At least 4 people died in the hospital today. I was around for 2 of the deaths. My first job out of PT school was at a specialty hospital, so I've seen dead bodies before. However, it is not anything you get use to.
Celestine and I were going to the ward to start seeing patients. The ward is a very large room that holds about 10 hospital beds. We were in the women's ward when I noticed a patient who's breathing was extremely labored. My thought was, "God don't let her suffer." I could tell she was very close to death's door. I did not realize how close. About 3 minutes later, her relative was crying hysterically. The nurse quickly rushed over to her to tell her the loved one was dead. They placed a curtain barrier around that bed. Celestine and I had no choice but to continue our session with the patient we were seeing.
After that, we decided to go see the small boy who had the burns since he was suppose to be back from xray. The door to the room was closed. We walked in without thinking anything of it. I was surprise to not see the mom in the room. Also, the mosquito nets were not down around the bed. I looked at the boy and quickly realized he was not breathing. He had died a few minutes earlier. The mother did not know yet. She had walked to town to buy him breakfast. It made me so sad to think the little boy died alone. I'm sure the mother was devastated not being there to hold the little guy as he passed on.
I was probably too optimistic about the little boy. His burns were no where near as severe as the other little boy; however, ~30% of his body was covered with burns. If he had been in the US, I'm sure he would have had a 90% survival rate. Here in Ghana, they just don't have access to all the monitoring tools to have a minute by minute update of someone in order to treat the issues that arise. I was told the little boy had gas in his stomach. I'm guessing his organs probably shut down from fluid loss with the wounds. There are no IV machines. Also, IV fluids are delivered passively by gravity. A bag is hung up high allowing gravity to pull it down into the body. In the US, the IV machines have ways for you to dose the medicine. The boy was getting saline solution to help maintain his electrolyte balance but it wasn't enough. Obviously, many other medical issues contributed to his death (infrequent wound dressing changes, infection, etc.)
I know I am helping people here. One of the hospital employees spent 10 minutes with me just to thank me for coming to Ghana. However, it is hard to feel like you are accomplishing anything when you see someone die. There is so much that needs to be done to help Ghana and Africa. I know I cannot do it all myself, so I'm trying to focus on the accomplishments. Unfortunately, this morning did not make me feel too good.
After lunch, I confirmed my hospital visits with everyone from the Step FaR conference. I will be going to the 5 hospitals this month to provide hands on follow up help to the therapists. I am trying to focus on these visits since earlier in the day was upsetting to say the least!
Again, I can't say it enough, tell your loved ones you love them! Life is precious no matter where you live in the world!!!
Love, Kari
No comments:
Post a Comment