Monday, May 31, 2010
Things About Ghana:
So it has been more then a week since I have arrived and this place is really amazing, the people here are so friendly and nice, but at the same time completely different from anything I have ever experienced in my life. I knew going into this volunteer abroad and working in a health care setting it was of course going to be different from what I am use to in the USA, but to actually see how different it is, it can be overwhelming at times.
•The hospitals are dirty. The OPD is one large waiting room that sick patients wait, so first they are seen by the nurse, their vitals are taken and then they go wait in another long line to see the doctor. The nurse’s station is really just a cubical with a table and some instruments that are used to take their weight, BP, and temperature. As far as I could see the thermometer isn’t disinfected very well or at all at times. I had sure that when I was at the station I asked for some disinfecting alcohol and cotton swaps and wiped it off between patients, but I don’t think that happens every much when I am not there.
•The roof to the OPD is elevated from the rest of the building to let airflow through, but when it rains (which it did once) it comes pouring into the building. So the nurses and I went to the Injection Room and did vitals, but the patients had to stay out in the large waiting room, just getting wet.
•When they finally get to go in and see the doctor, the doctor says about 2 words, doesn’t really do an examination and sends them to the dispensary for medication. I realize that they have a lot of patients to see and most of them aren’t really that sick, but I am unsure how they are diagnosing UTI’s, malaria, and a wide range of other sicknesses without a single lab being done. That just would never happen back in the states and I guess that is exactly why I wanted to come to a developing country, because it is so different and I seriously feel very lucky. I also don’t want to say the doctors are being lazy, but out of the 4, one in particular seems to hate his job. He listens to the radio, says about 2 words to each patient, and sends them on their way. They all answer phone calls during their rounds and they often stop talking to the patient to ask me questions about me and President Obama. They work ethic here is just so different it’s hard to get use to it.
•Enough about the hospital, I have mentioned before how we get to some places around Ghana. There are line taxis and Tros, we usually take Tros to get to destinations that are far away because they are pretty cheap and hold a lot of people, but they are death machines Some don’t have working headlights, so at night it was so scary getting home, they can break down, they are big so they can tip easily especially when the driver is trying to pass, and they are kind of uncomfortable. But it’s the cheapest way to get around Ghana if you don’t have a car, so we take them. I haven’t had a bad experience yet, but I have heard some stories already. Line taxis are good for going short distances, but you have to ask about prices before you get in, because taxi drivers can really rip you off (especially if you are white), so it’s always a challenge to bargain, but it usually works out.
•People are always trying to sell you things on the side of the road….ALWAYS! You never get away from it, but after about 2 days you really do get use to it. Just say “no thank you” and they move on, but they are often handy on long Tro rides because the sellers are usually on busy streets so if you need water or food, they will come up to your window.
•The Ghanaian word for white person is “Obroni” and everyone calls us that. Little kids LOVE screaming “obroni” at us when we walk down the street and they follow us, wanting us to take pictures and stuff. \I might come back to the states with a complex because no one will be screaming “white girl” or “white sister” at me or want to take pictures with me But it’s a strange world here because I would never walk down the streets in the states screaming, “hi Asian” so it’s weird that it is so common here.
•The hospitals are dirty. The OPD is one large waiting room that sick patients wait, so first they are seen by the nurse, their vitals are taken and then they go wait in another long line to see the doctor. The nurse’s station is really just a cubical with a table and some instruments that are used to take their weight, BP, and temperature. As far as I could see the thermometer isn’t disinfected very well or at all at times. I had sure that when I was at the station I asked for some disinfecting alcohol and cotton swaps and wiped it off between patients, but I don’t think that happens every much when I am not there.
•The roof to the OPD is elevated from the rest of the building to let airflow through, but when it rains (which it did once) it comes pouring into the building. So the nurses and I went to the Injection Room and did vitals, but the patients had to stay out in the large waiting room, just getting wet.
•When they finally get to go in and see the doctor, the doctor says about 2 words, doesn’t really do an examination and sends them to the dispensary for medication. I realize that they have a lot of patients to see and most of them aren’t really that sick, but I am unsure how they are diagnosing UTI’s, malaria, and a wide range of other sicknesses without a single lab being done. That just would never happen back in the states and I guess that is exactly why I wanted to come to a developing country, because it is so different and I seriously feel very lucky. I also don’t want to say the doctors are being lazy, but out of the 4, one in particular seems to hate his job. He listens to the radio, says about 2 words to each patient, and sends them on their way. They all answer phone calls during their rounds and they often stop talking to the patient to ask me questions about me and President Obama. They work ethic here is just so different it’s hard to get use to it.
•Enough about the hospital, I have mentioned before how we get to some places around Ghana. There are line taxis and Tros, we usually take Tros to get to destinations that are far away because they are pretty cheap and hold a lot of people, but they are death machines Some don’t have working headlights, so at night it was so scary getting home, they can break down, they are big so they can tip easily especially when the driver is trying to pass, and they are kind of uncomfortable. But it’s the cheapest way to get around Ghana if you don’t have a car, so we take them. I haven’t had a bad experience yet, but I have heard some stories already. Line taxis are good for going short distances, but you have to ask about prices before you get in, because taxi drivers can really rip you off (especially if you are white), so it’s always a challenge to bargain, but it usually works out.
•People are always trying to sell you things on the side of the road….ALWAYS! You never get away from it, but after about 2 days you really do get use to it. Just say “no thank you” and they move on, but they are often handy on long Tro rides because the sellers are usually on busy streets so if you need water or food, they will come up to your window.
•The Ghanaian word for white person is “Obroni” and everyone calls us that. Little kids LOVE screaming “obroni” at us when we walk down the street and they follow us, wanting us to take pictures and stuff. \I might come back to the states with a complex because no one will be screaming “white girl” or “white sister” at me or want to take pictures with me But it’s a strange world here because I would never walk down the streets in the states screaming, “hi Asian” so it’s weird that it is so common here.
Day Eight: 5/31/10
Today when I went into the Consulting Room with the doctors, one of them asked me if I wanted to be in charge of “consulting” which is clearly the doctor’s job, and I made it perfectly clear that I was not in medical school and had absolutely no training in this, but he didn’t seem to think it was a problem so I played doctor today and it was AMAZING He of course stood behind me and told me what to write and stuff, but it was cool actually doing what a doctor does because I don’t get to role play in the states. I also wrote some labs and prescriptions, I felt very important, plus when I walked out of the room, patients kept calling me “doctor.” It was a fun day!!!
Day Seven: 5/30/2010
Time to leave our little paradise and head on home, but before we left we took a boat tour of the river and the other land around, and got a tour of a run factory. Which really in a couple of separated places on a farm, but it really cool to see how they made rum (see pictures below), and then at the end of the tour we all took a shot of this rum It was really good, spicy and strong but definitely different from any other rum that I have had before, so my roommate and I got a big bottle of it for 10 cedi (about $7), you can see the picture below of us holding the bottle. After our boat tour we caught another Tro back to Medina so we could get another Tro back home.
Day Six: 5/29/2010
I wake up about 4:30am everyone morning in Ghana, so I decided to get up and go watch the sunrise and get a look at everything in the daylight. Here are some pictures from the place, it was amazing!! It is like a tropical paradise and in terms of American dollars really cheap, people would pay thousands of dollars to have this kind of experience and I maybe paid $50. This “resort” is located between the ocean and the Volta River (there is a place at the end of the beach where the river meets the ocean), but the ocean and some pretty wicked waves and a really dangerous undertow so Projects Abroad really advised against swimming in the ocean, but the river side is really calm and the water is so warm and amazing. I went with a group of 11, so we took advantage of our day off and went swimming and played water polo with some older South Koreans that showed up for the day, had lunch, laid in hammocks, took naps, ate dinner, etc. It was just so relaxing there, we were really the only group of people staying there so we pretty much had the entire “resort” to ourselves. I will let the pictures describe how absolutely amazing this place is
Day Five: 5/28/2010
Just another day at the OPD, but I left early because some friends and I are traveling to a beach called Adafo.
We all took a Tro to Accra Tro Station where we transferred to another Tro to get to the beach, it took about another 2 hours to get there so it was pretty dark when we got to the place, but there was a full moon out so it lit the way. And let me say this place is PARADISE!!! We had to walk about 20 minutes through this village to get to the “resort” but it was so beautiful. Once we got there we were greeted by the ocean waves crashing against the beach and beautiful white sandy beach that was really wide and so long. I can’t even really describe how beautiful it was and it was night time, but with the full moon out with was breath taking. We got to the place and had some dinner and found out grass huts and went to bed.
Day Four 5/27/2010:
Every Thursday at the OPD, is a HIV/AIDS clinic so anyone that needs to get a routine check-up, more medication, counseling etc usually come on this day. So anyone that is diagnosed with HIV/AIDS gets a patient folder that looks similar to the regular ones but it is bigger and they get this big green booklet in it (that book is used to keep track of their disease). I was in-charge of opening up lab orders and marking in the booklet, and it was a really weird experience to open up my first lab order and see the words, POSITIVE, red, all caps ink. It changes their life forever and there were about 40 patients coming to get a check-up another 5-10 that were just getting diagnosed. It was really overwhelming at times.
For the patients that were getting routine check-ups, the doctor would ask them a series of questions and look for other signs and one questions that asked “are you sexually active? Yes or no,” if they say yes, we move on to sub-questions that asked “are you letting your partner know you are infected? Yes or no,” and about 15 said yes to being sexually active and no to letting their partner know because they are too embarrassed. I was so mad and frustrated, I mean I’m sure it’s the same problem in the rest of the world, but in a Africa were so maybe individuals are infected it is almost impossible to stop. I was glad I got to be a part of this clinic, but the stigma associated with this disease really prevents people from being open with their sexual partners and it really made me look at my own life and realize how truly lucky I am.
For the patients that were getting routine check-ups, the doctor would ask them a series of questions and look for other signs and one questions that asked “are you sexually active? Yes or no,” if they say yes, we move on to sub-questions that asked “are you letting your partner know you are infected? Yes or no,” and about 15 said yes to being sexually active and no to letting their partner know because they are too embarrassed. I was so mad and frustrated, I mean I’m sure it’s the same problem in the rest of the world, but in a Africa were so maybe individuals are infected it is almost impossible to stop. I was glad I got to be a part of this clinic, but the stigma associated with this disease really prevents people from being open with their sexual partners and it really made me look at my own life and realize how truly lucky I am.
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