A Day with the Mobile Clinic
Wednesday I went with Paul and some folks from the local health clinic on their mobile clinic route. We went to IlsaMarba, which is in the bush outside of Bissil. The day started surprisingly smoothly (as in almost organized, something that is not so comon here) with everyone mostly on time. Upon arriving in Ilsa Marba there was no one waiting (the clinic sets up shop at a school) and we were disheartened to find out that the day before a british mobile clinic had passed through and the few people they had taken care of had probably passed the word on not to come this day since some clinic had come the day before. SO we walked around sort of sad, when all of a sudden a mob of women with children appeared from nowehere.
The mobile clinic is mostly for babies and sick children. The women will sometimes be seen by a the nurse if they are very sick, and the men hardly ever will come. If they do it is at the end so no one will see them. The public health officer or technician weighs the babies and probvides them with vaccinations. THe nurse does assessments for health problems and writes a list of medications if needed. Someone administered the medications from the a makeshift pharmacy in the back of the truck. Children cost 50 schillings to be seen and adults 100. The fees are there mostly to give more value to the service and if the indivdiual cannot afford them they are waved.
On this day I got to help Peter, the health technician from Isinya, weight the babies. They set up a scale hanging from a nail on the ceiling and place the baby in a sling. It is interesting to watch how the mothers react to letting go of their children so they can hang and be weighed. Some would just let go, laughing at the sight, while others had to be pulled away with gentle force. Every mother is expected to bring a yellow card that contains the child's records for weight and immunizations received. If they do not have a card they are given one and told not to lose it. Most cling to them very tightly and carefully wrap them in plastic. AFter weighing I got to squeeze the babies mouths into fish lips and squeeze drops of oral polio vaccine into them. Then came the shots with the needles so I went to the van to help Nameless (a volunteer from the health clinic, also known as Noah) dispense medication. Pills are counted and placed into small brown envelopes. AS most of the people cant read instructions are given orally. The women are expected to bring their own bottles and containers for any liquids that need to be dispensed (decongestant and pain killers for children mostly). Inevitably some forget or try to use inappropriate containers-one woman could not understand why we would not put medication in her kersone bottle-so we came up with som creative solutions to the problem. Meanwhile the nurse is diagnosing and assigning prescriptions. SHe does this with only a stethascope-no lab work, no ear/eye./nose looking into thing, no referernce guide, just experience to guide her. I was sort of fascinated sort of disturbed but the number of common ailments are fairly limited in their minds to malaria, pneumonia, worms, exploding ass, and eye problems-basically any illness that has a fever with no lung component is considered malaria.
After a few hours the masses disapated, Nameless packed up the drug supplies, and we were off on our way.
The mobile clinic is mostly for babies and sick children. The women will sometimes be seen by a the nurse if they are very sick, and the men hardly ever will come. If they do it is at the end so no one will see them. The public health officer or technician weighs the babies and probvides them with vaccinations. THe nurse does assessments for health problems and writes a list of medications if needed. Someone administered the medications from the a makeshift pharmacy in the back of the truck. Children cost 50 schillings to be seen and adults 100. The fees are there mostly to give more value to the service and if the indivdiual cannot afford them they are waved.
On this day I got to help Peter, the health technician from Isinya, weight the babies. They set up a scale hanging from a nail on the ceiling and place the baby in a sling. It is interesting to watch how the mothers react to letting go of their children so they can hang and be weighed. Some would just let go, laughing at the sight, while others had to be pulled away with gentle force. Every mother is expected to bring a yellow card that contains the child's records for weight and immunizations received. If they do not have a card they are given one and told not to lose it. Most cling to them very tightly and carefully wrap them in plastic. AFter weighing I got to squeeze the babies mouths into fish lips and squeeze drops of oral polio vaccine into them. Then came the shots with the needles so I went to the van to help Nameless (a volunteer from the health clinic, also known as Noah) dispense medication. Pills are counted and placed into small brown envelopes. AS most of the people cant read instructions are given orally. The women are expected to bring their own bottles and containers for any liquids that need to be dispensed (decongestant and pain killers for children mostly). Inevitably some forget or try to use inappropriate containers-one woman could not understand why we would not put medication in her kersone bottle-so we came up with som creative solutions to the problem. Meanwhile the nurse is diagnosing and assigning prescriptions. SHe does this with only a stethascope-no lab work, no ear/eye./nose looking into thing, no referernce guide, just experience to guide her. I was sort of fascinated sort of disturbed but the number of common ailments are fairly limited in their minds to malaria, pneumonia, worms, exploding ass, and eye problems-basically any illness that has a fever with no lung component is considered malaria.
After a few hours the masses disapated, Nameless packed up the drug supplies, and we were off on our way.
posted by -cn at 11:55 PM
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