Clinic

I have thoroughly enjoyed working at the health clinic here at the mission and getting some hands on experience. So often, pre-med students are too buried in the books to be certain that the path they have chosen is the correct one. I am relieved that I am not fazed by the site of blood, broken bones, teeth pulling, etc. Although I have not spent many hours volunteering yet, my experiences here have helped to confirm my decision of medical school.

Tuesday, I was able to assist one of our Physician Assistants, Tori, drain an abscess from a child’s neck. Tori and I have become good friends and she is truly a unique person. She is the opposite of me in that she cannot hide emotion from her face. She is able to make us all laugh due to her funny personality. Although she can be goofy, she is completely zoned in at the clinic and does a wonderful job. Tori simply took a razor to the abscess and all kinds of mayonnaise and ketchup was released. After using a very interesting way of irrigating the abscess, she used packing gauze to fill the hole. Leanne is the other Physician Assistant, but I am not sure of the spelling. It has been great getting to know the women who are working at the clinic. Many times in the evenings several of us will sit and talk for hours. Our topics range from serious spiritual matters to pointless jokes and stories.

Just from talking with Dr. Frank and the others at the clinic, I have been able to pick up on some basic health care and medicines. Wednesday I began helping the dentist, Ba Ian, pull teeth. Tanner has spent much time with the dentist and is possibly considering dentistry. I have enjoyed helping Ba Ian, but have no interest in being a dentist for a living. Most patients wait too long before coming into the dentist, so their tooth infections are usually chronic, meaning that their tooth is no longer of use and just needs to be pulled. Each patient is given a shot to numb three different nerves in their mouth; however, none of them are sedated. The adults are usually fine, but convincing small children to let you give them a shot in the mouth and then yank their tooth out is a difficult job. Pulling someone’s tooth out was definitely an interesting experience.

Immediately when I left the dentist’s office, I am able to help clean up a deep laceration on a young man’s arm. Although the knife wound was deep, it only skimmed part of the underlying muscle. I held the flash light and cleaned up blood, while Tori and Frank stitched his arm back together. I really enjoyed the close up and learned a lot. Apparently the young man has been beaten up several times, and this time the attackers used a knife. The man had been injured for two days before coming in, simply because of all of the stipulations involved. He had to go through the police before being emitted to the hospital. Either way, Frank would never turn someone away if they came straight to the clinic. The young man’s threshold for pain was incredible; apparently all Zambians are this way. Many women show no emotion or pain during pregnancy. The young man was given an anesthetic that wore off 2/3 into the procedure.