Harsh Reality

I can't get over what health care looks like here in the Tamale Teaching Hospital. There are very, very, very sick people. They are unable to get the health care that they need. They often come to the hospital too late and such drastic measures are needed but cannot be taken due to a lack of resources, and the patients often cannot afford what needs to be done.

This hospital has no CT machine, no MRI, and it's only xray machine is broken. Some bloodwork can be done at the hospital (and the ward is lucky if they actually get the results back and the paperwork doesn't get lost), but the more complicated blood tests and cultures get flown to another city in Ghana and results take days to get back. It's RIDICULOUS. There is SO much that can't be properly diagnosed because the resources are not available. The doctors are well-trained and know exactly what they would do in an ideal situation, but they have to lower their standards to match what is available here. It's awful. So awful.

I spent today on the male medical ward and I saw things that I should never have to see. Things that patients should never have to experience. Nurses treating patients in ways that they should never be treated. Staff working with the little resources that they have, but it isn't enough! The patients are not getting better, and likely won't.

I wish so badly that what I see everyday is a nightmare and that I'd wake up and it'd go away.

The nurses role here is so much different than how nurses practice in Canada. They dust in the morning, give some meds here and there (if they feel like it), and then do a few dressing changes here and there. They do not do any assessments, do not walk their patients around, and do not ensure that they have sufficient food and water (which none of them have). They do not join in on rounds with the doctor. To be completely honest, I don't really know what they ACTUALLY do. There is no structure. Not every ward is like this, but the medical ward today was.

It's not right for me to to walk onto a ward, as the only Canadian, introduce myself as a nursing student, and expect things to change. The nurses today are senior nurses and have been practicing for ages. We are not going to change what they do in just one day. The problems are so much deeper than that. So many times I just had to cringe as I watched what was happening -- I couldn't stop what was happening, all I could do was recognize that it was not best practice, and know that I would do differently in Canada.

Pain medication is barely an option here. Patients are in SOO much pain and are enduring things that are incredibly difficult, yet lie there in bed, all day, struggling. It's so difficult to watch. Hearing the moaning is too much.

I spent a good couple hours today chatting with a new doctor who graduated here in Ghana, and a medical student from England. We discussed the depth of the issues and how heartbreaking it is. We talked about how difficult it is to make change when this "system" (with zero structure) has been going this way for so long, and when the money-holders sometimes squander it for their own benefit (apparently there's an office in the hospital with a big screen TV...when patients are dying by the dozens, this is not right).

Anyways. It's tough, so tough. I feel so helpless. We all feel helpless.

Tomorrow I'm heading back to the labour and delivery ward and hoping for only live births. I hate how I have to hope for that. But it's reality here. Harsh reality.

On happier notes, we found a pool at a hotel nearby and have hit it up the last couple days after work. It's so refreshing! Tomorrow after our shift we are heading to Mole National Park for a couple safari's! We will stay there until Sunday morning.

Oh and my leg is doing well! A few of you have been asking, it's about 95% healed. Also, thanks everyone for your comments and prayers. It means a lot to have so many people thinking about us!

Good-bye all!