WHERE TO?
It took two days for us to just get from Charleston to our hotel 8,000 miles away in Masindi, Uganda. After a lovely six hour flight delay, we took off from Charleston and continued on to Washington D.C., then Ethiopia, and finally landed in Entebbe after 15 hours. Next we loaded up the vans and drove five hours to Masindi. I have never taken so much Dramamine, but we made it with all of our team members AND luggage!
WHO WITH?
OneWorld Health is the best. Basically, they build hospitals in places that really need them, and make sure that those hospitals are completely self-sustaining and integrated into the community in a responsible and meaningful way. If no-one ever donated money to these hospitals ever again, they would be completely capable of running on their own. SO COOL. Anyway, our role as short-term medical missionaries was to reach villages in more rural areas to address acute medical needs. Some of these patients had not been seen by medical providers in several years, and the local healthcare systems just aren't yet able to fill all of the medical needs in these areas. When more serious issues came up in our temporary clinics, we were able to refer those patients to the Masindi-Kitara Medical Center to receive more appropriate care and follow-up.
WHAT'D YA DO?
I switched between treating patients and helping in the pharmacy. It took me a few days to build my confidence, but I learned so much from the providers on our trip, and by the end of the week I was diagnosing and choosing treatments for people like a champ! We had a family doctor, a neonatal nurse practitioner, an orthopedic surgery MD and PA, an OBGYN resident, a dentist, an occupational therapist and a physical therapist... so I learned a whole lot about a million different things. Our most common diagnoses were simple things like malaria (similar to the flu), acid reflux, skin infections, and injuries. We also saw a lot of diseases that I won't be seeing often in the US, like polio and hydrocephaly.
WHAT DID AUSTIN DO?
Austin had several roles on this trip, which he totally crushed! Firstly, he had to be by my side as I painfully chose what items to fit into my one, carry-on sized suitcase. More formally, he was asked to be the Spiritual Director for the whole team. That meant leading morning devotionals, praying for our meals and patients, and just generally being there for anyone who wanted to talk things through. In clinic, Austin was the one and only "runner". He was in charge of getting patients from station to station and making sure that no-one got lost in the shuffle. Seeing him in this role was absolutely precious to me, because he went above and beyond to make every single patient feel welcome and cared for. He also did an awesome job of constantly encouraging everyone else on the team, which is much needed on a long, hot day in the clinic.
WHO DID YOU TREAT?
We saw nearly 200 patients each day. The villagers are told that a medical team is coming several weeks in advance, and then they will line up the night before clinic to try and get a spot. Our patients spoke hundreds of different languages, so we enlisted the help of local translators to communicate. We saw men, women, newborns, 100 year olds, walking and wheelchair bound.
ELEPHANTS?
YES, we saw elephants, and it was a dream come true. After the week of clinic, we travelled to Murchison Falls National Park to go on a safari and stay one night by the Nile River. It was very very cool, and a fun was to see a completely different part of Uganda.
NOW WHAT?
After falling in love with the mission and practices of OneWorld Health, I am incredibly excited to be going back. I have been assigned an international rotation back at Masindi-Kitara Medical Center! For 5 weeks in May of 2018, I'll be helping deliver babies and providing women's healthcare alongside the talented staff of MKMC.
Until next time,
Kelly and Austin
P.S. If you want more information about our trip, or are interested in getting involved yourself, please head over to http://oneworldhealth.com!
