Yesterday's outreach was in the hills near Accra. First time I've increased altitude my whole stay! Needless to say, the ride was beautiful and the winding highway, surprisingly safe, was dotted with ripe mangoes in massive quantities.
Danielle made an 8 month old cry during visual acuity, because of her "color" -- blond hair, blue eyes, white skin... hilarious.
*Disclaimer: this is a different girl.
On the way home we passed a bunch of coffin shops. We've seen a lot of these so we asked Ernest about funerals. Turns out they're huge businesses in Ghana. When people die there is a big party and lots of people go and give lots of money. To demonstrate the importance of funerals Ernest mentioned a UFS patient referred for cataract surgery that didn't come because he couldn't afford the 20 cedi transportation cost to Accra, but spent 60 cedi to go to a funeral even farther away. Sometimes people will even steal corpses to fake a funeral and bring in donations.
That night after outreach, I was reaaaally ansty. If you know me well, you know I can't go more than a day without exercise, and I've been going weeeeeks. No one wanted to run with me at night though, so I did it on my own. Used my headlamp, which worked amazingly. I could see the ground AND cars totally thought I was a motorbike and did everything they could to avoid me (which they definitely don't do for pedestrians). Naturally everyone I passed shouted out to me, but only one kid tried chasing me in flip flops.
Today's outreach was super long, and we didn't finish until well after the sun set. This complicated glasses-fitting so we had to use flashlights to test if the glasses that were prescribed actually worked.
The next day which I guess would be tomorrow at the time I started this entry, but is now two days ago. Was my last outreach. We went to a coastal village in the southern volta region. Danielle and I saw ocean and immediately wandered in that direction while the intro speech was being made. We had to wander through the village and by mud huts to get to and cross the swampy grasslands to reach the ocean. It was a gorgeous tropical beach with only minimal trash. There were fishing boats and a few Ghanaians staring at us, some with clothes and some without.
We couldn't stay long since we had to help with the outreach, so we headed back. We passed a group of people preparing cassava on the way back and I asked if I could take a picture, they said ye ye ye so I did.
The outreach was a manageable size and we powered through it. It was my last time on visual acuity. I had one patient, in their mid-20s, who was having some (understatement) difficulty figuring out what to do. I tried all my different sign language attempts of putting one hand on one eye, short of covering his eye myself. Every attempt got him showing me his watch or taking out his cell phone or holding his hand horizontally in front of his face and several inches away or just nodding and smiling, but none with his left hand occluding his left eye. This happens often, but usually doesn't take quite as long and I just couldn't contain myself any longer. I know it's not professional, and I did turn away, but I started laughing so hard I nearly cried. This is even before we had to explain how to point in the direction of the symbols on the chart...
When we were wrapping things up, I brought out my ball to kick around with the kids who were watching us through literally every window of the church.
That night after outreach, I was reaaaally ansty. If you know me well, you know I can't go more than a day without exercise, and I've been going weeeeeks. No one wanted to run with me at night though, so I did it on my own. Used my headlamp, which worked amazingly. I could see the ground AND cars totally thought I was a motorbike and did everything they could to avoid me (which they definitely don't do for pedestrians). Naturally everyone I passed shouted out to me, but only one kid tried chasing me in flip flops.
Today's outreach was super long, and we didn't finish until well after the sun set. This complicated glasses-fitting so we had to use flashlights to test if the glasses that were prescribed actually worked.
The next day which I guess would be tomorrow at the time I started this entry, but is now two days ago. Was my last outreach. We went to a coastal village in the southern volta region. Danielle and I saw ocean and immediately wandered in that direction while the intro speech was being made. We had to wander through the village and by mud huts to get to and cross the swampy grasslands to reach the ocean. It was a gorgeous tropical beach with only minimal trash. There were fishing boats and a few Ghanaians staring at us, some with clothes and some without.
When we were wrapping things up, I brought out my ball to kick around with the kids who were watching us through literally every window of the church.
As I was leaving, again they asked if they could keep it. This time I said yes. I hope it is used well!
Now that my UFS work is done, I get to play and travel for my last week in Ghana.
This also means I should reflect on this part of the experience:
Awesome things:
-getting sincere thank yous from patients
-knowing that we've made a significant change in someone's life
-overcoming barriers to care in a resource-scarce setting
-working with a wide variety of med/pre-med/ghanaian med people
-identifying and treating eye pathology that has gone untreated for too long
-earning patient's trust and understanding across cultures
Frustrating things:
-language barrier
-cultural barrier
-repetition of tasks
-not getting to see the transformation from blind to not blind
-people taking advantage of our services
-people lying
-people referred for surgeries choosing not to go
-lateness
-6ish hours drive round trip on bumpy, smelly roads every day
Overall I think it was a great experience. I think my biggest contribution to the Ghanaians we treated was the fundraising and collection of eye glasses, but we also helped to deliver the care by running stations that don't require a medical degree. I didn't come in with too many expectations, so I think I am satisfied. By the end, doing the same tasks day after day with the same frustrations became tedious, but that just makes me more excited to get to the point where I am doing the treating. I know when I do, the skills I have developed here working without language or cultural commonalities will help me to be a more effective physician when those same obstacles come up.
Now that my UFS work is done, I get to play and travel for my last week in Ghana.
This also means I should reflect on this part of the experience:
Awesome things:
-getting sincere thank yous from patients
-knowing that we've made a significant change in someone's life
-overcoming barriers to care in a resource-scarce setting
-working with a wide variety of med/pre-med/ghanaian med people
-identifying and treating eye pathology that has gone untreated for too long
-earning patient's trust and understanding across cultures
Frustrating things:
-language barrier
-cultural barrier
-repetition of tasks
-not getting to see the transformation from blind to not blind
-people taking advantage of our services
-people lying
-people referred for surgeries choosing not to go
-lateness
-6ish hours drive round trip on bumpy, smelly roads every day
Overall I think it was a great experience. I think my biggest contribution to the Ghanaians we treated was the fundraising and collection of eye glasses, but we also helped to deliver the care by running stations that don't require a medical degree. I didn't come in with too many expectations, so I think I am satisfied. By the end, doing the same tasks day after day with the same frustrations became tedious, but that just makes me more excited to get to the point where I am doing the treating. I know when I do, the skills I have developed here working without language or cultural commonalities will help me to be a more effective physician when those same obstacles come up.
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