Labo District Hospital

Left early today- 7am.  Day 1.  it's raining.  It's a 45 minute ride in 3 vans to the Labo District Hospital from Daet where we are staying.  We are greeted with a group of people ready to film us as we exit the van.  After we do introductions, it's time to set up our workspace.  Three hours later we have managed to unpack hundreds of balikbayan boxes full of equipment, medications, etc. into separate working spaces- patient registration, waiting area, check-in, outpatient clinic, OR, minor surgery, pharmacy,  and storage.  I'm in outpatient clinic with Drs. Pardo.

 

Moving boxes

Primary Care

The OR

Setting up the pharmacy

Crowd control

One patient that stood out  for me today was a little boy named Prince.  He was only 18 months old.  This is a really tough kid.  He sustained an electrical burn to the end of his index finger in early December.  His fingertip was a black charcoal mess to his 2nd knuckle.  I could barely make out a shriveled little nail.  I took him to minor surgery late in the day and debrided this wound and while doing this, his tiny fingertip bone slipped out of the wound onto the gauze, and this was followed by some creamy, bloody material and then the remaining fingertip.  I did my best to clean the remaining finger and close the wound.  This boy sat on his mommy's lap patiently.  He barely whimpered with the injection of anesthesia.  What 18 month old kid do you know in the US that could tolerate this??  His mom was very grateful.  He got a stuffed lion and was thrilled.

Prince

It's amazing how little we need to practice medicine- a stethescope, some hand sanitizer (no running water in my outpatient clinic), gloves, a mask, scalpel, bandages....

Grand Totals for Day 1:  patients seen in outpatient clinic- 238;  2 gyne surgeries, 5 cleft lip/palate repairs, 26 masse/tumors excised; hundreds of samples of vitamins and various meds given, hundreds of Rx antibiotics given.  Pretty good for a 6 hour day.  I'm proud to be part of this team.  I feel like we're making a difference.

Newborn on Day 1

Dr. Kevin 'wheels' Orlando to recovery

Orlando recovers