The walk to work is a short 400 yards. I leave through our iron front doors with decorative burglar bars in the window and walk through our “yard” which is gravel and weeds. Within a few feet I pass through the large iron-grill gate to walk to work. Along the way the houses are quite modest. Our nearest neighbors are in a duplex with a rusted tin roof and rusty screens. The occupants are family practice residents and their families. I walk past many buildings and houses that have peeling paint or plaster, rusty roofs, and minimal decor. Weeds grow up here and there. There is some trash here and there. The muddy drive is more potholes than smooth road now during the rainy season. The housing side of the compound would be something akin to the other side of the tracks and a rundown neighborhood in America. Here in Nigeria, however, it is our neighborhood, filled with bright, loving, and friendly people, who also want to have a sense of security.
I walk past a security point with a barrier pole. The pole is counter-balanced with an old automobile engine block, still serving a purpose. At night the pole is replaced with 2 iron doors that have no windows. The gate passes through a cement wall with Constantine wire on top. Just a few feet farther on the right are the Chapel, the new fueling station, and a lean-to where the VVF women prepare meals over open flames. To the left is the hospital with many buildings. The ENT clinic is the newest and nicest. The other buildings have had quite a bit of wear and tear over the years. Mondays are surgery days. I move along a muddy sidewalk lined with hedges to the “Main Theatre”. The hedges are impromptu drying racks, draped with laundry of family of patients who are staying on the compound.
The Main Theatre like the entire hospital has bare concrete floors. The main open area is used for dressing changes and wound care. “My” operating room is one of two at this location. The windows are louvered glass and screens. Everything in the room shows evidence of the “Hamartan”. In the dry season, dust from the Sahara Desert fills the air and settles everywhere. Since the windows are usually open, the dust settles on everything. Efforts are made to clean the main surfaces, but boxes of sutures, cabinets and all the cracks and crevices around the devices and furniture are hard to keep clean.
August 11 was my first day as the consultant surgeon in the operating room. The patient had a severe frontal sinus fracture continuous with a depressed skull fracture, a result of a motorcycle accident with no helmet. RTA’s (Road Traffic Accidents) are very common here, where motorcycles buzz between cars and nobody wears a helmet. During the case, we did not have sufficient plating materials. We did not have a working drill at first. The lighting was not near as bright as I am accustomed to. Still, we managed and the results were satisfactory.
Tomorrow, I have clinic again. I have already had two half-day clinics. I seem to be seeing patients representing both extremes here in Nigeria. There are the worried-well patients who need no treatment contrasted with seriously ill patients with large tumors or chronic draining ears. I have yet to see someone who needed a tonsillectomy, ear tubes, or septoplasty, all of which were very common surgeries in my practice at home.
All the contrasts to life in America are blatant at this point. Life is much different in Nigeria, but I am rapidly acclimating to not only the climate, but also the culture and surroundings. I am inconvenienced often, but I have yet to suffer. I see a great need and opportunity. The people I work with are fantastic. After 12 days, I believe that my family and I will adapt and hopefully make a difference in some of the lives of people who have not been as fortunate and blessed as we have been. I know they will make a difference in our lives. I doubt I will notice the road and buildings at the end of our stay; that is why I point them out now.
I walk past a security point with a barrier pole. The pole is counter-balanced with an old automobile engine block, still serving a purpose. At night the pole is replaced with 2 iron doors that have no windows. The gate passes through a cement wall with Constantine wire on top. Just a few feet farther on the right are the Chapel, the new fueling station, and a lean-to where the VVF women prepare meals over open flames. To the left is the hospital with many buildings. The ENT clinic is the newest and nicest. The other buildings have had quite a bit of wear and tear over the years. Mondays are surgery days. I move along a muddy sidewalk lined with hedges to the “Main Theatre”. The hedges are impromptu drying racks, draped with laundry of family of patients who are staying on the compound.
The Main Theatre like the entire hospital has bare concrete floors. The main open area is used for dressing changes and wound care. “My” operating room is one of two at this location. The windows are louvered glass and screens. Everything in the room shows evidence of the “Hamartan”. In the dry season, dust from the Sahara Desert fills the air and settles everywhere. Since the windows are usually open, the dust settles on everything. Efforts are made to clean the main surfaces, but boxes of sutures, cabinets and all the cracks and crevices around the devices and furniture are hard to keep clean.
August 11 was my first day as the consultant surgeon in the operating room. The patient had a severe frontal sinus fracture continuous with a depressed skull fracture, a result of a motorcycle accident with no helmet. RTA’s (Road Traffic Accidents) are very common here, where motorcycles buzz between cars and nobody wears a helmet. During the case, we did not have sufficient plating materials. We did not have a working drill at first. The lighting was not near as bright as I am accustomed to. Still, we managed and the results were satisfactory.
Tomorrow, I have clinic again. I have already had two half-day clinics. I seem to be seeing patients representing both extremes here in Nigeria. There are the worried-well patients who need no treatment contrasted with seriously ill patients with large tumors or chronic draining ears. I have yet to see someone who needed a tonsillectomy, ear tubes, or septoplasty, all of which were very common surgeries in my practice at home.
All the contrasts to life in America are blatant at this point. Life is much different in Nigeria, but I am rapidly acclimating to not only the climate, but also the culture and surroundings. I am inconvenienced often, but I have yet to suffer. I see a great need and opportunity. The people I work with are fantastic. After 12 days, I believe that my family and I will adapt and hopefully make a difference in some of the lives of people who have not been as fortunate and blessed as we have been. I know they will make a difference in our lives. I doubt I will notice the road and buildings at the end of our stay; that is why I point them out now.
Michael Mitchell, MD
1 comment:
Michael, Lisa, Emily, Hannah, Sterling & Camille- Sounds like you are having a terrific time so far! What a great experience! We are praying for you guys. -Steve Baker
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