Today got an opportunity that I've been really geeked about for along time!!!, a chance to follow around a Norwegian physician named Kari, from "Doctors Without Borders" , also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres. I met Kari randomly one day a few weeks ago in an ER and she agreed to let me shadow her.
This organization I've investigated and googled many times over the past several years; i HIGHLY respect the work they do and have been even more impressed seeing it more up close and personal since being around them in Liberia! They are one of the MAIN reasons health care has been able to continue post civil war, they have decided to extend their contract until 2008, the longest time their relief organization has ever remained in a country because Liberia is still very much in a state of RELIEF and only starting on the edge of their own development and getting back on their own two feet.
Overwhelmed by the lines and lines of woman and children waiting to see the doctors on this Monday morning, the workers seem to remain calm and in complete control. After a tour of one of the small clinics they run, i get to sit in with a Children's Physician Assistant to see what the main health complaints are of Liberian children and how they are treated.
After many cases of malaria, some hernias, malnutrition and some productive coughs we move on across town to Liberia's only Pediatric hospital... what originally had 60 beds has been extended to accommodate over 250 patients, 2 to a bed! Being a Peds nurse myself I was really curious to see how it was run. Got a tour by the big mama head nurse, Sue, who informed me that each nurse has up to 30 patients each....5 at a time is the legal limit where i worked in Texas, remind me to NEVER complain!!! They had an ICU mostly filled with severely malnourished children- a STUDENT nurse calmly bagging a post respiratory arrest baby, a TB chest unit, neonatal babies unit, and several general medical wards, even happy to see a playground and playroom. Most of the "Doctors Without Borders" workers are not here to do all the work for the Liberians, but to serve alongside them, teaching them proper techniques to give the best care possible to their people!
Its funny what can make a person"high", ... I've never needed drugs or alcohol to make me feel giddy & alive... give me a moment to be part of something bigger, the healing human body & spirit, and I'm utterly drunk on life! I don't know if I'll ever be called to work for them, but it was a real honor to get this opportunity. Next goal.. stalk UNICEF headquarters in town to see if i can do the same with them ;) Trying to learn/understand/observe how they undertake such a big task?
The beautiful thing is..God didn't wire any two of us the exact same :)
What is your individualities high?... i'd really love to hear
