First Day...

Had our 1st day at the clinic...we reported for work at 9am only to find about 30 people in the waiting area. I probably would have started to cry, if I wasn't so proud, as I anticipated the work ahead of me. Thankfully, they weren't all waiting to see the nurse. Turns out a young girl had just been hit by a car and had been brought to the clinic...nothing too serious it seems but we sent her to the hospital for further assessment...the rest were just onlookers. Spent some time trying to learn the ropes...this is real baptism by fire! Lots of pregnant moms and even more sick babies! Sometimes the only symptom is 'fever'...which in Africa, can be very serious! My greatest challenge will be adjusting to medical practices here in Africa. It seems common practice to overmedicate in the hopes that something you have prescribed will be effective since diagnostic testing is available only in the city and families can't get into the city nor have the money to pay for the testing.


JP and I hope to visit the hospital in Ziguinchor next week to speak with the Chief Medical Officer about getting some inservicing on African medicine. But I still hope, possibly nievely, the little we know of North American practice may be used to improve some of the current practices. Any of you NP's interested in doing a locum with me??


Below are some of the pictures of our new workplace...

This is currently the vaccination room - we hold 2 vaccination clinics per month in this room...I've decided to make it my office...good thing I'm married to 'the boss' :)

The medication cupboard...you can see why the villagers are upset that they often can get the medications they need here. This too will change with better management.

The hospitalization room...

The birthing room...yikes...

These little guys made our day...they were born outside of our window at the clinic.