May 23rd:
Today the team split up into two groups so that the medical team could go to an outreach clinic and the other team members stayed at Light in Africa to teach the kids and play with them. The RN’s matched up with nursing students and we set up a clinic in a beautiful church. In about 7 hours we saw over 160 patients that had various conditions from hypertension, chest pain, allergies, fungal infections, back pain, headaches and eye pain to name just a few. The language barrier is the most overwhelming and frustrating aspect of doing assessments during the clinics. Apparently in the clinics that many of the Tanzanian people go to the patient’s blood pressure is not taken. So in our clinic today we found many high blood pressures that would be very dangerous in America and call for emergency medication management. However, with the conditions and availability here in Tanzania we could only refer the patients on to the hospital. After the day was done we transferred 12 patients that needed urgent care but money and cultural barriers may prevent the patients from getting more care. The church pastor and elders that hosted us were very grateful for seeing the patients and I explained to them that it is totally worth it for the people of Tanzania.
-Lauren, RN
Today, the group that stayed at Light in Africa helped the children with their schoolwork and getting their energy out. We corrected math papers and read English books during the day while taking breaks to play basketball, hand games, and run around the playground. They better sleep well tonight because I know we sure will. It was really amazing to see the skill level these children have in academics such as long division, double digit multiplication, and even reading English sentences and making sense of them. It was a fun day to relax, teach, and play with the kids.
-Bailey
Wow what a day at the clinic. We served many patients today that would not have otherwise had access to health care or for most of them they could not afford it. Hope Ministries provided all their health care free and all the medications that was given to the patients was provided. Thanks to all the donors, because without you we could not provide this health care to these poor people. We also provided funds to patients that we transferred to other hospitals for transportation and to help pay for health care. The team did an awesome job and I am so proud of all of them. This was a big learning experience for the students today. Everyone got to witness rural health care today. God bless you all for you help with helping thee people. Gayle
Gayle
