Micah Flint

Preventable but Deadly

So far since we have been here two children have presented with Tetanus at the hospital.  There is treatment available for tetanus if the patient arrives at the hospital during the early stages of their illness; however, if they wait it is a painful and agonizing death to experience and watch.  Unfortunately, all to often at the BMC a mother has to watch her son or daughter go through such an agonizing death of contractions, shaking, and fighting for a breath.  I saw this same thing happen the last time I was here and it breaks your heart to know that this could easily be prevented if this child was vaccinated.  Sadly, many here still have not been vaccinated due to access.

Again, it makes me realize how blessed we are in the USA where every child is offered vaccinations, no matter if their parents are unable to pay for them.  For those in the States who decide not to vaccinate their children, they would quickly change their mind if they spent one day here at the BMC.

Oh, Lailah is still doing great.  She has made many friends; eaten all different types of Ghanaian bugs and dirt, and mom washes her about 4-5 times a day.

Micah

Snowman in Ghana?

There is a physician that has been here with her family since mid-December.  They decided to make their Christmas in Ghana feel more like home by building their “Ghanaian” rendition of a snowman and here it is:

Saturday - What a Day

After rounds yesterday morning, Dr. Joel Dickens ( a full-time OB/GYN at BMC) took some of the volunteers hiking.  Although Nalerigu is consider desert the terrain is beautiful.  The area we went to was unique as boulders and rocks shot up everywhere.  After reaching the top of a bluff you could look out for miles.  In fact, we could see the country of Togo from where we stood.

After the hike we arrived back to the hospital where I found myself feeling strangely ill.  In a matter of a few hours I was hugging the porcelain bowl viewing for the second time what I had eaten that day, and the day before.  After a few hours of this I began to think about what a Ghanaian in a village that is a two days walk from the hospital would have to go through if they were sick like this.  I had a bed, a fan, and a porcelain bowl for my event but what amenities would they have?  My body ached, chills, then hot, and the smell of fires in town drifted through the windows making maters worse.  After a few hours of this, I knew I was going to become dehydrated if the vomiting did not stop so I took some meds to stop the vomiting.  It worked after an hour!  Yet, I could not sleep and my mind drifted back to what a Ghanaian would feel if in this circumstance.  I thought about how they would have not meds readily available, how if needed I would have a team of doctors working on me, starting IVs…it would take the Ghanaian in my head 2 days just to reach the BMC.  What would that trip be like?  Vomiting, dehydration, no water, dry, body aching, sleeping on the ground literally in the middle of nowhere.  Finally, arriving at the hospital to be admitted for severe dehydration.

Although weak, I am better but for the hundreds, even thousands, of Ghanaians in the Northern Region they are not so lucky.  My short bout of sickness made me realize how blessed we in the USA are.  Even the poorest of the poor in the USA have resources available to them that many Ghanaians never could even imagine having.

Oh yes, Lailah is doing just fine.  She has made some friends and seems to enjoy the heat as much as Jen and I.  The only draw back is she still thinks everything in Ghana must be tasted, go figure!!!

Micah

Ghana – 3 “In Nalerigu”

As mentioned in my previous post we have arrived in Nalerigu yesterday safely.  We woke up around 4am, arrived at the Accra domestic airport and traveled to Tamale.  A worker from the hospital drove us the 2 hours from Tamale to Nalerigu.  During our conversation we learned that he was the brother of Moses, the head pharmacists at the BMC that was killed just last month.  To read about Moses story go to baptistmedicalcenter.org  It was amazing to see the strength and conviction of this man as he told his brother’s story.

Once in Nalerigu we settled into “our” Guesthouse #8 for a nap.  We had lunch and then went to work.  Jen admitted and care for a toddler who had ingested a large amount of homemade alcohol, moonshine.  Unfortunately, without the appropriate available medicines and support the child died shortly after admission.  Pediatric death is so common here, mostly preventable, and is something that both Jen and I are interested in understanding the emotional, spiritual, and relational issues involved with such a common event in a culture.

In addition to us, there is a OB/GYN doctor and her family volunteering as well as an INMED medical student, Nina Hicks.  You can also access Nina’s blog on the left hand side of the INMED blogs.

Day 1 done and many more experiences to come!

Micah

Ghana - 2

Meeting A True Hero

Yes, we have arrived in Nalerigu, Ghana safely!  Lailah was so good with the trip and putting up with us dragging her half way around the world and all through Ghana. 

Yesterday morning we landed in Accra Ghana, showered, had a nap, showered again, and then had the privilege to have supper with the Gongwer family prior to our 6am flight to Tamale, then a 2.5 hour drive to Nalerigu.  For some of you in the INMED “family” you probably have heard of Dr. Cameron Gongwer, for others, Dr. Gongwer and his family have committed over a decade to the people of Ghana.  His passion for his faith and his dedication to caring for the forgotten of this world is humbling and inspiring.  Interestingly, their daughter was around Lailah’s age when they permanently moved to Ghana.  Eating supper with this family I quickly realized I was in the presence of true heroes.  No they will probably never get the limelight or acknowledgement of their sacrificial lives plastered on TV or Magazines, but they have made a significant impression on our family and thousands of others in Ghana that they have touched. 

So here is my poor attempt to recognize a family that truly are heroes – THANK YOU GONGWER’S FOR YOUR PASSION AND LOVE FOR GOD AND THE FORGOTTEN OF THIS WORLD!!!!

Micah

Ghana Journal Entry - 1

Saint Augustine once stated, “The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page”.  St. Augustine knew that the Creator spoke the World in place, and did so as if reading His own manuscript.  Thus understood that the more you see of the World the more you can appreciate the Words of the Creator.

Jen, myself, and Lailah are on excursion of experience, revelation, and curiosity to understand the World through the Words and eyes of the Creator.  In doing so we are headed to Ghana, West Africa (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gh.html)  for the month of January.  There, we will work in a rural hospital,  Baptist Medical Centre (http://www.baptistmedicalcenter.org/), experience a culture through the eyes of God, and do a lot of listening of the people and of the Creator God.

So I invite you to join us on this adventure through this blog and to write comments or words of encouragement when led.  Together we will read the World’s book, page by page.

Micah

A QUIZ IF YOU DARE

Medical care is to health care as the US President is to____________

A. Commander in Chief

B.Executive Branch

C. Government

A “Crisis” in Perspective

According to the Newspapers, News Agencies, and yes the President and Congress of the United States of America, the US is in a continual state of crisis.  Our economy is failing, our health care system is in collapse, and the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.  I will not enter into the political banter on this blog, although I am not short on words for what I think, rather I want to view the US crisis through the lens of the world.  Here are some interesting statistics:

1.    In 2000 the per capita income of the US was 360% higher than the world’s average per capita income.

2.    56% of the world’s population lives on $2 or less a day.  The Average American earns 46-92 times that amount.  Americans spend their money per day on the following:

a.    $.20 a day on cosmetics

b.    $.50 on jewelry

c.     $6.00 on gambling

d.    $7.00 on automobiles

e.    $9.00 on food

3.    80% of Americans have health insurance and 100% of Americans have access to medical care…projections suggest that millions of individuals living in developing countries have no health insurance nor access to medical care.

These statistics should not guilt Americans into identifying the inequalities or suggests “equal distribution” but rather we should choose our words carefully when we start describing our situation as a “crisis”.  

Mother Teresa Had an Army

Most people seem to know who Mother Teresa is.  If you ask someone why Mother Teresa is so well known the typical answer would be “her work with the home of the dying in Calcutta with street people”, or “her love and care for the untouchables of India”, or “her work in orphanages”.  Then ask the same person, “who is Brother Andrew or Sister Luke?” and  you will get a blank look, with no response.  Do you know who Brother Andrew or Sister Luke are?  Probably not. 

Brother Andrew and Sister Luke were among the army of compassionate, dedicated, and sacrificial servants that ran the home of the dying in Calcutta.  These individuals live in the lime-light of Mother Teresa but they were the ones  that every day cared for the dying patients, completed the unpleasant tasks of care, and compassionately held those as they died so they would not go alone.  Sister Luke and Brother Andrew are just two of the army of hundreds who were “first of all religious; not social workers, not teachers, not nurses or doctors….All they did was for Jesus.  Their life has no other reason or motivation”.  - Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa, Noble Prize Winner, has and will rightfully always receive credit for her work in Calcutta but her work would never had been if it were not for the army of sacrificial servants who “all they did was for Jesus”.

Thank you Brother Andrew and Sister Luke.

International Medicine in Your Backyard

There is this myth that international medicine requires a health care student or professional to travel to a distant land and then jump in a 4 wheel drive monster truck to drive thru a rural rough terrain, full of dangerous animals, and encounter gangs of robbers just to get to a remote clinic made out of mud and thatch.  There, the expiate will provide life saving surgeries using only a pocket knife, heal hundreds of sick people with penicillin and vitamins, and then jump back in the 4 wheel drive monster truck to head back to the airport for several days of travel back home. Although there are many misconceptions with the above account the most prominent is that a health care student or professional has to travel to a distant land to practice international medicine.  Globalization has made the world more mobile.  Due to the mobility of people and fairly easiness of travel the world is coming to our neighborhoods.  Today, the cities, towns, and communities we live in continue to grow with ethnic and cultural diversity.  For example, the US Census Bureau estimates that in the state I live in, Missouri, there are 305,553 people who speak a language other than English at home.  The 2000 US Census Bureau reports that close to 20 million people living in the USA speak a language other than English at home.  Although language is not the most objective proxy for defining nationality of an individual, it does provide a fairly reasonable estimate.  The US Census Bureau also provides estimates of individuals born in a “foreign country”.  According to the 2005-2007 data set the following states had the largest “born in a foreign country” population:1.    New York – 21.6% of total state population2.    New Jersey – 19.7% of total state population3.    Florida – 18.7% of total state population4.    Nevada – 18.5% of total state population5.    California – 27.2% of total state populationInternational medicine does not begin with stepping foot on an international flight but rather walking through the front doors of your local hospital, medical clinic, or doctor’s office.  The skills sets, knowledge, and expertise needed to practice medicine in a resource poor community in a developing country will be the same tools you will need to care for the culturally and linguistically diverse and underserved patient population in your clinic or hospital.   However, not all health care students and/or professionals have enjoyed the experience of providing medical care in a foreign country, nor have they had significant education in the field of cross-cultural competency in providing health care. A recent ““Healthy Families” survey found that 71% of providers believe that culture and language are important in the delivery of patient care.  51% believe that their patients did not adhere to medical treatments as a result of cultural or linguistic barriers.  As globalization grows so will the unique challenges of medical care for culturally diverse patients.  To assist health care students and professionals to become more competent in cross-cultural competency in medical care, INMED is hosting the 2009 Cross-Cultural Competency in Health Care Symposium, October 2 at the Research Medical Center – Brookside Location.  To view the symposium agenda and register for the event please visit http://www.inmed.us/2009_cross-cultural_competency_in_healthcare_symposium.asp