i don't know if anyone is still reading this blog, but yesterday i finally received the CD that i had left on the ship...it contains over 2,600 pictures that were taken by the mercy ships photographers while i was there. obviously i can't post all of them, but for the next few weeks i'm going to post several each day. remember, you can click on the picture to see a larger version.
i'll start with what were the most memorable two days of my time in ghana...the screening days. thousands of people travelled from far and wide (some even came from neighboring countries) to seek surgical treatment. and in two days we triaged them, did full history/physicals, lab work, dispensed meds and scheduled their surgeries...over 700 were scheduled, filling the surgery schedule through january 2007. my role in all of this was to make sure that the patients chosen for surgery were healthy enough to undergo anesthesia, so i got to see all of the tumors close up...all in all it was an amazing, scary, inspiring, wonderful, shocking experience that i will never forget. for more details, see the
june 27 blog entry where i wrote extensively about these two days.
when we arrived there were already crowds of people waiting to be screened
waiting patiently in line
local entrepreneur
very experienced mercy ships nurses work through the lines, pulling out the patients they think we can help
once identified by the nurses, patients are sent into the main screening hall...
...where they are first seen by a nurse (in this case my roomie, jessie) who takes vitals and a medical history
next, the patient is seen by a surgeon (here, dr. gary) who determines whether or not they are indeed a surgical candidate
being examined by a surgeon
sometimes the surgeon needs some extra info to make the decision...so we had set up an on-site xray machine
and also had a pathologist to do needle biopsies, if needed...
which he then examined straight away, to provide immediate answers (wow...why don't things work like this in the states?)
if accepted for surgery, the patient was then scheduled by kylie and fiona and given an appointment card to remind them what day they were to report to the ship
next, patients went to my station, where dr. roy (pictured here) and i did full physicals to make sure they were healthy enough for surgery. if we thought the patient had an infection or other medical problem, we could give them antibiotics/meds to take home.
putting on my best "i really do know what i'm hearing" face
next, we sent the patients to the lab station, where blood samples were taken from every patient...basic lab tests were run once we got back to the ship
next stop: the pharmacy, where every patient received multivitamins, iron supplements, plus any additional meds that dr. roy and i prescribed
almost finished...patients get an official mercy ships "mug shot" on their way out, to go with the post-op picture that is taken after their surgery
bawa and his keloids...bawa travelled for 15 hours to get to the screening and camped out at the screening site for four days
last but not least, each patient is prayed for before they leave
eye patients went through a similar process in another area of the church grounds...first, visual acuity is tested
working through the line of eye patients
dr. bob wields his trusty pen light
examining a patient for surgery
that's all for today...in the next day or two i will post more pics from screening...just general shots of some of the patients we saw.
# posted by Jenn @ 10:16 PM