L O N G day

What a L O N G day! It took practically all day to gain an appointment with the M.O.H. but in the end it was all worth it. After perusing our letter, he gave approval, with the conditions that we (1) provide 200shillings maximum per community health worker / refreshments for them (2) and that we negotiate with each district nurse coordinator for dates/number of C.H.W. etc.  We met with Zipporah (coordinator for the Berut region) and booked the Mogoon clinic for next Wednesday, with no delay. Zipporah had actually worked together with us earlier in the year when we ran a clinic at Berut, so she already knew what we were about as a organisation and wholly supported Kenya Health. However we came against a lot of  opposition when we met with Winnie (coordinator for Rhonda district; which incorporates Pondamali) so negotiations are on-going. We agreed to meet with her again tomorrow at 2pm, as she had 4 of her most difficult cases that she wanted us to assess, to see if Kenya Health could assist. Meanwhile, the rest of the team: Corinna, Cathie and Michele had been invited by Ivan to assess a “couple of wounds” at a village near to MIA. Damarus (the wonderful cook for MIA) also wanted them to check on her neighbour’s “goitre”. They ended up seeing not 3 people, but half of the village, with various complaints and illnesses. The lady (Esther) with the “goitre”, actually has a very large parathyroid tumour, which is blocking her airway and making it difficult to breath. A 13 year old girl named Beatrice, had obvious deformity of her left leg and is suffering with chronic osteomyelitis, osteoporosis and a club foot. She requires surgery. Another case that stood out, was a 56 year old lady (who looked 80+years) with severe rheumatoid arthritis and couldn’t move. She had been donated a wheelchair, but was unable without assistance from her neighbour, to get into it. Corinna, Cathie and Michele, patched up wounds (some needed de-briding), began anti-fungal and antibiotic therapy, where needed. By all accounts they had a successful afternoon