like they used too & we would get boxes & boxes of supplies but they would keep them in the are for numerous missions. Today we had ONE black storage box (the kind with the yellow lids) with VERY MINIMAL supplies..."just the basics" is saying it nicely. since all the other nurses are from Ghana they were unphased but my oh my - my brain was buzzing with...we don't have....about 20 things at least. I tried to remember they have all done missions here & medicine here is much different than in the USA - so I am going to have to fix my brain on that too.... We also checked the emergency boxes & at that point I did intervene - if we didn't have exactly what was on the list they wanted to leave that supply out...so a if the list said 3 cc syringe with a needle & we only had them without a needle they were going to leave it empty so I said - "If we have an emergency & need to draw up medications we need syringes & we can have the needles separate"...so there will be teaching opportunities & as an educator that is why I am here.
Surprise #2 was when we got back to the hotel for the "education day" they had trouble with the AV so we skipped the general session & went into our specialties. some of the PACU nurses were slow to arrive & in my experience the PACU MD has always run those team mtgs. One of the local nurses went up to him to see if her wanted to join us to talk about his preferences & routines & he said that the PACU Nursing team Leader leads that meeting & he would be in the meeting with the physicians!!! So I was also unprepared to lead that discussion but did it anyway talking about my experiences with how to make things run smoothly, working as a team, if ANYTHING bothers you say something, rotation of taking patients etc. We went over the charting, available medications we have, OP Smile Standards for how long patients stay & emergency responses...but it was very "off the cuff". I asked all of them for their preferences on missions, best & worst experiences & that we all will work together for the kids. Beatrice did want us to all review the Operation Smile Academy PACU Pathway for training & we made a PACU Whatsapp group chat & she sent the content to all of us..I have a lil reviewing to do before Monday!!!
Church Update: Lots of texts today with Salam & Pre Offari - he was in Accra all day - I don't think that is where he works as its 2-3 hours away without traffic? Perhaps he was there on church business? Anyway, he was not returning until late & I THINK I can go to church at 9 am tomorrow in Ho which is his Branch & Salam goes to a different Branch but she will meet us at the Ho building at 10 am. I am very excited to meet with them & talk t them about how we can help humanity in Ho :)
There are MANY churches her in Ho & were many in Accra - I believe Ghana is a very religious country & in fact all day yesterday & today they played what I would call Ghana Gospel music loudly in the screening area on a large blue tooth speaker connected to one of the team members phones. I LOVED IT!!! some of it was in the Twi language & other songs in English. Often times many of the team members were singing along :) songs of praise, songs about Jesus, songs about loving others.
Funny Moments & Ghana Info: Two of the local nurses came up to me to tell me that they "loved my style" how I tucked my shirt into my trousers & it looked so "stylish & smart". Mind you I am wearing high waister wide legged jeans & an old Op smile T shirt from a previous mission. I simply thanked them thinking that I would always tuck a shirt in with these jeans...then I looked around & not a single other person had their T Shirt tucked in...I would have never noticed that....perhaps I will start a new trend in Ghana or at least here on future missions!
I did not realize until this morning that they want you to give them your room key when you leave in the morning? They must have a "master key" as my bed has been made each day so they came to my room??? I do recall doing this before in Africa. Problem was I know where my room is but couldn't remember if I was 122 or 123 so I had to have them look it up on the paper Op smile room log.
FYI there are 2 traffic lights in Ho - one works & one does not. I just didn't notice it yesterday when we drove to the hospital perhaps because the light was green & we just drove thru it?
It is not unusual to see girls fighting girls in Ghana - often pulling hair. Oddly I saw a few from the bus in Accra & didn't think anything of it then this morning at the hospital everyone was looking in one direction & I asked "what's going on" & was told casually "girls fighting" & sure enough they were. I really need to understand this more???
That's all I've got for today...calling it an early night. I had my peanut butter sandwich for lunch at the hospital because lunch (from the same place & same meal) came at 3 pm. I did take one to eat a bit of dinner in my room but I REALLY want to get to bed early tonight as I am already feeling just a little tired & surgery week hasn't started. I am excited to take my "Tuk Tuk" to church tomorrow & worship with the people here. It is so AMAZING that 7500 miles from home I can go to church and will have some of the same experiences I would going to church at home just with a "Ghana twist" to it :) Worldwide church experiences. LOTs of LOVE Nurse Nancy
No comments:
Post a Comment