We have just returned from a very successful trip to Nigeria. We had 5 very busy clinic days. We saw almost 600 people! That's an average 60 people a day for each of the medical providers. Couple that with many of these people being new patients and the language barrier and it makes for long days. (Yes, the official language in Nigeria is English, but most people are more comfortable with Igbo or pidgin - a mix of native language and English.) Our Thursday clinic was devoted entirely to pregnant women and children. We held it in our yet to be completed building. We didn't stop to think that in equatorial Africa the sun sets much earlier than a Colorado summer evening. We finished the day filling prescriptions by the light of a couple of cell phones. Thank you, Lord, for technology!
Of the 600 people we saw, 335 had malaria, including 112 children. 82 people were treated for typhoid and 42 for worms (mostly children). We gave out 182 prescriptions for high blood pressure, many people registering over 200! One woman with diabetes had sugar so high our machine couldn't read it. A three month old baby weighed less than her birth weight. We had many requests for help with eye problems. We are hoping to have an eye doctor with us when we return in January. We saw open and infected wounds, stroke victims and various aches and pains. In all, we gave out 1470 packets of medications. That doesn’t count over 30,000 vitamins!
We are very grateful for the help of our local staff. Celine Orji, our midwife, sees patients every Saturday in our absence. She has managed to stabilize most of the people we saw in January who suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes. Ify, our lab tech, assists her in caring for patients each week. Kennedy is the master of organization, keeping everything on track and ordering drugs for the weekly outreach. He also supervises the construction of our building making sure that everything is going smoothly. We wouldn't be able to do all this without their help.
We were blessed to have Chica and Vivian join us this trip. Chica has graduated from medical school, but has not yet secured a residency. He served as Stewart's interpreter and expert on tropical medicine. We hope to have him join the staff on Saturdays. At this point he has to work under a doctor with a Nigerian license, so that is incentive for Stewart to complete the paper work to be officially Nigerian. Vivian, his sister, is a nurse who works in the ER in a hospital in Owerri. She was invaluable help in the pharmacy and lab handing out meds and explaining how they are to be taken.
We were reminded just how dear life is on this trip. We attended a funeral for a woman Stewart saw in January and learned of the death of 2 other people from the village while we were there. We visited the father of John's friend who is hospitalized following a bad outcome from anesthesia for a simple surgery. They were hoping the American doctor could offer some help. Unfortunately, that is not Stewart's area of expertise.
While there, we toured the hospital grounds with a young physician. She mentioned that she had a patient we might want to see. His name is Abraham and he was in a bus accident a month ago. He suffered a compound fracture to his left arm. He was unable to pay for treatment, so he was stabilized in the ER and then sent to the men's ward. He has remained there since, unable to leave because he couldn't pay his bill. He is originally from Benue, a state to the north of Imo. His village was attacked by the Fulani herdsmen and his family's home was burned to the ground. They are now refugees. He had a job in Lagos, but was unemployed and traveling to a new job when he was in the accident. A man without a home and without hope.
Our hearts were moved and we started a fundraising campaign on Facebook to help Abraham get the treatment he needs. In just one day we raised over $1600! That will go a long way in the Nigerian healthcare system. Before we left Owerri we paid his bill and made sure he got his x-rays done. Since then we have communicated with the doctor and things seem to be on track to get his treatment started. Fr. Placidus has promised to keep tabs on him to insure his care is continued.
As I sit in my kitchen writing with a cool breeze from the fan, an internet connection and electricity I can count on, I am reminded of how blessed I am. We take so much for granted here, from our healthcare to our comfortable lifestyle. Let us be ever aware that not everyone shares those blessings and do what we can to make the world a better place for others.