We drove back to Accra once the course finished, yesterday. We had to make a few stops along the way. We stopped to visit Sam's uncle. Then Rev. Joel (he's been our organizer for this trip, I need to tell you more about him!!!) had us see a good friend. Rev's friend was shot in the thoracic spine about 2 years ago by armed robbers. She is now a paraplegic. Sam and I helped give her some suggestions to get stronger. We are going to try and have a slideboard made for her so she can transfer from bed to wheelchair by herself. She is an incomplete paraplegic so there is a chance with exercise that she may gain some leg strength, but I don't think she will ever have enough strength in her legs to walk again. She has been homebound since the accident. I'm hoping our suggestions will give her a little more independence in her home.
After the stops, we drove into Accra for dinner. We met with Jonathan, the vice president of the Ghanaian Physiotherapy Association (GAP). We talked to him about a lot of our concerns. Also, he helped explain to us the cultural barriers present that makes it hard to overcome some of our concerns. However, there is a lot of good things going on with GAP so I made sure to acknowledge that, too! Ghana has only had a PT program for about 10 years. Before that time, all the therapists had to get their training outside the country. Thus, the program is doing the best it can with limited resources!! They are aware of the issues that Ken, Sam, and I felt are most troubling. They are trying to find ways to overcome them!
Ken and I pleaded with Jonathan to get a PT in place in Kpando. Marquat hospital serves enough patients that it would benefit from a trained PT. Ken is going to try and talk to the administrators there to see if it can be done. Jonathan gave us a recommendation for a therapist to put in place there! There is a taskforce in place, hopefully it will be law in Ghana soon, that all therapists must be licensed. Then, someone like Celestine will not be able to provide PT services since she is not a trained therapist. Thus, I think the sooner an actual PT can be in place in Kpando the better it will be for everyone.
I feel like I have a lot of stuff to accomplish in 2 months once I'm back in Kpando. I want to continue training Celestine so she can be a quasi-therapist until a trained PT is place in Kpando. I need to visit the PTs in Ho and Hohoe to help them implement the information they learned from the course with actual patients. I want to try and help Issac some at the Special Inclusive School, even though my pediatric knowledge is limited. I would like to visit Pastor Allan and Patsy again to see their disability center where they would like to have a clinic and training center someday soon! I need to go to the Cape Coast for a small vacation!!! And, I know there are other little projects/meetings I have to take care of in Kpando!!
I think I will be doing a lot of TroTro traveling. I'm a little nervous, but it will be an adventure!!! Rev. Joel and Sam have told me I have a Ghanaian personality. I guess its since I'm pretty laid back and just go with the flow. I told them, you can't be type A in this country! You'd have a heart attack from all the anxiety!!! Haha!
Love, Kari
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