somewhere deep inside, something’s got a hold on you

the day finally arrived! my very own medical camp, made possible through the generous donations of all of you and the amazing anna.

the days leading up to saturday saw us getting more and more excited; anna spent a good couple of hours sticky-taping a toothpaste box to the back of a toothbrush (all 200 of them), last minute phone calls from marcus telling me about the shit he had to deal with from certain organisations (this country can be so exhausting), heading into the city centre in heavy traffic to buy stethoscopes and BP cuffs to use on the day and then to give as donations for the future medical camps… it was as exciting as it was stressful. but it was so goddamn worth it.

rubiri primary school grounds

I hardly slept on friday night – partially due to the fact we had a few beers with some other volunteers at our local bar & may have been a bit inebriated – but also because I was so excited. something we had been planning for a while was finally happening and was now coming to life.

a very early morning saw me up at 6am (although I was awake well before then) and getting a matatu with anna and her friend nikki, who helped out, to meet the other volunteers (ashley, richard and sarah) at the local shopping centre just before 7am so we could get going, naivasha is about 2hrs from nairobi in good traffic. we arrived just after 9am, and the best part was seeing patients already waiting when we arrived. I was actually a little worried, partially due to the fact that the camp was being held in a really rural location – rubiri primary school, on the outskirts of naivasha – and for patients to get there, they would have either had to get a piki piki (motorbike) which would cost money that not many people have, or to walk for quite a few hours. so seeing people there made me grin like an absolute loser.

patients already waiting to be seen

the biggest thing I’ve learnt about medical camps is that it’s not about the number of people who come. you don’t want to have huge huge numbers of people who come because you’d be so pressed for time and resources, they wouldn’t get the care and treatment they deserve. it’s about the quality of the care they receive, that each patient is listened to and treated accordingly.

a slightly negative part of the lead up to the camp was the crap marcus had to deal with from certain groups of people – apparently there was some shit storm about the people who we had organised to do the HIV testing, apparently the certificates held by the ‘testers’ were different to what is normally accepted and the testers would have to be met to assess their ability; ridiculous, considering these people are qualified and would have been doing what they do for quite some time. it sounded like they weren’t happy about us having HIV testing available at the camp… and this only came to light a couple of days before saturday. we couldn’t take away the HIV testing only a few days before; it had been advertised in the flyers we had printed and via the community health workers who had a loud speaker and we going through the surrounding villages and towns telling people to come on saturday. there’s a massive importance on the role of trust; patients have to feel as though they can trust whoever is treating them, otherwise they would never come back to another camp. if we took away something we had promised would be at the camp, would these patients trust anything we said again? simply put, no. there was a lot riding on this camp too as KCC are hoping to build a primary school just next to rubiri primary school. this was to be the chance that the people in the area would get to know KCC and what they’re all about, and they would trust that we’re delivering what we say we will deliver. and seeing the amazing work that KCC has done in their early development schools, for them to have their own primary school would be amazing; hence this camp being a big deal.

a classic example of the political bullshit we have to deal with here in kenya. it’s so hard to do something good for others when you’re jumping through hoops trying to make everyone happy.

the camp started at about 10:30am, a little bit behind schedule but there was lots to be done once we arrived. even though marcus, anna (a different one) and steinar, plus a few others, were already there and had clearly been getting things organised, we had to sweep the floors of the classrooms we’d be working in, figure out what classrooms would be used for cervical cancer screening and HIV testing and black out the windows for privacy, set up the registration area (and later a tent to protect flavia and anna (the norwegian one) from the blazing sun), set up the pharmacy with all the medications we had in stock, organise desks into makeshift tables for doctor/patient conversations etc etc. lots to do, but lots of hands make light work. and man, did we have a lot of hands!

getting organised!

after the debacle of gaining a medical licence for the day (the kenyan government got incredibly strict about ensuring only qualified medical professionals work in a volunteer capacity, enforcing that volunteers need to ‘purchase’ a licence in order to work here. it is a really important thing that has happened though, which I’m glad to have been to first one to get it organised so future medical volunteers can easily get it sorted.) mine cost $100 which covers me for a month, even though I only needed it to work one day – and even then it wasn’t like I was doing anything that would put anyone’s lives in any danger, all I was just gonna do was work in triage – taking patients vital signs… that’s hardly cause for concern. bloody political drama, but that’s a story to be told another day with a few beers.

triage, hectic as per usual

little leo had his first ever checkup

patients receiving their uji/porridge

the day flowed really well; richard, ashley and nikki helped with the public education forums and did a fantastic job. we had oral hygiene, hand washing, germs and reproductive health (a lady from kenya red cross did that talk) and every child got a toothbrush and toothpaste, then we had enough for almost all of the adults.

the tooth brushing talk

the hand washing talk

handing out toothbrushes and toothpastes

anna practising hand washing with some kids

statistics wise, we had 229 patients who registered: 50 women had cervical cancer screening, 50 patients volunteered to be tested – 31 of which had never been tested before… that is an incredible result. to have 31 people now know their status when before they had no idea is fantastic! there was also a room for family planning, we also had immunisations should any kids need them but only one had a measles injection – didn’t have any other kids needing any. but at least we were prepared.

eating lunch while we work

cleaning the uji cups

sah hipster

we saw our last patient at about 3:30pm, although I’m sure a couple of extras came later on. the long task of packing up everything, including medications that we’re left over (counting them as well), putting the desks back into the classrooms, taking down the blackout shades, cleaning all the dishes from the day. by the time we had our debrief, it was time to head home. anna and I were going to go to a festival that night but decided against it a few days prior, as I was leaving so soon and wanted to spend as much time with my host family as possible. turns out we were so exhausted we probably would’ve collapsed the second we had a beer and listening to some music! it always surprises me how tired I am after medical camps; this was my fourth one in four months, and each time I feel like I come home and pass out. whether it’s just the long day in general, or having to use the ‘medical knowledge’ part of my brain – which I’m not really using here – I always sleep like a log that night!

we were definitely delirious by this stage

honestly this camp couldn’t have been done without the huge support and organisation of marcus, of the KCC slum project. the fact that he can organise a medical camp amongst all of the other work he does at KCC is amazing, and hugely appreciated. also a big thanks to the volunteers from NVS, staff from kijabe mission hospital, district ministry of health, NHIF, kenya red cross, the public health office, area administration and of course, where we held the camp, rubiri primary school.

and of course, you guys. all of you who donated to my “taking healthcare to kenya” fund, this happened thanks to you. what I’ve done in kenya over the past 4 months hasn’t been as medical as what I thought it would be, and you’ve all been so supportive of ‘little ray of hope’, where I’ve spent the majority of my time, and some of the donation money. but I was over the moon to do something medical – your donations went towards the meeting that was held a month ago with all of the above mentioned organisations, buying medications for the patients, ensuring we had an allowance for the staff members who worked during the day (only kenyans received this), printing flyers to give to the kids at rubiri primary school to give to their family and neighbours, purchasing enough toothbrushes and toothpaste for almost every patient, buying the HIV test kits, mobilising community health workers in the days prior with loud speakers to get the word out, purchasing my medical licence so I could actually work during the day, ensuring we had food for the patients during the day, transport of goods and volunteers, providing lunch for the staff who worked during the day… there are so many more things but I honestly can’t think of them now (when the report of the day is written, then I can let you know!)

the a-team

thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t say it enough.

if you had one shot, one opportunity

september is already amazing; part I.

this week has only just started and yet it has already hit the mark of fan-bloody-tastic. I hit AU$4000 in donations, which is – quite literally – out of this world. even people I’ve never met have donated. so a huge thank you to my family and friends who have spread the word of what I’m doing. really, all of you are my backbone here in kenya.. I wouldn’t be able to help the people I’m helping without the selflessness of you all. so here is my thank you #1.

there’s a quote by mother theresa which says something like, ” if you can’t feed the world, then just feed one person”… I’ve slightly adapted it to, “if you can’t help the entire world, then focus on one small part and do as much as you can”. that’s how I feel about the ray of hope school. my amazing uncle ron is back home making skipping ropes to send over for them because I said they use old wires instead. this is everyone’s project, everyone who has donated, not just mine!

so as I’ve let you all know, I’ve already used a fair bit of the donation funds here in kenya – particularly on stationary, books and necessities for my little angels at ray of hope, as well as at other medical camps and donations to slums I’ve visited. however I didn’t realise that gofundme (the website I use to fundraise) and paypal both take a percentage of these funds. but that’s life, nothing comes without a small fee! anyway, long story short, I still have approximately $2700 – an incredible amount of money – for this medical camp; which brings me to the second part of this post.

september is already amazing, part II.

I met a pretty awesome norwegian girl called anna, who volunteered here in kenya last year, and loved the country so much that she’s now moved here for university. I was telling her about my goal of running my own medical camp, and she said she was really happy to assist with funding the camp with some of the money she raised for separate volunteer projects… approximately $850. I was speechless. and then finally, when I found my voice, extremely thankful! how on earth did I get so lucky with such generous people in my life? cue part three…

september is already amazing, part III.

yesterday I met with marcus, the co-founder of KCC slum project, to discuss my medical camp. he was at the last camp I did in naivasha, and knows a thing or two about the organisational side of things. anna came with me, so she can know where her donation money is going too.

he was blown away with the amount of money I managed to raise and was excited at the concept of how far it will go. usually volunteers organise one day medical camps, but he is certain that these funds can make an entire weekend-long medical camp, on october 26-27. that’s huge! the potential number of people we could see in two days is phenomenal, hundreds and hundreds, at least.

I let him know that I would love it run just like the one in naivasha as it was so so organised, but would love it to be for everyone, not just women. still have triage and doctors (maybe even specialists) and a pharmacy and voluntary HIV testing, also cervical cancer & breast cancer screening stations… but I would love to include dental in it as well. he loved the idea, as he had been brainstorming places to have the camp, and came up with a school on the outskirts of naivasha with a huge number of pupils, which would ensure we had a huge turnout. and I loved the idea of ensuring kids had dental checkups, as well as adults. some of the kenyans teeth here are shocking, I’ve seen in the past two months, which is what inspired me to have a dentist at this camp. I also thought of having little take home packs for kids after having a dental checkup, you know like a toothbrush and toothpaste (maybe a sticker or two), like we used to get when we’d go to the dentist as kids.

so marcus is going to get in contact with the local hospital, the school and then give me a run down of a potential budget for the camp. and then everything will start from there; getting staff, organising volunteers to help out, getting medications, getting equipment ready, making flyers & posters to spread the word throughout the entire area of naivasha and the surrounding villages and towns. it’s going to be a huge job, but it will be so worth it.

september AND october are going to be amazing

I don’t know if there’s a way to describe how inspired and excited I’m feeling right now. words are failing me! this was my goal, my dream. running a medical camp for the people who can’t easily access or afford healthcare. it’s my passion, what drives me every day here in kenya.

marcus said to me today “I remember you saying you wanted to fund a medical camp on your very first day in kenya”. this was my goal, and it is actually happening. my ‘one shot, one opportunity’ (cheers eminem). but it’s not just my medical camp, it’s ours. anyone who has donated, this is your medical camp that you’re helping run so that hundreds of hundreds of people can have medical attention, for free, close to their homes.

so now is the time to share my story, if you haven’t already. share what I’m doing with your work colleagues, your parents, your extended family, your children, your aunties brothers sister-in-law’s step-daughter, your boss, your favourite barista, your tram driver, your great-grandma with a huge estate and is unsure of how to spend it, your school, your basketball team or your church… this is it. if I raise any more funds between now and october 26-27, my idea of sending kids away with a toothbrush & toothpaste could come to life. I’d love to have vitamins for children as well (a new idea I just thought of), we’ve not had them at any other camp – and so many kids are malnourished, vitamins could do the world of good. and I am very open to suggestions, the brainstorming starts now!

if you’ve donated and want to again, or haven’t yet because you’ve waited until the right time, this is it. this is where all of the donation money is going (except for the little bit I’m saving for the clinic in Tanzania). this is your chance to directly help hundreds of kenyans, adults and beautiful children, reach healthcare. click on this link:

taking healthcare to kenya

asante sana, from the absolute bottom of my heart. ♥

there are places I’ll remember all my life

medical camp number 2.

this is the medical camp I’d been looking forward to since my orientation on july 1. held in naivasha on august 17, it was run in conjunction with KCC (kitendo children’s charity), NVS and kijabe mission hospital. 10 of us volunteers from NVS helped out on the day, with pretty varied backgrounds. nurses, nursing students, med students, an ex-army medic.. most of us were medical in some way or another; it really doesn’t matter if people don’t had a medical background because there’s always something for people to do!

up at 6am, to meet at 7am, left by 8am (by the time some stragglers came late), arrived by about 10am, worked until 4:30pm, left at 5pm, home to nairobi by 6:45pm. it was a long day, both in the sense that I’d been awake for ages, and that it was both hectic and intense at certain parts of the day!

as we arrived, everything was pretty much set up and organised, unlike the last medical camp in nakuru when we sat for ages waiting for tents to be set up and tables brought in and chairs brought from a church 15 minutes away etc etc. it was clear that this medical camp had been 6 weeks in the making, people had been organising it down to an absolute tee, to ensuring we had more than enough medication and staff to deal with loads of people. the camp was directed towards women, having breast cancer screening and cervical cancer screening areas, as well as general check ups.

arriving at the site, it was surprising to see that everything was already pretty much organised. tents were already pitched, PA systems already installed, patients already started to arrive. if anything, it was the staff (and us) who were holding up the proceedings. the staff wanted to welcome us with a prayer or two, a few worship songs and morning tea. if there’s one thing I bloody love about kenya, it’s that regardless of what job you have, regardless of how busy you might be… everybody has time to take tea.

what our pharmacy looked like

I started the day in pharmacy, not really fussed where I work in medical camps like this – I know that you’re needed wherever you are. I was expecting that pharmacy would be pretty cruisy actually, oh how wrong I was. wai and I were run off our feet. none of the medication had been pre-packaged into smaller ‘take home’ packs, huge 5L bottles of liquid paracetamol and amoxicillin had to be decanted into small bottles for children… all the while receiving the patients cards and trying to decipher what the doctor had prescribed, then running to the doctor to clarify what they’d written, then running back to do instant drug calcs. not even kidding, it was the most mentally straining work I’d done since my last placement shifts last year. and they use weird abbreviations here. paracetamol gets shortened to PCM. metronidazole is shortened to MTZ.

I could write my own drug calc quiz on examples of the day;

if our paracetamol tablets are 500mg & a patient has been prescribed 1g PCM TDS 5/7, how many tablets do they require?

a patient has been prescribed 400mg MTZ TDS 2/52. tablets are 200mg. how many do they require?

holy shit. it really hurt my head. but after 2 minutes of floundering around, I had to mentally slap myself to get my shit together and do it quickly… the line was growing exponentially. I am in total awe of my friends who started their careers this year as nurses or paramedics and have been doing this for months now. crazy.

pharmacy friends

it’s also living proof that wherever you are in the world, doctors have the worst handwriting ever. us running back and forth to the doctor should have given them the ‘gentle’ nudge for them for realise that they should write clearly and legibly. no wonder patients die from errors made from medical staff, I blame doctors handwriting. a note to all you doctors/med students out there, please for the love of all things good and alive, write neatly, so poor nurses like me aren’t left guessing what you want the patient to have.

funny story that made me laugh: was about to get the drugs together for one woman when I needed to double check with her doctor. so I asked her who she saw. she pointed in the general direction of two doctors, and said “the black one”. I actually laughed out loud.

putting drugs into packets

kelsey and kristy in pharmacy

another thing that’s different is how they write the instructions for taking the tablets. none of this easy to understand “one tablet, three times a day” or “two tablets, twice a day”.. you just get told 1 x 4. does that mean one tablet four times a day, or four tablets once a day? apparently patients understand it here, but it definitely took me a bit to get my head around. so the instruction for taking the amoxicillin above is ‘two tablets, three times a day’. right…

working in triage

a nurse from australia, kristy, started working in triage and said to me at the start of the day that we should swap half way through so I get a chance to work there. it’s not as exciting as it sounds, really you’re not triaging anyone, you’re just taking vitals, and not even manually.. they had automatic BP cuffs, which I was glad to get rid off and do it manually, I don’t trust the auto ones. one 24 year old comes up and I take her BP, get a reading of 220/150. shit. so I do it again, on the other arm, same result. she got really anxious when I went to do it again on the other arm, and I just said something about not hearing it correctly so I had to check again. avoid elevated anxiety in patients at all costs. but when I got the same result, she must have read it on my face and asked me how bad it was. I have a horrible poker face, in fact I can’t lie to save my life. I was as diplomatic as possible and just said that it was pretty high but she was about to see the doctor and they’ll discuss it with her. she goes on to tell me her whole family has high blood pressure, and she doesn’t want to be on medication forever… it’s too expensive. bloody hell.

william, an ex-army medic now osteopath, doing diagnosis work for patients

my little follower, who when I asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said she wasn’t sure, so I said how about a doctor? and she looked at me blankly, unsure of if I was joking or not. I told her if she works really hard at school, she can be anything. cue: massive smile from her. melted my heart.

the group

it was such a great day, seeing almost 300 patients. we got back to nairobi at about 6:30 and I had a well earned beer with two awesome girls who were also at the camp, sierra and mollie. absolute legends. a massive thanks to my amazing friends and family who donated, I used approximately AU$55 which was my donation towards the purchasing of medications and supplies. while it wasn’t as large as the one in nakuru, it serviced women in an area who can’t afford healthcare or simply can’t reach it easily. people travel from far and wide to come to these medical camps, which is why they require so much planning… so the word gets out & more people can be helped.

all I have I will give to you

nakuru medical camp.

what a day. I honestly don’t think I’ve been that exhausted since one of my last shifts as a paramedic student after working a solid 14/15 hour shift. and that was in a first world country.

the camp itself was the ‘baby’ of fellow volunteer lindsay who is a nurse from the US and had been in nakuru (a pretty large town/almost a city outside of nairobi by about 3 hours) for a few weeks. the pastor she’d been staying with has set up programs for the people who live at the gioto garbage slum and is well known and respected in nakuru, so he helped set up the camp with her – and by ‘help set up the camp’, I mean he organised everything and used her money to do so. it’s hard being here and wanting to organise things because – obviously – not being able to speak kiswahili makes things a little difficult.

so me and two other volunteers headed to nakuru from nairobi on tuesday afternoon via matatu, which was officially the longest matatu trip I’ve taken; was the point I was at my absolute snottiest and sickest, and I couldn’t even breathe out of my nose. so the poor two kenyan souls I was sitting next too are now probably as sick as I was then. thats how small the vans are. arriving in nakuru at the matatu stop past 7pm when it was dark wasn’t exactly my idea of fun and didn’t exactly encourage the feeling of 100% safety, but we were picked up pretty quickly.

that night we organised the ‘paperwork’ for the next day, which included tearing A3 sized paper into quarters and each patient would receive a piece which would eventually have their name, their vitals, their chief complaint, their diagnosis and what drugs were required. not the extensive documentation process I’m used to, and it’s bloody sweet. none of that “ooh you better document every little thing the patient says/does/breathes just incase of a lawsuit down the track”.

the next morning we were up bright and early for the camp. it was relatively disorganised to start with however once things got rolling, we saw upwards of 700 patients that day. words to describe it; exhausting, tiring, humbling, educative, chaotic, daunting, headache-worthy, but amazing.
we’d been separated into the different stations; registration, vital signs (including BP, temp & weight), adult doctor, paeds doctor, neonatal doctor, HIV testing and pharmacy. there were 8 of us volunteers, 3 of which were nurses so we were to work with the doctors. I was with the adult doctor, although in true african fashion, nothing was organised and none of the doctors had separate specialties so patients sat patiently and waited to see one of the three. initially there weren’t enough chairs for us nurses to sit next to the doctors so I was floating around with the people helping take vital signs, realising pretty soon that we couldn’t take temperatures without a thermometer, so the pastor went off to buy more medication and supplies and comes back with three oral thermometers, because that’s all the place had. excellent, how do we take the temperature of over 700 people efficiently but still hygienically? one of the other nurses had the genius suggestion of ripping off the fingers of gloves. what a legend. I will totally be using that as an example of “tell us about a time you had to improvise…” for my paramedic interview next year.
“well, this one time in africa, I was volunteering in a medical camp and…”

you can sort of see the glove tip at the end of the thermometer

doing the extensive documentation required… on a scrap piece of paper

the vital signs section with kyle, a medical assistant, and wanika, a biology student.

jenny, a psychology student at the pharmacy

checking out what the pharmacy had to offer

so many different ailments and problems came through the camp, people with generalised coughs, sniffles and a whole lot of problems that they had probably had for quite some time but had been waiting/hoping/praying for a free medical camp. the three nurses, me included, were sitting with the doctors and were helping diagnose patients through the symptoms they described. however a few people where seriously sick and had to be taken to the local hospital, pretty quick smart. a beautiful little 6 month old baby had a fever of 39.8 celcius with a distended tummy (I took her temperature, got a bit worried so encouraged them to the front of the line to see the doctor), turns out the poor bub hadn’t pooed for 4 days. the beautiful little girl had a probable umbilical hernia and needed surgery. sadly her mum was the one to convince as she had no money and was worried about the hospital fees. somehow someone convinced her that it could be taken care of later but she really needed to get her baby to the hospital. just one example that shows how different life is here. when I did my shifts at the royal children’s emergency department, mothers (and some fathers) were bringing in their bratty toddlers with just a bloody runny nose… how I wish I could somehow make people at home who really need a wakeup call come step into these people’s shoes just for a day. they don’t know how lucky they’ve got it.

one really ridiculous patient came through stating that his eyes won’t stop watering, especially when he wakes of a morning and when he looks at light. the doctor was sure he had a kind of viral conjunctivitis – very common in the slums (which is where we were). so she prescribed not one, but two types of antibiotics. what?! I’ve already stated how much it frustrates me when people are like “oh I went to the doctor and he didn’t even give me a prescription”… probably because ya don’t need it mate! so this was baffling to me. when she was questioned, she didn’t really give a straight answer. this doctor, she was so lovely, however she was only an intern… still a newbie, so hardly a doctor (shhh), so I think she was a bit scared to start with and just wanted to treat everyone.

we reckon a couple of patients pretty much had tuberculosis, except had nothing to properly test with so it was a symptomatic diagnosis but very strongly recommended for one bloke that he go to the hospital to be tested. he was extremely reluctant because he just thought he had a sore throat but it got to the point where we had to tell him (via an interpreter) that he was putting everyone he came into contact with, including his family, at risk. I think we got through to him, as well as in the process probably contracting TB every time he coughed.

a lady came in with an insanely swollen leg below the knee complaining of pain. straight away I was like ‘holy shit, dvt’ to the doctor next to me, since I couldn’t feel a pedal pulse and her leg was paler than what her other one was. funny considering I thought it would be difficult to tell when people with dark skin have poor circulation. reminded me of a job I did as a paramedic student in mildura when a woman had one huge swollen leg after sitting in the car for 10 hours. we had MICA (intensive care paramedic) backup within 30 seconds and were at hospital within 5 minutes. so this poor lady needed to get her and her swollen, pulseless and pale leg off to the hospital ASAP for some interventions aka anticoagulation therapy.

another volunteer, moriah (a nurse), told me of a lady who came through wearing simply a skirt and a scarf tied around her chest. as she sat in front of the doctor, she removed the scarf only to show the most horrendous wounds and scabs all over her shoulders, arms, chest and stomach. she claimed a candle fell on her, but no one was believing her… moriah said to get that sort of huge extensive burn, she’d have to have had a huge pan of hot water or something tipped or poured on her. It makes me sick and I hate to think what actually happened. I’m pretty sure she got referred to the hospital as well.

sitting playing doctor with the doctors (almost more so than the doctors themselves)

exhausted smile

having a stand up snooze with a very sleep baby who’d been patiently all day with her mama to see the doctor but fell asleep when they finally came through

the group

and I am – again – so grateful to my amazing friends and family who donated so generously before I left. thanks to you guys, all of the donation money I had in my wallet at the time AU $155 (12,000 kenyan shillings) was spent on medications, thermometers and other medical supplies required to help run this camp, because we ran out of lindsay’s donation money. and it was so appreciated by all those people we helped on the day. if I had’ve taken more out beforehand, I would have given more. it was a fantastic day, but so incredibly draining. I haven’t had to think that much since my shifts as a paramedic student when I was treated like an actual ambo and expected to do everything for the patient – assess, diagnose, treat. felt so good to do actual medical stuff, a good 9 months after my last shift in health. but farrrrrk me, when we finally got back home to nairobi at 8:30pm that night, I slept like an absolute baby.

aaaand because it’s never too late to donate !
www.gofundme.com/takinghealthcaretokenya