Baby on Board!

One of the delivery beds at the maternity clinic.

Hello everyone!

Last week Friends of the Nation decided to have me start going out to a clinic in a nearby town called Shama. They are affiliated with this clinic and its surrounding fishing communities. I study nursing at school and once FON found out they decided to switch me from the original project I was supposed to be on and put me with Kwesi, who works on a project titled: Population, Health, Environment (PHE).

I spent today and last Thursday at the clinic. Both of those days I was stationed at the maternity building. So far at the clinic I have seen many deliveries! I have also helped with injections and have observed nurses doing HIV testing. Last Thursday I saw one delivery and today I saw 3! It was a busy day! I am enjoying observing the practices and routines of this clinic. I think spending time there is going to be an excellent learning opportunity!

On a sad note I did see one unsuccessful birth today. It was a baby boy and he was premature. His mother was only 30 weeks along. He weighed 3 lbs (1.5 kg) at birth. We knew something was wrong because he wasn’t crying and his skin was very pale. He had a slight cry initially but then it stopped because he was struggling tremendously to breath. The midwife used a small nasal bulb syringe to try and clear any mucus that may have been causing him difficulty breathing but it didn’t work. I feel terribly for the mother and father of this baby. The midwife told me if the clinic would have had an incubator they would have been able to do more to save the newborn but that without the resources it would never make it. They were right as he passed away within an hour after birth. I hope the mother and father will be ok, I am really feeling awful right now just thinking about what they went through today.

Tomorrow I will be returing to the clinic but I believe I am going to be doing a general health clinic working with patients of all ages. It should be a very interesting day!

When I am not at the clinic I will be travelling to various communities to collect data in order to create resources for PHE. Kwesi has asked that I also create resources for the clinic and the community. I have been brainstorming and I think I would like to create pamphlets for the clinic to give to expecting mothers about pregnancy and their health. Kwesi has also asked that I produce reports on nutrition however within some of these communities that will be challenging because their diet needs to be based on what resources they have available to them. I am looking forward to creating these resources and visiting with people from the different fishing communities! I am hoping that over the summer I will be able to create resources that Friends of the Nation will find useful and implement as part of their PHE project!

My partner Caroline has travelled with work this week. She left yesterday for the Jomoro district with Kwesi. She is going out there to visit different communities and participate in data collection. Caroline is also currently working on a proposal about one of FON’s previous projects in a community called Ngyeresia. They installed 11 toilets within this community and a water kiosk back in 2009. Now they need to followup and build off of this project. Caroline’s proposal will be aiming to demonstrate what people thought of the toilets that were built as well as how accessible they are finding the water kiosk.

This weekend Caroline & I will be travelling to Accra. We will be meeting up with Robin, Davina, and Heather. The Canadian Embassy in Accra will be holding a bbq for all Canadians in celebration of Canada day! We are anxious to attend this bbq and meet other Canadians who are travelling and working in Ghana this summer!

Bye for now!