June 22: After the morning run, I met Julio, who is the (music) therapist from Mass General Hospital. Julio arrived the previous night, and I am grateful that he is ready and willing to set to work. Having no time to waste, I toured him around the hospital before our meeting with Dr. Becky (the head of the cancer clinic). During the meeting with Dr. Becky, we discussed the most prominent problems that the ward is having to deal with. An issue that resonated with me was "awareness of the cancer treatment and side-effects." The effects of chemotherapy are unknown to many of the patients because the nurses, for the most part, are uneducated on the topic. When patients' hair begins to fall out, or they are greeted with nausea in the morning, they become scared and think that the chemotherapy is working against abolishing the cancer cells. In truth, the chemotherapy is fighting against the cancer, and these health related issues are side effects; however, patients are not aware that hair loss and nausea are common among chemo patients, and often, they do not return to the hospital, therefore, stopping their treatment. This "awareness" problem could easily be fixed with the help of brochures for the patients and posters for the clinic, which would depict the process of chemotherapy, complete with the side effects and how to manage the side effects.
Additionally, nutrition has become a problem with cancer patients, especially with infants, toddlers, and adolescents. Patients lose much of their appetite, and care-takers do not know how to provide edible amounts of nutrient rich and vitamin filled food. This issue can also be addressed in the pamphlets and posters as well; if care-takers are provided with the information about the nutrition for patients undergoing chemotherapy, the likeliness of malnutrition diminishes. Within the next two-and-a-half weeks (my last weeks), I will work to create the posters and brochures for the oncology ward.
While talking with Dr. Becky, the topic of "witch doctors" arose in discussion. Unbeknownst to many Westerners, witch doctors are ubiquitous throughout much of Africa (mainly in rural parts). When villagers notice signs of illness, they first consult the local witch doctor, whose opinion is highly regarded by the community, and in many cases, trumps the opinions of doctors who practice western medicine. These witch doctors have no professional medical background and will give their clients local remedies. Life-threatening cases, such as cancer, are not curable via homeopathic medicines; people with severe illnesses need to go seek help at the hospital. In order to educate witch doctors on which patients need to visit hospitals, the psychiatric ward is traveling out into rural towns to meet with and teach the witch doctors.
After the meeting with Dr. Becky, we visited the psychiatric ward. Later this week, Julio will sit with the occupational therapists and join in on a couple of their sessions. Our hope is that we can create a joint affiliation between the psychiatric ward (social services) and the oncology ward. When walking through the ward, we saw the filing room, and let me tell you, you have not seen a mess until you have seen the filing room. There are colored folders everywhere (apparently there is a method to the order in which the files are distributed). Dr. Godfrey (the head of the psychiatric ward) explained to us that the hospital has been given computers; however, the computers do not have the database program, which the hospital needs in order to organize patient backgrounds. If the hospital continues to keep track of patients through a paper and pen system, not only will they need to find more storage space, but it will lead to a greater level of disorganization and inefficiency.
During "rest time," Natalie and I bought a large piece of paper and used markers and paint pens to create an English alphabet poster for the malnutrition ward. The reason for doing this was the kids in the ward are missing school, and a few of the older children have shown interest in expanding their knowledge of the English language. James was our cheerleader as we colored, for we banned him from coming close to the poster board, in fear that he would mess it up (he has proven to be quite the reckless chef in the kitchen!). We spent awhile coloring and coming up with foods for the alphabet (for X, we went with Xigua, which apparently is a Chinese watermelon...the kids in the ward will now be learning Mandarin as well). The paint pens leaked a little on the nice table, so frantically, Natalie and I scurried to rub off the paint before it soaked into the table (that took a good thirty minutes to scrub off).
When we were finished with the poster, we walked over to the malnutrition ward, in hopes of playing with the kids and hanging up the poster. Upon arrival, we learned that the chef was missing, and the chef had the keys to the playroom: we were locked out. I have come to learn that these kind of spontaneous events are called "T.I.A.," meaning "This is Africa." With no access to the materials we needed, James, Natalie, and I decided to venture into town. We bought local fabric for lanyards, and went to a tailor who is currently assembling the lanyards (these are great gifts for our friends back at home).
After dropping James off at the guest house, Natalie and I went to California Nails, which is the "it" salon in Mbarara. We walked into a small room on the second floor of an old building. The sound of Ugandan pop music was coming out of a small, black TV in the center of the room. We asked for two manicures and sat down in chairs. A woman came over to Natalie and placed a towel around her body, leaving the arms out. We gave each other a look before the manicurist began to lather exfoliating salt all over Natalie's arms (I mean from the finger tips to the shoulder blades). Natalie kept giving me glances, and I could not look for too long because I thought I was going to die from laughter. When the woman poured the salt over me and started to rub my arms, tears started to well in my eyes: she rubbed and grabbed my arms so tightly. She pulled flesh from my arm that I did not know existed, and my arms turned the color of a stop sign...literally, the color of a stop sign. We then moved on to the filing portion of the manicure. The lady took out a knife to file my nails, and it strongly resembled a kitchen knife. As soon as she placed the "filer" to my fingers, I told her that I did not need the filing. The color portion of the manicure was by far the most relaxing part...no welted arms or butcher knives. In the end, the nails turned out well, and it was by far the cheapest manicure, as well as the most painful manicure I have ever received: $3.00.
At 6:00 p.m. a large group of expats attended aerobics. David, who just arrived from the States earlier in the day, was the star of the session. Earlier in the week, Natalie, James, Noortje, and I went to the second-hand clothing market to buy David an eclectic outfit for aerobics. We bought him a 70's-styled collared shirt, complete with black see-through flesh stripes, as well as a Sponge Bob hat with 3-D glasses. I must say that he came across as the stereotypical American, dad tourist who wears all the wrong clothes while on vacation. He was far from hitting the Paris Fashion Week runways.
Aerobics was as hard as ever, but we busted out some dance moves when some of the American songs appeared on the playlist. During the abs section, I was struggling to the point that an expat came up to me and whipped me with a towel and said, "looks like you're having a hard time there." I consumed all of the calories that I had burned during aerobics at Lord's Bar, where I ate a freshly prepared chicken and chapati (the local form of bread, which is similar to Naan).
Additionally, nutrition has become a problem with cancer patients, especially with infants, toddlers, and adolescents. Patients lose much of their appetite, and care-takers do not know how to provide edible amounts of nutrient rich and vitamin filled food. This issue can also be addressed in the pamphlets and posters as well; if care-takers are provided with the information about the nutrition for patients undergoing chemotherapy, the likeliness of malnutrition diminishes. Within the next two-and-a-half weeks (my last weeks), I will work to create the posters and brochures for the oncology ward.
While talking with Dr. Becky, the topic of "witch doctors" arose in discussion. Unbeknownst to many Westerners, witch doctors are ubiquitous throughout much of Africa (mainly in rural parts). When villagers notice signs of illness, they first consult the local witch doctor, whose opinion is highly regarded by the community, and in many cases, trumps the opinions of doctors who practice western medicine. These witch doctors have no professional medical background and will give their clients local remedies. Life-threatening cases, such as cancer, are not curable via homeopathic medicines; people with severe illnesses need to go seek help at the hospital. In order to educate witch doctors on which patients need to visit hospitals, the psychiatric ward is traveling out into rural towns to meet with and teach the witch doctors.
After the meeting with Dr. Becky, we visited the psychiatric ward. Later this week, Julio will sit with the occupational therapists and join in on a couple of their sessions. Our hope is that we can create a joint affiliation between the psychiatric ward (social services) and the oncology ward. When walking through the ward, we saw the filing room, and let me tell you, you have not seen a mess until you have seen the filing room. There are colored folders everywhere (apparently there is a method to the order in which the files are distributed). Dr. Godfrey (the head of the psychiatric ward) explained to us that the hospital has been given computers; however, the computers do not have the database program, which the hospital needs in order to organize patient backgrounds. If the hospital continues to keep track of patients through a paper and pen system, not only will they need to find more storage space, but it will lead to a greater level of disorganization and inefficiency.
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| Alphabet for Malnutrition Ward |
When we were finished with the poster, we walked over to the malnutrition ward, in hopes of playing with the kids and hanging up the poster. Upon arrival, we learned that the chef was missing, and the chef had the keys to the playroom: we were locked out. I have come to learn that these kind of spontaneous events are called "T.I.A.," meaning "This is Africa." With no access to the materials we needed, James, Natalie, and I decided to venture into town. We bought local fabric for lanyards, and went to a tailor who is currently assembling the lanyards (these are great gifts for our friends back at home).
After dropping James off at the guest house, Natalie and I went to California Nails, which is the "it" salon in Mbarara. We walked into a small room on the second floor of an old building. The sound of Ugandan pop music was coming out of a small, black TV in the center of the room. We asked for two manicures and sat down in chairs. A woman came over to Natalie and placed a towel around her body, leaving the arms out. We gave each other a look before the manicurist began to lather exfoliating salt all over Natalie's arms (I mean from the finger tips to the shoulder blades). Natalie kept giving me glances, and I could not look for too long because I thought I was going to die from laughter. When the woman poured the salt over me and started to rub my arms, tears started to well in my eyes: she rubbed and grabbed my arms so tightly. She pulled flesh from my arm that I did not know existed, and my arms turned the color of a stop sign...literally, the color of a stop sign. We then moved on to the filing portion of the manicure. The lady took out a knife to file my nails, and it strongly resembled a kitchen knife. As soon as she placed the "filer" to my fingers, I told her that I did not need the filing. The color portion of the manicure was by far the most relaxing part...no welted arms or butcher knives. In the end, the nails turned out well, and it was by far the cheapest manicure, as well as the most painful manicure I have ever received: $3.00.
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| David's Rockin' Second-Hand Outfit |
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| Maggie and Natalie Busting Out Some Moves |
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