Until we meet again Mikinduri - Friday, Feb 24, 2012

The second and last blog. Oops! – Feb 23, 2012

So I don’t know how this happened, but time got away from me again. Over a week has passed and the clinics are done. They were quite successful and we saw a great amount of patients – 4750! This is a comparable number to other years, but in a shorter time and with many more medical patients than previous years! There were 7 days of clinics, with the last day shortened to allow us to close the camp and itemize the supplies in preparation for next year. The first two days were devoted to the local people. The next 5 days had people bussed in from areas that the sick may not have been able to walk from, so we could serve our target – the poorest of the poor. Of course many of the local Mikinduri people came every day, we just tried to give preference to the people on busses.

The first year I worked in the vision clinic but my focus was on entering data for gathering statistics on the camps. I started with an excel spreadsheet but over the last few years have been able to change it into an access database. This means that the statics, graphs, and counts are all complete as soon as the data is entered! So..I could tell you the most random statistics such as: 24% of patients were between the age of 40 and 60; 3 people attended all three medical, dental, and vision clinics; Metrondazole was given to 481 patients; 1430 people walked away with at least 3 prescriptions; 42 people had the top right molar removed; 871 glasses were given out, etc. I could go on for a while from the oddly specific to the very general. That year, since I had a computer, I also did the blogs.

The second year I was in charge of the registration desk, to ensure that everyone walked around with a form that specified what service they were supposed to receive, ensure there were enough and not too many patients for each of the clinics, and if necessary at the end of the day, ask people to leave. Oh, I was also tasked with asking for money. Obviously the patients who couldn’t afford it were let in for free, but a small amount (<$1) was suggested by the local board so the people don’t feel like they’re receiving a handout and they can take ownership in the camp. Also it weeds out some of the people who are only coming to see the white doctor or to get a ball cap. This was an odd thing to ask from the people as it was new last year. This year, they expected the fee, so people weren’t annoyed. Last year I explained that all of the money went to the following year’s medical camp and they were pleased to pay to ensure the camps continue.  I still entered data in the evenings that year, but it was a faster process with the database form. I also did the blogs, but this time on my personal website.

This year, I realized a few days in that I was running the camp. It wasn’t really an appointed thing, it just kind of happened since Ted was off doing the project work and people needed one person to come to for the keys to the storeroom. Overall I would say it went well. However, I’m exhausted. Registration, data, and the camp coordinator were too many roles for 1 person. Next year there will need to be someone doing at least one of those roles. The data didn’t take too much time, but it did eat up the evenings when others were relaxing and unwinding from a hectic day. This year, we had an official blogger. Unfortunately for her, I had the computer for data most of the time so she was so very flexible (and fast) about when she would write the blogs. This four paragraph excuse explains why I have been remiss in blogging more regularly. Too tired. Sorry. In the last few years I just sacrificed sleep since there was no blogger. This year, I needed every minute I could get!

Okay, clinics. So we were partnered with the Lions Club of Meru, the local town, to supply the doctors and nurses. They were bussed in as well and would arrive around 8am, with the clinic to start at 8:30am.  By then, there should be patients waiting at every clinic (medical, dental, and vision). This happened most days, but not all. Some days were harder than others to try to give preference to the people coming off the bus as when I arrived each morning just after 7am, there could be as many as 100 people already there! I spent the next few hours registering people, keeping those without a registration card out of the area, and controlling how many people would register for the different clinics. I mention this last point because in previous years, vision would go through patients the fastest, but medical was the slowest. This year with so many medical professionals and so few vision professionals, the reverse was true. Plus dental could only see about 100 – 150 patients a day, and some days more than 200 were interested from the first moment. This meant their line moved much slower, much to their frustration. Most of my day is spent explaining what I’m doing to the patients (through translators) so their frustration level isn’t so high.  So – the flow: the people would enter the gate with a registration card that said medical, dental or vision. They would then stand in a line for their clinic in a hot field for possibly the entire day before seeing the appropriate doctor. I tried different tactics to get them to sit down, stay in the shade, etc, but they were convinced they wouldn’t be seen, so people waiting all day packed together in a tight line that could be 200 people long! The next step is to cross to the registration tent in groups of 20 to receive their registration form and wait in the appropriate tent for a runner to bring them up to their clinic tent/building. From there, they waited varying amounts, most people stopped by pharmacy for their prescription on the way out, then they were escorted out of the gate. A few people got to see more than one clinic, but it was rare. As I mentioned about, 5 people got to go to all 3 clinics. Woah! That’s a full service for 100 shillings!

The afternoon was typically spent ensuring extra people didn’t just appear in the lines with a mysterious registration card. The clinic grounds have a great metal gate in the front (it’s new) but the whole back faces an open field so people really can wander in easily. I’m surprised more people didn’t go around. I would sometimes go out of the gates and wander through the crowd of people waiting on the outside hoping to be seen even though we told them hours before we had enough people for the day. My gosh, people are patient here. Before you feel bad for all of these sick patients we weren’t able to see, most of them had a backache or something else benign and really just wanted to be in the clinic. That being said, there were many very sick patients that were taken to the hospital (30ish) so I tried to go through the crowds and with my extensive medical training (ha) I would pick out people that looked feverish or dazed. Once back in the gates, I spent time talking to the individuals that came up and begged me to give them a registration card. I kept about 20 cards each day for these type of patients, but most of them were fine. I mean, if they could keep up with my pace, they couldn’t be that sick! It got to a point by the end of each day, I started every conversation with ‘I’m sorry, we’re full’ until a random person would start talking to me who really didn’t want anything, and I still started with ‘I’m sorry we’re full. Hapena cards’. Oops!

There were some wonderful patients that came in and as hard as it was to say no so many times. It was great to stop and say hello and shake hands with the people that made it in the gates. They were so grateful to be seen, even if it was only for a backache, it made up for the bad moments. Plus the team was really fantastic. They gelled really well together and not once did I have to ask someone to do something twice. Everyone was happy to do their role and they all did it with a smile (hopefully including me!). The clinics were fun but as the week wore on, became more stressful. When the people realized the clinics were coming to a close, they started to come earlier and in much greater numbers. The last few days I turned hundreds of patients away each day.

It was nice to see people I recognized from previous years, both among the translator and patients. One woman named Purity was carried in by her husband last year and she had her baby on her back! The man carried two people. This year, through APDK (association of disabled people of Kenya), she walked in with arm and leg braces! I was estactic to see her so able and on the move! What a difference that little thing made in her life, and it wasn’t even Mikinduri Children of Hope (MCOH) that provided it to her, it was a group that we brought to Mikinduri as they weren’t aware the need was so great here! The pre-week meetings that Ted and Ed set up have the biggest impact of all to the town!

Occasionally as people left the clinic, they would say ‘god bless you’ or something similar, which was always wonderful to hear. It was so easy to get caught up in the logistics and rush of the clinic that I sometimes forgot how many patients really were helped. 4750 is a lot of people!

In the evenings and on weekends I entered data. I still went to most of the events, but skipped a few because I’ve been there before or was too tired. This year, hiking the mountain to Thuuri for the second time was beautiful. Plus I knew it wasn’t as daunting as it sounded. The sun was still hot hot hot though! That is the day we went to the school and feeding program at Kiguwru. The people danced and sang. We served them food. We watched a failed charcoal presentation, which is unfortunate because one of the engineering classes at UPEI is designing something that required watching the charcoal demonstration and gathering data. Oh well. It was nice to see the Canadians and Kenyans interacting. This year was so different as a coordinator of the group, that I kind of felt removed from it. It wasn’t as much a participant as I was ensuring that everyone was present and happy. It’s a funny distinction. The trip was still very rewarding, just less relaxing as the times I would have un-winded in previous years, I was still kind of ‘working’.  

Luckily this year there were no long combi rides. Even getting to the safari site was a breeze and we arrived early! We had a wonderful game drive last evening, glimpsing a few lions (oh my!), two cheetahs, and this morning when we saw a tree full of baboons. I am off to get a massage, one I could really use, as I spend my last full day in Kenya for another year. Tomorrow we leave for Nairobi and fly out in the late evening. We land (weather permitting) in PEI 24 hours later, but with the time change it will be the same day. Haha.

I’m tired now thinking about all that was accomplished, but it was so wonderful to help so many people and to show them that we come every year. We’re a group they can trust and hopefully support within the community. It was nice to step up as a leader when there was such a great void left this year by a few past team-members, and I leave with many ideas on how to improve next year’s camp! As Ted says, ‘to know the people in Mikinduri is to love the people’. You really do have to come here to understand why it’s as magnificent as it is, and the experience is never the same.

Check out the pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/mikinduri/2012BlogPhoto