Illnesses

There are so many illnesses and complications at Holy Spirit Hospital that we rarely see in the States. So many things back home can be taken care of easily and are easily identifiable. But here, the people suffer from ailments that could be remedied in childhood. For example, while doing rounds, we came to a patient about 17 years old with a VSD (basically a hole in his heart). I’ve seen cases like this back at the children’s hospital I used to work at, but I never had a patient with this condition who was over 2 years old. One of the first things we monitor when a child is born is cardiac function. Surgery is performed as soon as possible when an issue like this is found. But this boy’s family did not have the resources to get him that kind of care. When he was about 10, he received a surgery from a charity organization in Spain and that helped. But this boy will have complications for the rest of his life. There’s nothing more that can be done except ease some of his discomfort.

Another young patient was diagnosed with tetanus. He had been climbing a palm tree to collect the nuts to make oil (palm oil is very big here) and he fell, and his foot landed on a rock, ripping the skin open. In the States, tetanus vaccinations are given to children, and we are encouraged to receive boosters as young adults. But this young man had never received a vaccination. Whether that was due to lack of resources or lack of education about preventative measures, I don’t know. This young man now has paralysis, lock jaw, and constant pain. To those of you who have never gotten a tetanus booster, get it. The suffering this young man endures is something I would hope everyone avoids. The treatments necessary to ease the effects are expensive and very difficult to find anywhere in Sierra Leone. Even in neighboring countries it is difficult to find.

A teenage patient with Diabetes type one had no idea she had Diabetes type one until she was about nine. She lives in a remote village in the bush and had come to a hospital before where insulin was prescribed to her. But insulin needs to be refrigerated, and she would have to travel every day to receive what she needed. Her family had no car, so a driver was supposed to pick her up from her village every day. But the family needed her at home, and they stopped coming. Soon her Diabetes got so out of control she began developing sores that covered her body, and she began having blood in her urine. Her family went to a local healer instead of coming to the hospital again and she got worse and worse. Now she’s back at Holy Spirit Hospital, receiving the best care that we can provide.

Really the only way to help many of these patients is if someone is willing to sponsor the patient themselves or if the patient can find a charity willing to help them. While rounding on these patients, we were joined by a doctor I had never seen before. Her name is Dr. Veronica. She is from the UK and she is a family doctor who specializes in Diabetes. It’s hard not to notice another “White Woman” in an African community so we naturally gravitated towards each other. After we introduced ourselves, Dr. Veronica told me that her and her husband have been coming to Sierra Leone for the past 18 years. They stay for about 8 weeks at a time. She always volunteers at the hospital, helping support the Diabetes clinic here and caring for patients. Her husband, who is also a doctor, will go into the bush to help there. He also loves football (soccer) and will organize teams in the bush to play against each other for fun.

While rounding, Dr. Veronica would often pay out of her own pocket to buy patients food or even buy medications that they need. She was the one who bought the tetanus patient the treatments he needed, and she often will buy patients the insulin they need as well. Since we are both volunteers and foreigners here, we ended up bonding on a lot of things. We both find the written charts hard to read and both find the heat very difficult to cope with. But we also bonded on the faith we share in God and the love and admiration we have for the people here. I really hope I see more of her in the future. She is such a kind and generous soul.