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| Day 2, Outreach 1
Village: Kasseh
Kasseh is really one of my favorites so far. It is relatively clean and well developed. No flies or lizards that I was aware of.
Though random flocks of farm animals roam around the village.
These roosters are loud. They roam around the village and wake everyone up!
OK, more roosters hanging out.
There were also lots of other farm animals around the village besides the roosters.
I actually have no idea what this is. Some sort of black goat?
Fruits (above is an organges) were quite tasty and juicy there.
And since our stations were set up right outside of an elementary school, there were LOTS of curious kids running around and making noises. It's really a vibrant village.
See their school projects?
Here are the early birds who were already waiting for us when we arrived.
Daniel (in pink shirt) was the interpretor. He also had to lead a prayer for the villagers.
Robert (right) had to explain what glasses do while Daniel (left) translates. He also had to clarify some myths regarding eye surgeries to the villagers (e.g. an eye surgery does not involve taking out an eyeball and cutting it open).
Hohoho...that's me doing visual acuity tests. Man, I do need a chair (to stand on).
Visual acuity, registration, and eyeglass distribution are actually very simple. Even though, the total patient count was 77 for that day, the tests went by pretty quickly, which is also why I have all these time in between to take these pictures. The bottle neck is really the opthalmic nurse. Apparently, the shortage of eye care professionals is really a serious problem in the developing world. I just learned from Robert that currently there is only ONE opthalmologist in the entire Liberia, where he came from. Can you imagine having just one opthalmologist for an entire country? In Boston alone, there are 135 registered opthalmologists (according to the American Academy of Opthamlogists).
If you enlarge this picture, you can see that this is actually a patient with pretty advanced cataract.
 
This is a little girl born without eyes.
The crew (from left to right): missionary, interpreter, opthalmic nurse, international volunteer, local volunteer.
Me + the girls.
 
These two kids kept following me throughout the day! They are lovely though :)
Kids....they can be FRIGHTENING! I taught one of them (the topless one) how to give me a hi-five. He got really excited, and started screaming. Then, the next thing I noticed was this huge mob of kids running over!
Kids are also easily excited...at first, they were all jumping up and down and wanting hi-fives. After a while, they got even more excited and started grabbing onto my arms!
Any way, I had my share of fun. These kids loved me! Actually...more like they loved my camera...The
kids were crazy about pictures. Most of them won't
understand when I asked for their names. But every kid would know how
to scream "PICTURES!" (to Benny: I am soooo glad that I inherited your camera bag before I
took off! These kids were slapping my camera bag and wanting more
pictures!)
Notice the very interestingly patriotic bag that one kid was holding up. Made me realize that the national flag color of Ghana bears close resemblance to traffic lights!
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| Day 3: Outreach #2 at Kojoashong
A typical outreach day would begin at 6am with breakfast and preparation. The van ride typically takes around 1 to 2 hours and is REEEEAAAALLLY bumpy. I think my abdominal area are getting firmer because of the bumpy rides. Hohoho...
Village: Kojoashong
Description: Much less developed compared to the first one. Smells bad. Less people. Less bustling. Flies everywhere (I can constantly count 20 in front of myself). Lizards crawling up and down buildings. Farm animals were locked up, so they don't run around. It was a sweltering afternoon.
Flies ******************** (20)
Roosters **
Lizards **
Total Patient Count: ~33
The first thing to do upon arrival is usually to visit and greet the
village chief and then have him guide us to the site, where we will set
up our stations. The chief is in
charge of making announcements and gathering the villages. Some times,
he will even find us an interpretor. But since most people in
Kojoashong do possess a general command of English, we didn't get one
today.
On our way to the village chief.
Chief + family.
This is the building where we would set up our stations.
The set up is actually really simple.
There is, first of all, the station for registration, which entails
taking patient record and assigning them registration numbers. Since
outreach visits are usually very packed (with a typical visit involving
between 50 and 70 patients in one setting, and can go up to 100
patients), history taking is usually not included in registration.
Besides, most of these patients do not have any medical "history" any
way. There are also stations for visual acuity test, diagnosis and prescription by opthalmic nurse (Robert), and dispensing reading glasses. Since prescribing glasses for refractive errors are too time-consuming for outreaches, we only dispense reading glasses. Today, I was in charge of dispensing reading glasses (no pictures).
These are post-op patients (mostly cataract patients) waiting for follow up.
This is the station where opthalmic nurse (Robert) makes diagnosis and prescribes medication.
Today was a light day. We we get to pack up and take off by 1. We also went gallivanting around the village.
Laura (our volunteer from Connecticut) showing pictures from her camera to the villagers.
It was a sweltering day.
Most people would prefer to remain shaded.
It was perfect for laundry too, I suppose.
Kids love photos. Most of them would scream "pictures" when the see me.
OK, more kids came over.
Laura + kids
Hohoho, I went a little too far. But look! I caught a naked kid :)
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| Using the internet in Ghana
is definitely the most harrowing task ever! It took me a good 9 minutes just to
log in. In short, I am thankful to be
still alive, surviving the heat, the mosquito bites, and the instable supply of
electricity and water. Apparently, power in Accra comes from the dam. But due to low water levels, power will be off
every other two nights and during daytime as well. Even so, power is not
guaranteed during the normal days. Today has been good though. No blackouts so
far (thank goodness!). Tomorrow, however, will be a power off day. 
Any way……If a picture is worth a
thousand words, these pictures must be worth a million words! My D50 is totally
worth it. After all, good camera does compensate bad photography (at least to a
certain degree…heeheee). Day 1 is basically orientation at
Crystal Eye Clinic, where Dr. Clark does his private practice as well as those
sponsored by Unite for Sight. He mainly debriefed us (volunteers) on how to carry
out a visual acuity test, which will come in very handy during urban outreaches.
After that, we just sat around the clinic until it was surgery time. We were
allowed observe AND take pictures (something that would never ever happen in the US). It's also interesting how Ghana actually has a very rich religious flavor. The nurse (seen above) actually does a short prayer before the operation (again, something you rarely see in an OR in the US).
This is where the patients sponsored by Unite for Sight go
Dr. Clark examining his patient
Pre-op patients waiting for their surgeries
Post-op patients still unconscious
Surgery in progress
Volunteers shadowing the surgery
Pre-surgery prayer led by nurse.
While I was no doubt excited,
there was a slight surgery room mishap. I BLACKED OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRST CATARACT SURGERY!!!! I am no squeamish person (I hope!). So...this time I decided blame it on my empty stomach because I was fine during the ones after lunch. heeeheee
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| Guess I will start the official count down….
14 DAYS till AFRICA!!!!
To do list before take off…
- $1375 deposit to Unite for Sight (DONE)
- Submit hold harmless agreement (2 copies) (DONE)
- Cell phone
- Submitcell phone agreement (DONE)
- Submitcell phone receipt
- Emergency contact (DONE)
- Buy Unite for Sight T-Shirt (DONE)
- Physical examination (DONE)
- Physican's statement of good health (DONE)
- TravelAssessment (DONE)
- Vaccinations (DONE)
- Hepatitis A (DONE)
- Polio (DONE)
- Meningitis booster (DONE)
- Yellow fever (DONE)
- Typhoid (DONE)
- Malariaprophylaxis (DONE)
- Unite for Sight Training Video
- Complete course (DONE)
- Complete exam (DONE)
- Unite for Sight Eye Health Course
- Complete course (DONE)
- Complete exam (DONE, 100% woohooo
 )
- Training by a local ophthalmologist/optometrist
- Contactlocal ophthalmologist/optometrist (DONE)
- Complete training (DONE)
- Submit a letter signed by optometrist/ophthalmologist (DONE)
- Required readings
- Read site manual (DONE)
- Learn about destination country
- Collect 300-500 reading eyeglasses andnon-prescription sunglasses
- Contact PRVAIL to request glasses (DONE)
- Sign + submit eyeglass agreement
- Registration with Embassy (DONE)
- Registertrip (DONE)
- Forwardconfirmation to JStaple (DONE)
- VISA
- Application (waiting)
- Sendcopy of VISA to JStaple (DONE)
- Flight (DONE)
- Flight Reservation (DONE)
- Senditinerary to local program coordinator and JStaple (DONE)
- Trave linsurance
- Security and Medical Assistance Coverage (DONE)
- InternationalSOS Security and Medical Assistance Coverage (DONE)
- Additionalhealth insurance coverage from International SOS (DONE)
- Letterfrom health insurance company to confirm coverage while abroad (DONE)
- Last but not least...something YOU guys can help with…FUNDRAISING…..!!! (65%)
I strongly urge every one of you to contribute so that many additional patients will be able to receive eye careservices :) | | |
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:)
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