Family Care Medical Outreach

Wow, this past week was crazy! There was an over abundance of challenges and interesting experiences. I'll have to write about this weeks in parts because there are so many stories to tell.
I went on a week long trip to Okene, Kogi state with a Christian organization called Family Care. They do these outreaches every couple months providing free medical to villages that otherwise would get good healthcare. Another girl, Ruth, and I went together and had a very busy week. She was their to photograph and I worked in the theater (OR to all us Americans). We spent Sunday night in Abuja and one of the leader's (Artero's) house and then drove to Okene Monday morning. Family care had already been there for a couple days trying to get the hospital ready, cleaning it and stocking it with all the needed medical equipment (a lot of which they donated at the end of the week). We stopped at the hospital first just to have a look around. There were so many people we could hardly pull into the gates. When people hear about free medical care they come by the thousands. Some will wait there for the entire week hoping to get a chance for free care.
Here's a broad idea of how it works. There's one person, Solomon, handing out medical cards. Without that card you can't be seen by the doctors. Solomon was mobbed and chased daily. People can get pretty aggressive so we had police with us who helped manage the crowds. With a card you would see the general practitioners who would treat, prescribes meds, or refer them the dental, theater, or optometrists specialists. If they needed surgery, they'd have to wait in a long line again for to be seen. I'm not certain how the dental and eye areas worked- I spent all my time in the theater- but I know a lot of people who had been suffering for years were healed. More about that later...
Monday after noon, Ruth and I got settled in the hotel and I went back to the hospital to jump right into things. They suited me up in a pair of large scrubs, put some flip flops on me (yes, flip flops to do surgery!), and sent me in to watch an inguinal hernia repair. I think how the Nigerian surgeons described it was pretty accurate; they said this is "jungle medicine". You do what you can with what you have in the surroundings you're given. There were 2 theaters, one of which was maybe the size of an OR room in the US and the other about half the size of a US OR room. The first room had 5 operating tables and the second had 3. You would literally be standing back to back with surgeons from the other tables. There was no running water and the electricity didn't work at all times. Even if it did work the lighting was terrible and one table was always in the shadows. Each room had one table full of "sterile" equipment with one scrub nurse attending to all the surgeries that were happening. Those poor nurses were running like mad to fulfill all the doctors demands. The doctor's didn't have it so great either. Majority of the surgeries were done with local anesthetic, only major surgeries got an epidural. Thankfully they had medication to knock out the children. It was shocking to me that none of them were given oxygen or intubated during these procedures, and I can only remember 2 patients who were given transfusions. Almost every surgery I saw in the US, the patient was knocked out and intubated. Here one patient was cut open from sternum to navel and was completely awake. When she looked at me, I didn't know quite what to do. I wanted to say something but what would I say? I felt like "So, how's it going?" wasn't exactly appropriate so I was kind of thankful we didn't speak the same language.
So, one after the other patient's were brought into the two rooms and the surgeons just cranked through surgeries. I forget the exact number but it was about 180 they did in one week, which I thought was impressive. That's not including any of the eye or dental surgeries. Some of the most amazing stories came from the eye surgeries. One man had been blind since a young age; he was now 30. He went home last week being able to see. There were so many miraculous stories like that. The thing I really like about Family Care is that they not only give this free medical care, they take time to minister to the people. Okene is predominately Muslim so they did a lot of talking about Christ to people. I think Josh (the head of Family Care) said that they were able to speak with 5,000 people, some of whom came accepted Christ. I love one story of a woman. They talked with her and she said she had accepted Christ as her Saviour. To show her sincerity in this she broke the fast of Rahmedan (that's probably not spelled right...) in front of many Muslim people by drinking water. Her family could cast her out for that. I admire her boldness; it could only came from a heart truly changed by God.
So, that's us as brief as possible overview of my week. I'll write so more specific stories in the following blogs to come! And, I feel like I've made a habit out of saying this, I have pictures of the week but I'll have to upload them to facebook sometime...when I have more time...which could be awhile!