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I (Heather) have always had a desire to do missions in Africa. A good friend of mine has done sports ministry in Kenya for over a decade and always speaks so highly of the people and ministry. Fortunately, I have AMAZING coworkers and in April we decided to take a medical missions trip together before I left for Peru. We went with Project C.U.R.E. to Accra, Ghana and participated in 4 clinic days seeing close to 1200 patients. It was hard work for multiple reasons. Our focus was primary prevention and included A TON of education.
We performed basic triage (BP, Respiratory Rate, Heart Rate, Temperature, and Glucose), wound care, and had three education stations (Respiratory, Body Mechanics, and Nutrition). This was an incredible opportunity because we go the experience of running a clinic and modifying it for the needs of the community. I left Africa with so much excitement to implement the same kind of clinics for the community in Ayacucho when we host medical teams. It also provided me with insight on the type of networking I can do in Ayacucho to obtain resources for the Quechua people.
Some of the cases we came across were malaria, parasites, tuberculosis, and typhoid. We had so many people that were malnourished. It was heartbreaking to see these 3 and 4-year-old children that looked like they were 1 or 2 years old because they couldn’t get the nutrition they needed. Health Insurance for a year in these villages cost $3. $3 a year and these people couldn’t afford it. We would have multiple patients that told us they would get dizzy and feel light headed. Their heart rates were elevated and had they had low blood pressure. Most of them drank 2 glasses of water a day. Now it was HOT HOT HOT in Ghana. We drank soooo much water and still felt super dehydrated. We would talk to them about increasing the amount of water they drank to 8 glasses of water a day. This is where the challenge came in…they would tell us that the water from the well would make them sick and give them sores. We encouraged them to boil the water and they said it still made them sick. No one had come back out to treat the water in these two beautiful pump wells that were installed. These people were having to choose between drinking water that made them sick and caused sores on their legs because of parasites or being extremely dehydrated. PERSPECTIVE PEOPLE. It was so incredibly humbling. Not only being so grateful for all the resources I have for my patients in the hospital but also for all the things in my daily life that I take for granted. We talk about it all the time but SEEING it has a completely different impact.
I feel super blessed to have been able to be a part of this trip. Also being able to experience this with friends that I value so much is something I will always hold close to my heart. The Lord is so good. Even while I was in Africa He was preparing me for our time in Peru. Our base for housing was a mine in Ghana that sponsored our trip. I was able to talk to the GM of the mine and figured out they also had a mine in Ayacucho. I am super excited to try and build this relationship and see if we can work together to serve the people of Ayacucho, Peru.
We performed basic triage (BP, Respiratory Rate, Heart Rate, Temperature, and Glucose), wound care, and had three education stations (Respiratory, Body Mechanics, and Nutrition). This was an incredible opportunity because we go the experience of running a clinic and modifying it for the needs of the community. I left Africa with so much excitement to implement the same kind of clinics for the community in Ayacucho when we host medical teams. It also provided me with insight on the type of networking I can do in Ayacucho to obtain resources for the Quechua people.
Some of the cases we came across were malaria, parasites, tuberculosis, and typhoid. We had so many people that were malnourished. It was heartbreaking to see these 3 and 4-year-old children that looked like they were 1 or 2 years old because they couldn’t get the nutrition they needed. Health Insurance for a year in these villages cost $3. $3 a year and these people couldn’t afford it. We would have multiple patients that told us they would get dizzy and feel light headed. Their heart rates were elevated and had they had low blood pressure. Most of them drank 2 glasses of water a day. Now it was HOT HOT HOT in Ghana. We drank soooo much water and still felt super dehydrated. We would talk to them about increasing the amount of water they drank to 8 glasses of water a day. This is where the challenge came in…they would tell us that the water from the well would make them sick and give them sores. We encouraged them to boil the water and they said it still made them sick. No one had come back out to treat the water in these two beautiful pump wells that were installed. These people were having to choose between drinking water that made them sick and caused sores on their legs because of parasites or being extremely dehydrated. PERSPECTIVE PEOPLE. It was so incredibly humbling. Not only being so grateful for all the resources I have for my patients in the hospital but also for all the things in my daily life that I take for granted. We talk about it all the time but SEEING it has a completely different impact.
I feel super blessed to have been able to be a part of this trip. Also being able to experience this with friends that I value so much is something I will always hold close to my heart. The Lord is so good. Even while I was in Africa He was preparing me for our time in Peru. Our base for housing was a mine in Ghana that sponsored our trip. I was able to talk to the GM of the mine and figured out they also had a mine in Ayacucho. I am super excited to try and build this relationship and see if we can work together to serve the people of Ayacucho, Peru.