Blog, Mission 2017

Clinic #9 – Kedohi, May 3/17

Rocked up to another clinic where the line up of people was so long that it extended off the property of the church we were working out of. To know that all of these people are patiently waiting for us to come and help them, with no complaints about wait times or when they are going to be seen, is absolutely inspiring.

Also crazy daunting, but mainly so amazing. These patients come from all over, often walking long distances in order to gain access to the assistance they need.

Every patient greets us with a ‘Jambo Sana’ and a smile when we go to take vitals. They thank us for giving their children clothes, shoes, toys and giving out free medicine and “healing their wounds”.

Today we had a man come to clinic for medications and in need of a dressing change. Considering I had done a couple of pretty minor dressings today, I anticipated it was going to be something basic. He pulled up his pant leg to reveal a horrendous wound on his upper thigh.

Holy jeepers. By no means am I a wound care expert, but I can see when a wound needs to be debrided (the medical removal of dead, damaged or infected tissue to promote healing for all of you non-medical people out there). Apparently, this man had spilled boiling water on himself on April 9th and had not been able to seek medical treatment due to the cost, so he had been dealing with this injury alone since. This meant he came in with the wound not covered, not cleaned and looking like that. Needless to say, we found Gail and coordinated with the clinical officers to send him to our Intando clinic where he would be able to receive IV antibiotics and have proper debriding done there. Without CNFA, who knows what would have happened to this man. The wound may have healed, or it may have turned septic and he could have died. Thankfully, we are able to provide care and cover all costs for him to seek treatment.

To me, it seems crazy that we already on clinic day 9 and that there are only two remaining in our two week span of being here. I feel like I have seen so much in this period of time, and experienced things in Kenya that are both heartwarming and heartbreaking. This trip has been so eye opening for me and I hope that it continues to impact how I practice when I go back home!

Oh… we treated 740 people today by the time the masses died down. That doesn’t include the school deworming, jiggers treatment, and reading glasses that we gave out. Holy smokes!

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