Jan 13 was pretty "quiet.." usual hospital stuff. However the Kenyan med students have started and now there are over 20 people rounding. It is very difficult to hear anything unless you are right at the bedside.
Today I have the privilege of going with Joe Mamlin to an outlying HIV clinic about 40 minutes from Eldoret. See this site if you want to see how this program has evolved with Joe's influence:
http://alumni.indiana.edu/magazine/issues/200703/kenya.shtml
Joe has taken HIV treatment to the field and his approach is comprehensive as you can see from the article above. We sent 2 pts to Moi Hospital this am, one with rheumatic heart disease in AF and another HIV with wt loss, fever and abnormal CXR- probably TB. Joe was teaching a nurse practitioner ("clinical officer") and after 4 months this CO was quite adept at handling HIV. Joe is a true internist; very good a physical exams, reading Xrays, etc.
It will be hard to forget the 14 year old girl with big brown eyes we saw today who was HIV +. She was being raised by her aunt as her mom died probably of HIV. She was started on HIV meds today and she smiled so brightly when I gave her some cookies I had with me. She also had asthma but of course the pharmacy doesn't have the proper inhalers for her.
Many of the pts we saw today would have not survived in the past since there were no outreach programs to treat HIV.
We are off Baringo Lake tomorrow and take a ferry to an island camp in the middle of the lack. Looking forward to 24 hrs of R and R.
Hi,
ReplyDeletewhat an adventure you are having, and how lucky the people of Kenya are to have you there to help them. looking forward to your return to LVH and seeing lots of pictures!
Jerri