AJ Bear at HC III

Have you ever felt that you were at the right place at the right time? Today was one of those special days. I had the privilege of being at a health centre in a small village and was able to see many townspeople who were coming in to get various health care needs met by the clinical assistant as well as nurses. Some have to walk over an hour on dusty dry roads in the heat. There are no doctors on site at this small health unit and there is very limited access to investigations.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Initially I spent time seeing ladies who were coming in for prenatal care. The ladies have to bring their own shawls for the examining table. The nurses do not have access to a blood pressure monitor and therefore were only checking the size of the fundus and listening to fetal heart with a Pinard horn (which I had never seen before in my life). Luckily I had brought additional BP monitors as part of my medical supplies and the nurses were delighted to have access to the monitor and stated that they would happily institute regular BP checks on all the PN visits. I was also able to supply them with glucometers and they agreed to check for gestational diabetes on a routine basis at 26 weeks on all their PN visits. On average they see about 60 PN visits in a day. During my time at the clinic, there were 2 deliveries that happened very quickly. Both babies were healthy and absolutely perfect.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Thereafter, I was supposed to spend time in the outpatient department, however the clinical assistant stated that the townspeople had heard there was going to be a doctor on site and therefore had come in to be specifically seen and there were around 30 consults waiting to be seen by me. OMG. Thankfully the assistant was fabulous and triaged the patients and together we were able to see as many as possible. There were some with severe arthritis as well as many hypertensive and diabetic patients. I was so thankful to have brought additional glucometers and strips and lancets and BP monitors as the health centre did not have access to this equipment. Big shout out to the PCN staff in Edmonton who were able to get the supplies for me- they came in incredibly handy and the staff were so very grateful to have access to them. We were able to start on available medications as well as advice patients regarding conservative treatments. Unfortunately medication supplies in the pharmacy are very limited and often they run out of the stock before the next ones can be delivered.

• 

• 

• 

As a bonus, I had an opportunity to do a presentation on diabetes and teach the staff how to use the BP machines as well as the glucometers.

• 

AJ Bear and I both came home exhausted and in much need of a shower. I fear that AJ Bear is looking pretty tattered with having to be washed and scrubbed on a daily basis.