Vaccination Program

This morning we spent a few hours in the immunization clinic. The clinic runs on Wednesdays and Fridays, from 7:30AM - 11:00AM. Vaccines are an important service offered by the hospital, with 95% of the immunizations for babies/children. The government has programs set up to provide certain free immunizations for babies/children.
At 9:00AM Mr. Adolphe (pictured) gave a short lesson in the importance of Vitamin-A vaccinations for babies, and asked questions of the mothers. Education is something we are pushing here at these immunization clinics. There was a full crowd today and only one nurse, so volunteer Kelly Fromuth was called into action. I was there simply to shoot pictures/video. I did end up trying to draw up some syringes to facilitate the process. It was very hectic watching them give immunizations. There were many crying babies. It was a whirlwind of activity for about 2 hours until all vaccinations were complete.
The babies are weighed and vaccinated at these check-ups, and the information is recorded on their vaccination card.
Its a very good service offered by the hospital, funded by the government, and hopefully after some analysis we may give some pointers to smooth out the process.

A day at the beach; Kribi

The weekend of Nov 22-23, the Project HOPE team traveled to the beach town of Kribi. The drive is four hours long and included passing through many towns, rest stops, and lots of jungle. I am continually amazed at how lush & green this country is. Thankfully the road to Kribi is well built (by the Germans I believe, from many decades ago). Rules of the road still applied; meaning no rules. It is extremely dangerous, in my opinion, to drive in Cameroon.
We passed a 10km stretch of "Palm Tree plantations", where they grow palm trees to harvest the oil. It went on forever, it was great. Every town we stopped at, our car was swarmed by people trying to sell us their wares. We finally arrived to Kribi and the driver (Bala) and our guard (Yves) immediately bought dried fish. The fish from Kribi is the best, freshest in the country. We checked into the hotel, Hotel du Phare (best in the area) and went straight for the beach.
The beach was very nice, brown sand but not full of seashells/rocks/stuff. We are told the sand at Limbe (other beach resort) is black due to oil pollution and volcanic ash. The water was actually warm, way better than I expected. We hung out at the beach until it was time for dinner. We were invited to go to a family friends' house for a late lunch, then a restaurant in-town for dinner. The town of Kribi is very similar to Yaounde in some aspects. Kribi really starts to set itself apart once you get to the beach.
Dinner was delicious, Sole fish prepared with vegetables, plantains, and fries. I tried the head of the fish for the first time in my life. Its a common thing to eat in Cameroon, and some people prefer the head to the rest of the body. Lets just say, it was my "Andrew Zimmern" moment. I couldn't handle it. The night was spent on the beach with a good book.
The next day we had a wonderful "French" breakfast at the hotel, I had fresh coconut from a local vendor, and we spent the rest of the morning on the beach and purchasing goods. Being a tourist destination, many local vendors bring their items to sell right up to the hotel restaurant. I went for a walk on the beach and jumped in the Atlantic Ocean for a last time.
We left the hotel, which was very nice, and had a late lunch again at the family friends' house. It was delicious fish.
After lunch we went to a famous tourist destination, the Chutes del la Lobe. We took a canoe ride around the bay, saw the nearby fishing village, and went right up to the waterfalls. This is the only waterfall in the world that falls into the Ocean.

Unfortunately we had to leave Kribi after being there only one day. It was definitely a needed respite from continuous work at the hospital, and very nice of the Blaz family to set it up for us. We traveled another four hours back to Yaounde, arriving well after dark.

I want to give another shout-out to Jellybean. Megan sends a shout-out for JC & KMo. Kelly sends a shout-out to no one in particular.

Video series: Training videos

I was sent here to Cameroon with an armament of electronics, all in the effort to assist me with capturing my time here with Project HOPE. Use of the video camera has been slow until now; I didn't really know what I should be recording with it. After seeing the YouTube videos created by Alisa/Emily during their Project HOPE rotation, I am inspired. I thought up an idea of recording educational videos for the staff here at MRN hospital. I have been working with Project HOPE volunteer [Kelly Fromuth] to come up with ideas/implementation for these videos.

We just finished shooting our first training video: How To Do An EKG. Although it was a bit rough around the edges, I would call it a success. We plan on analyzing the video and shooting a second one (hopefully more polished) to be used by the staff here. Other ideas include: hand sanitation, aseptic technique(s), vital signs, and more.

Stay tuned for updates on our Video Series.

Motorcycle taxis: will I risk it?

Ever since coming to Yaounde and seeing the prevalence of motorcycle taxis I have wanted to ride one. They are a cheap mode of transportation here and everyone uses them. Apparently they only travel short distances (this was told to me by a taxi driver) so they can have quick turnaround of customers. I've seen all sorts of people on motorcycle taxis. From toddlers going to school, businessmen in suits going to work, and entire families (most I've seen is 5 people on one motorcycle).
I'm told it is a very dangerous method of transportation and there are many motorcycle accidents on a daily basis. I have seen some of the aftermath of motorcycle accidents (nothing too serious) at the Yaounde Central Hospital.
One of the main problems with the motorcycle taxi system is that anyone can purchase a motorcycle and start riding. There is no "Class M license" like in the States. There are no driving schools for motorcycles. No requirements. All you need is your identification card and enough money to purchase one.
True survival of the fittest.
I bring this up today because during our morning run (Yves, Haris, myself) we were constantly honked at by motorcycles. They dodge and weave to beat traffic. We were running at 6:30AM so luckily not as much traffic.
I think I have gotten over the desire to ride a motor cycle taxi. At first I thought it would be a fun roller coaster ride...now I think I might just get hurt. Who knows, maybe I'll do a short run.

We NEARLY ran out of food!

Last Thursday we Nearly ran out of food at HOPE House. We had been warned by previous volunteers to keep on top of the food situation but its been pretty darn good so far. The tipping point was when we ran out of peanut butter (an important protein source for one of the volunteers here). The backstory: due to the previous Sunday being an election day (all stores closed) we weren't able to go to the supermarket to replenish. Thursday night we had cous-cous 'potatoes', at least they were shaped like potatoes. We didn't even know they were couscous. The next 2 days we scraped by on the bare minimum. Saturday morning we literally had nothing in the fridge so we ventured out to forage. We came across a roadside stand directly across from the hospital that sold 'beignetes' (basically donut holes). We were salivating. They are so good.
Breakfast on Saturday turned out to be very unhealthy and delicious, followed by a late large lunch. Needless to say, at the supermarket yesterday we STOCKED up on food.
One thing I learned...people can become a little more irritated if food runs out. So always keep the fridge stocked.

Cabaret with a surprise concert

This event happened quite a while ago it seems. Saturday night, October 8, 2011. For the evening we decided to go to a cabaret to listen to Live Cameroonian music. After much trouble getting a ride, we crammed EIGHT people into a small station wagon and headed downtown. The cabaret was called 'Carousel' and when we arrived, we realized there was a concert that night. The famous Cameroonian pop star 'Lady Ponce' was headlining after a few local bands. We arrived about 10PM and ended up staying until 4:30AM. Did I mention Lady Ponce didn't arrive until 4:00AM? We were absolutely exhausted and by the end of the night (early morning, really) I was absolutely ready to crash. The bands we listened to were pretty good. It was a good experience over all. I'm glad we stayed for Lady Ponce to see who this star is, but I wish she had started a little earlier. Everyone was going crazy for her. People would go up on stage and rub money all over her forehead and give it to her. It was quite an interesting event to watch. I ordered chicken + fried plantains, in addition to eating some mystery roadside meat (chicken on a stick?).
I think I would prefer my cabarets to be a little more low-key. I learned a few Cameroonian dance moves thanks to our musically gifted friend Albert. Hopefully we can go to a cabaret again, I would love to listen to Jazz or French music. Cameroonian music is good too. But definitely don't want to be there that late.
On the way home we had car troubles. One of the cars blew a tire so we had to pack into one car. 7 people in a Mercedes this time, a little more breathing room. Since it was the day of the election, and all shops would be closed, we stopped at a bakery @ 5:00AM. We stocked up on bread and munched on donuts while we waited.

Hospital tours put things in perspective

I haven't updated the blog in a while, and this will be a relatively long blog; I apologize in advance!

Every morning I come to Maria Rosa Nsisim hospital and I round with the medical doctor (and nurses). I take notes and notice differences between care provided here, and what I expect to see in a U.S. hospital. When I round, I keep in mind the resource limitations here at the hospital. The medical staff here are doing an excellent job providing care to their patients given the conditions. To put this [private] hospital into perspective and to learn more about hospitals in Cameroon, it had been suggested we visit [public] hospitals to draw differences.
On Wednesday we had that opportunity to visit both a (General) hospital and (District) hospital, both public. Just the ride to these hospitals was quite an adventure, and almost made me nauseous. I couldn't imagine a sick patient having to endure a ride to the hospital like that.
First we visited Yaounde General Hospital, which is the largest hospital in all of this area. Its patient base includes the surrounding areas outside of Yaounde as well. It is a teaching hospital with medical students and nursing students training, although we didn't get to tour any school campus there. It was a very large compound, it has been around for over 50 years (buildings are very old and showing their wear) although ongoing renovations for the past decade, and it was spread out with each department having its own building. We had a very nice nurse, Jacky, show us around to each department.
What I saw there put Maria Rosa Nsisim (MRN) into perspective. The General Hospital had a huge patient load (and large capacity), although it seemed people were waiting everywhere. The buildings as mentioned are very old. The equipment was very limited and many patient beds were in each room (standing screen dividers for privacy). The hospital is capable of treating many types of ailments and seems very well staffed. I spoke to a ER nurse as he was working on a motorcycle accident patient who had a bone sticking out of his leg; the nurse was prepping the leg for surgery. It was quite intense. It was also comforting to see mosquito nets in the maternity ward, to help prevent malaria. I was impressed by the scope of practice at the hospital but not happy with the cleanliness, apparent lack of infection control, and the sheer number of people at the hospital.
The District Hospital was a further drive away and the first building we walked into seemed very well maintained, clean, and newer. There were many people waiting on benches but none in apparent distress. After we toured that building and went across the street to the next building, I realized the first building was their "administrative" building with a few VIP patient suites. It was mostly administrative staff, MD offices, and various other rooms where patients would meet to resolve issues. The second building across the street was the actual hospital. It was in worse shape than the General Hospital. Similar issues were present for this hospital but it seemed even less resources were available. It was much smaller than the General Hospital and had a smaller patient load. Some beds being used did not have mattresses and were only the metal frames. All in all, I realized that MRN is off to a good start and I hope my work out here is beneficial to the people most in need.
There is definite need in this country for improved healthcare. They need to raise the quality of care here. I commend them for their efforts given the limited resources and conditions. All accounts given of the hospitals were based on brief tours (take everything with a grain of salt), and of course these are my personal opinions.

when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Had a chance for another cultural experience this morning! I was invited to play soccer with the local team at a nearby soccer field this morning. Due to rain, our scrimmage was delayed; we still played in mud. Soccer is very popular in Cameroon, and everywhere I look I see people wearing team jerseys. Last night Yves took us to the city center to purchase authentic Cameroon soccer jerseys, which I sported at the scrimmage today.
There were about 20-25 players split up. Everyone had jerseys/pennys and cleats. I was lacking the cleats so the entire match was a big mud slip 'n slide for me. My trail-running shoes were not cutting it on the field, but luckily I didn't take a dive for a mud bath. Being the rainy season, I assume every weekend that I play will be rainy & muddy.
These guys were very serious about their soccer. It was very clean (referee), no drama that I usually see from soccer players, minor pushing/shoving to get the ball, and many quick arguments after any penalties were called. They embraced me into their game but I think I will have to earn their respect. Its been 10 years since I've played soccer so to say I'm not up-to-par is an understatement.
They did offer me to kick one of the penalty kicks, which I made to bring us to 7-3. We still lost. Fun match nonetheless. Saturdays are practice scrimmage and Sundays are matches with other towns.