Sierra Leone Medical Outreach Update
As you see from the photos, we were busy working with three facilities: The Jennifer Wright Pediatric Clinic (serves 2,000+ patients per month in Freetown); Wellbodi Amputee Clinic (serves 2,500+ patients per month in Kono) and the 300-bed Koidu Government Hospital (Koidu). The pediatric clinic is located in the capital city, which has been the hardest hit region for Cholera, with many people flocking to the clinic with diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms of Cholera. The western area of the country where the capital city of Freetown is located has been the most affected location with more than 50% of total cases. This year has been the worst epidemic in their 15-year history with agencies reporting 392 deaths and 25,000 confirmed cases since Feb. of 2012 in Sierra Leone and neighboring Guinea. Twelve of the 13 districts in Sierra Leone have been affected since the beginning of the year.
Aside from our Cholera outreach,over 750 pounds of medications, supplies and equipment, including an ultrasound, 2 vascular dopplers, surgical instrumentation, splints, an enteral feeding pump, etc., etc…-- as well as hundreds of IV catheters, 900 packets of Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) and 8,000+ doses of Azithromycin and Doxycycline for fighting Cholera. I did forward you a complete list of our donations of equipment & supplies via email. We also brought new cables and were able to repair the clinic’s EKG and vital signs (that WMP donated in 2011). The WMP team also provided 300 patients with free eye care includingcorrecting refractive errors of hyperopia, myopia and presbyopia. During the clinics, patients were offered the assessment and free medication, treatment or referral of cataracts, pterygiums, corneal ulcers, glacoma, etc., as well as free prescription eyeglasses.
As for training, WMP trained both Koidu and Kono healthcare staffs on ultrasound (OB/GYN and trauma assessment) usage, intubation, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), pediatric S.T.A.B.L.E. ( a neonatal education program that focuses exclusively on the post-resuscitation/pre-transport stabilization care of sick infants) and CPR. The medical team director, Dr. Thomas Flowers had one live interview about healthcare and our free medical outreach on the national Sierra Leone Broadcast Corp. (SLBC) radio, the only national radio station.
