Morning Prayer

Fridays we have our medical education talks. 
We begin with morning prayer which includes singing.

Here is a sampling for your listening pleasure.

Dr. Eugene

Dr. Eugene is a general practitioner and the Medical Director of St. Martin de Porres. He is an exceptional leader, excellent doctor, and a very good friend. He has worked at the hospital for 4 years now and is from this area so he speaks Kom, the local indigenous language.  He is also fluent in French, English, Pidgin and Fulfulde which come in quite handy.

Dr. Eugene is our HIV and TB expert. The three of us share responsibilities on the Medical, Children's and Newborn wards, as well as the outreach to 6 villages. Thank you Dr. Eugene for your expertise, dedication and especially for your friendship!

Eugene, Eunice and their two beautiful children

Eugene and his wife Eunice

Baby Daniella

Recently we had two Belgian medical students, Xander and Peter, here for three months. We really enjoy having medical students learn and work at the hospital. They help us with patient care, we enjoy teaching, and they end up having an unforgettable, life changing experience.  

Right is Peter, Left is Xander

Synthia

Synthia, a 13 year old girl, presented to the hospital after about a month of fevers and abdominal pain. On physical exam, a right upper quadrant mass could be felt. Ultrasound (thank you Micromaxx) showed a number of masses that appeared to be abscesses. Needle aspiration revealed fluid consistent with amoebas.  She was taken to the operating room and over 1 liter of pus was removed.  She did very well post operatively and this picture is about 1 month after discharge.

needle aspiration fluid

liver amoebas

Synthia

Kite Flying

The rains have come, the mountains are green and there is a bit of wind for kite flying!

Easter

We had a special Easter.

Two of the mission families with Lay Mission Helpers came to Njinikom to spend Easter with us. We had a wonderful time together and special fellowship as we shared these most holy days together.

 

Achain is one of our outreach clinics.   We go there once a month during the dry season. During the height of the rainy season, the roads are impassable except by motorcycles. It takes 2-4 hours to get there by truck depending on the condition of the roads. We work the day and then travel about one hour back toward Njinikom and stay the night in Ilung.  The next day we work in Ilung and then head back to Njinikom.

There is no electricity and no cell phone reception. Light is only by "bush lamp" which is a kerosene lantern. We have a portable ultrasound that we use for patients with various complaints and for those who are pregnant. We are able to use the ultrasound battery, but this limits us to about 7 ultrasounds before the battery runs out. Many of the patients travel from even more remote villages for our once a month visit. Achain was able to connect the US to a generator and run it during one of our visits so that everyone who needed an ultrasound could have one. The connection was a bit precarious!

Recently, a very special Dutch friend of St. Martin De Porres, Peter van Leerdam, provided solar lighting for Achain. This provides a much more reliable, safe power source.