Tuesday May 6, 2014

Tuesday May 6, 2014

Today was a good, long day.  We were on the bust at 7 this morning to head out to St. Patrick’s Hospital.  It stormed all last night and the rain lasted throughout the morning.  The sky was cloudy and it was muggy but I kind of enjoyed it. 

We set up to teach the Midwife students at St. Patrick’s.  We taught them CPR and NPR and even certified them with a certificate.  The students started the morning off by singing songs to us; they were incredible!! The group did such a good job at teaching these students.  CPR is such a critical skill that saves lives but is not utilized like it should be in the health care system here.  So it is a really fun opportunity to share it with the students.  They were all so appreciative of it.  I made friends with some of the students during the teachings and some even remembered me from teaching them HIV last year. 

The highlight was watching Julia, this little girl from our group--okay, she's 30--climb on top of the teaching table, lean over the mannequin and start performing CPR while singing "Staying Alive."  All the nursing students joined and they didn't stop singing until the end of the presentation.  

After our teachings, we were able to go walk and explore the hospital.  I was really eager to see a birth but too many students wanted to go there so I opted out.  I then ended up in the Operating Room watching a cesarean section.  We just had to throw some old scrubs on, a hat, and a mask and they allowed us right into the OR. 

We walked in just as they pulled the baby out.  It was such a cool thing to watch.  It was interesting though.   The doctor held the baby by his feet and dangled him in the air.  The midwife took him over to the cleaning table to get his measurements and things but they weren’t too worried about his breathing or anything—this is exactly what Charity Beyond Borders is trying to educate about.  The baby needs attention and needs to breath properly. 

I watched as they cleaned out the uterus including the placenta and everything else that goes with it.  I watched them suck up blood and put sutures in.  I was doing great….that is until I started getting light headed.  I remember telling the doctor that I was dizzy and then I woke up, lying on a strange bed with Taylor—a kid from our group—standing over me asking if I was okay. 

Apparently, I passed out on the doctor and he carried me to the bed.  Upon his return to the OR his glasses were on crooked and his hat was falling off.  He told my group “Ummm…your colleague, he passed out.”  The OR room just laughed.  I guess I proved that I am not a medical student.   I am real glad I switched to marketing. 

So that was real fun.  Everyone got the laughs out of that one—and I guess I gained a real cool story.  We returned back to some teaching to the actual nurses and midwifes of the hospital.  We went on a journey to get home.  Traffic was so bad by the time we arrived it was really late.  We had a 13-hour day, but it was a real good one.  I was so tired tonight that I just got the giggles again.  Oh them giggles. 

During our debriefing I marveled at how incredible the doctors are here.  They want people to learn.  They want you to grow and to be able to help the people.  They didn’t care about my credentials.  Had I wanted to assist somehow in the surgery they would’ve allowed me to.  At home we are put under so many restrictions and told what we can and cannot do way too often.  We get stifled in a sense.  I know it is for our safety and the safety of others but it costs us a lot of learning. 

I am also impressed with the women.  When they go into labor they must bring their own supplies to the hospital, they then sit in a room with several other woman who are also in labor while their family waits outside.  No family is allowed inside.  They are not given any pain medicine, no stirrups, no drugs to induce pregnancy.  They just sit, wait, and deal with what comes.  Once they give birth, they may receive some stitches.  They get up and walk with the nurse who holds their baby to another part of the hospital.  They then, in many cases, may be discharge that same day and walk home. 

They are very strong women.  It is very impressive to see what they go through.  Something that would seem so, wrong, is normal place here.  We really don’t realize how good we have it.