On Friday, the NHTH Team visited two hospitals in Bombo, a town about two-hours' drive north of Kampala (mostly on dirt roads like the one pictured below!). We were able to donate our third set of CPR manikins to be shared between the two hospitals. And we also brought two specially requested fetal dopplers, one for each hospital. Fetal dopplers are hand-held ultrasound devices that use soundwaves to detect fetal heartbeats.
The first hospital was comprised of several small buildings—you can see the signs above directing people ("theatre" in this context means surgical area and operating room). In the inpatient areas of the hospital, space was at a premium, with very little room between the iron hospital beds and family and friends sitting on mats on the floor in order to be with their loved ones who were receiving care. As in many hospitals around the world, patients are responsible for providing their own bedlinens, blankets, and food throughout their hospitals stays, so having family support is a necessity as well as a comfort.
Jane has been to this hospital before and it was a real joy for her to see the nurses here again—and it was very sweet to see how happy those nurses were to see Jane again, too!
The NHTH Team was so warmly welcomed by every doctor, surgeon, nurse, midwife, and lab tech that we met. We taught CPR in a small, open building that resembled a picnic shelter with rows of benches. We were delighted that even the hospital accountant attended our training! And our driver for this week, Carlos, also joined the class and earned his certificate. Carlos runs a Safari company and said he wanted to have this training in case he needs it for any of his clients.
The second hospital we visited was about an hour-and-a-half away from the first, also over dirt roads, and is set up in very similar way, with a collection of smaller one-story buildings. Of note, neither hospital has indoor plumbing, which is a challenge in a healthcare setting. This second hospital has a wonderful feature: a staff classroom where they offer continuing education classes a couple days a week!
We taught CPR in that staff classroom and had so much fun—the staff are terrific. We donated the third set of CPR manikins to this second hospital with the condition that they would share the manikins with the first hospital. The plan is that both hospitals will be able to train with the manikins, as well as anyone in the local community who would like to learn CPR.
At each hospital, the fetal dopplers were received with an extra measure of joy. At the first hospital, the midwife was so excited—she said, "We cannot wait to use it this afternoon, this very day!"
The medical director shared that receiving the fetal doppler was very important to them: the tools they had before to find a fetal heartbeat were inaccurate and they had had the devastating experience of not discovering in time that a baby was in distress. In those cases, the emergency C-sections had been too late to save the child.
Not only will this fetal doppler give them accurate in-the-moment information, but it will also bring the joy of allowing every pregnant woman to hear her child's heartbeat. We put the batteries in and got it working before we left!
On the wall of one of the small hospitals we visited was posted Psalm 20:7-8, which reads, “Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the Name of the Lord our God”. Seeing the motorcycle ambulance used to transport patients through the treacherous roads and chaotic traffic jams certainly put that psalm in a rich, real-life context! Our Ugandan friends have definitely impressed us with their faith, strength, and ingenuity.
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