At the Station (inpatient unit)

 Some patients are so sick that they are sent directly from the front gate to the emergency area, which is called "Rea" for "reanimation. Susie's main work has been at the "Rea", where she works with well trained nurses who can rapidly get an IV started, draw labs, and attach whatever monitors are appropriate. After initial evaluation and observation, patients are then either admitted or discharged with outpatient followup.

Surrounding the central nursing area are multiple rooms for pediatrics, adults, and maternity. 

It is "meningitis season" and Susie has done a number of spinal taps on tiny kids. Also, snake bites are common in Togo - cobras, vipers, green mambas, and other assorted monsters! She has seen 4 cases already - thankfully, we have the antivenom needed to rescue these patients from the potential complications of paralysis, bleeding, and tissue damage.

The nursing station is large and well equipped.

Below is Susie at her station in Rea.

There are 4 beds with monitoring capabilities.

This boy was seen in clinic today . He had been at another hospital for one week receiving an "injection" each day. As is common, the family did not know any of the details or bring any outside records. I (Dave) was not able to get an oxygen saturation level on him so took him quickly over to Susie in Rea where nasal oxygen was started and labs obtained. His hematocrit was extremely low at only 13%!! Here he is after an urgent transfusion, sitting up and alert!!

What is the old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words!!!"

Patients sometimes bring in the (dead) snake that bit them so that it can be identified. The antivenom we have covers multiple West African snakes, thankfully!!