The local language ‘oromifa’ seems to compromise of a set of sounds, rather than words! So for example the sound…’sheeesh’ means okay, and a kind of gasping for air sound means ‘yes’! so I guess it’s a sort of morse code, and it’s a tough one to break!
The last few days have been so mental, I’m not sure where to begin really?! In the space of 2 days I delivered twins, a breech, had a shoulder dystosia, a face presentation, deep transverse arrest, uterine prolapse, placenta abruption, and numerous normal delivery’s. Some babies made it and some didn’t!
I would love to tell you the story of all but my mind can only think of one! A beautiful young women of around 20 years of age was brought in at around ten in the morning, in the middle of all the chaos. She was carried in on a stretcher in an extremely poor state. With no history, apart from the fact that she had been incoherent for three days! She was unresponsive and was in severe respiratory distress! All symptoms pointed to eclampsia apart from her blood pressure which was low, but a suspected placenta abruption would explain this! Her condition was deterioting fast, she was not fit enough to survive surgery and so we treated her with magnesium sulphate, and fluids, we intribated her and before long started CPR. She went in to DIC, took her final gasps and that was it…. We lost her!
It was a rubbish day! And sadly not a rare one! This happens far too often and the main contributing factor being that these women have no antenatal care! They live far away from medical help, and they have no money for transport and they are living in such extreme poverty. We can not change all that over night but we can work at providing a good service that is assessable for all women regardless of their financial status! At the moment we are struggling! We have limited resources. A lack of equipment, a lack of trained staff, a lack of medicines, and electricity that comes and goes like a fire works display! This is basic stuff and it is crazy that women are dying because of it. Sadly this as always comes down to money!!! It’s a sad fact of life! I don’t want to make this blog into a fundraising exercise but seriously if anyone have a few spare pounds floating around in the bottom of their pockets then please donate them to maternity worldwide (just giving link on my home page) I can give you first hand reassurance that your money will not be lost though administration, or fancy land cruisers! It ends up her! As a NG tube to feed a malnourished baby, or as a vile of ergometrine to save a mother from bleeding to death! It’s only a few pounds to us but the difference between life and death for these women and babies!
Our maternity unit covers a population of around one million! And with only one fully trained midwife it is clear to see the challenge! When I am not covering labour ward I am planning a training program to improve the skills of the local staff. Its hard to find the time as we are always so busy but the staff are so keen, and willing to attend outside of there shift! So I am set to start them next week.
I am also preparing for a needs assessment program, that I will carry out over a month, during June. This will be a community project to assess the existing health services in western wollega (the distict where I am). I will be collecting information from all over regarding what is available, and what is missing! With this we hope to put forward a proposal to expand our maternity services, and take this care to the women! Only around 1-2 % of women deliver in the hospital so you can see how this will undoubtedly save hundreds of lives!
It’s a strange feeling to think that I only arrived two weeks ago! It honestly feels like two years! My other life feels like a fading memory. I have good days and I have bad days but everyday I feel home sick, and every day the space between us seems to grow! It really is hard to be here, but even harder not to be when I know the difference that I am making!
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