Our day usually starts at 4:50 AM when we arise to start the day with devotions and often a walk or run up the mountain. Breakfast is at 6:45 in the guest house. Hospital rounds start at 7:30 when all the docs meet at the nursing station, which the central hub of the hospital and where everyone congregates. We begin in the Soin Intensif (intensive care unit, where oxygen is available and there is closer nursing care), then move to the men's ward, women's ward, maternity, and, finally, pediatrics. We finish rounds by 10 AM and then head to the outpatient clinic where we see patients from 10 to 12 and then 2 PM until all have been seen. From noon to 2 PM is the Togolese version of siesta, where everything comes to a halt in the heat of the day. We return to the guesthouse, grab a quick Clif Bar lunch, read a bit, and enjoy the break. After the afternoon clinic is done, we return to the guesthouse for a 6 PM dinner. Evenings are spent reading, journaling, or visiting. On Sunday evening, we have church services for the missionaries. Tuesday evenings are prayer meeting. The on-call doc usually heads back to the hospital sometime in the early evening for quick walk through rounds, to answer questions, and put out any fires. Most nights, we are in bed by 10 PM, if not earlier!
 |
| Early morning at the Nursing Station |
 |
| Nurse Gnoyi caring for a critically ill patient in intensive care. |
 |
Examining an old man who had life-threatening pneumonia but who
is on the mend after 3 days in intensive care. |
 |
| A corner of the men's ward. |
 |
| Chaplain Justin visitng with a patient . |
 |
| Docs and nurses rounding in the pediatrics ward. |
 |
Praying over a critically ill patient in ICU. At the left is visiting cardiothoracic
surgeon Ed Fitzgerald who did chest surgery on a young girl who had an empyema
which is a pocket of pus in the chest cavity. |
 |
| Pastor George praying with a patient in men's ward. |
No comments:
Post a Comment