st. gabriel's hospital
beginning orientation
It's Mango Season!
Young lad fractured Tibia/Fibula after a fall from a mango tree.
In traction for 6 weeks.
My orientation to St. Gabriel's began with a welcome from Hospital Administrator Shida. She showed me to Zitha House - volunteer accommodation for 10 people. My room is of the student type, single bed, desk, screened windows and bathroom with shower. Very neat and clean. There are presently 3 others staying here. Nathan, is a pre-med student from Minnesota, and Drs. Caroline and Benjamin Huber (here for 6 months), are from Austria. Nathan offered to give me a hospital tour and we set out. St. Gabriel's is a Catholic mission and a member of the Christian Health Association of Malawi and serves a catchment area of 250,000.
It's an attractive red brick building with various wings, has greenspaces with flowering plants, walkways in between, and looks much nicer than it's website photo. It can accommodate 267 patients but the current census is around 150. Patients must pay small amounts for their care. All ward units are open to the air. At the back of the property is an open sided building used for cooking fires. Meal preparations are done by guardians (family members of the patients), who care for the sick. I was amazed at the sight of at least 50 women bending over small fires, stirring pots of nsima ( maize porridge - the staff of life in subSaharan Africa). The thick stinging smoke had me retreating fairly quickly. The guardians food is the only food available in the hospital.
Nathan toured me through all the hospital units (labour and delivery, operating theatre, paediatrics, male and female surgeries, male and female wards, family care centre - palliative, anti-retroviral therapy, lab, pharmacy, administration, and stores (I saw stacks of "Bill Clinton HIV/AIDS Foundation boxes). I was introduced to everyone we met. All staff speak English but most patients speak only Chichewa - definitely a steep learning curve for me.
My initial impression: a very good Tier One hospital, clean (huge number of white rubber booted cleaners), well organized, with some very sick patients. Other than the 2 little boys who fell from a tree and are now in traction, other patients that caught my eye were the burn patient who lost 3 members of her family in a cooking fire and has a long way to go to recover, and the tiny premature bird-like baby girl, who weighed 2 pounds at birth, and is now fighting for her life in a little wooden incubator. Her twin sister - stillborn.
There is currently one surgeon at the hospital - an Orthopedic specialist from Germany, who along with Clinical Officers (3 years training), and Medical Assistants (2 years training), do many different types of surgeries and treatments.
After the tour I met with Matron Kimera, and shared my medical supplies. She was so very grateful for absolutely everything, especially the paediatric I.V. starts, which the hospital has run out of. It was a fabulous feeling to be contributing to such imminent need. Matron then informed me that morning report begins at 0730, after which I would be buddied with a nurse and assigned to a unit. Looking forward......
It's an attractive red brick building with various wings, has greenspaces with flowering plants, walkways in between, and looks much nicer than it's website photo. It can accommodate 267 patients but the current census is around 150. Patients must pay small amounts for their care. All ward units are open to the air. At the back of the property is an open sided building used for cooking fires. Meal preparations are done by guardians (family members of the patients), who care for the sick. I was amazed at the sight of at least 50 women bending over small fires, stirring pots of nsima ( maize porridge - the staff of life in subSaharan Africa). The thick stinging smoke had me retreating fairly quickly. The guardians food is the only food available in the hospital.
Nathan toured me through all the hospital units (labour and delivery, operating theatre, paediatrics, male and female surgeries, male and female wards, family care centre - palliative, anti-retroviral therapy, lab, pharmacy, administration, and stores (I saw stacks of "Bill Clinton HIV/AIDS Foundation boxes). I was introduced to everyone we met. All staff speak English but most patients speak only Chichewa - definitely a steep learning curve for me.
My initial impression: a very good Tier One hospital, clean (huge number of white rubber booted cleaners), well organized, with some very sick patients. Other than the 2 little boys who fell from a tree and are now in traction, other patients that caught my eye were the burn patient who lost 3 members of her family in a cooking fire and has a long way to go to recover, and the tiny premature bird-like baby girl, who weighed 2 pounds at birth, and is now fighting for her life in a little wooden incubator. Her twin sister - stillborn.
There is currently one surgeon at the hospital - an Orthopedic specialist from Germany, who along with Clinical Officers (3 years training), and Medical Assistants (2 years training), do many different types of surgeries and treatments.
After the tour I met with Matron Kimera, and shared my medical supplies. She was so very grateful for absolutely everything, especially the paediatric I.V. starts, which the hospital has run out of. It was a fabulous feeling to be contributing to such imminent need. Matron then informed me that morning report begins at 0730, after which I would be buddied with a nurse and assigned to a unit. Looking forward......