It only took the 3 hrs I spent in the ER yesterday for the staff and patients to warm up to me. I walked in this morning and was greeted with waves and smiles, from the staff and patients [that were physically able to] that were present from the previous day. Dr. Moro was manning the intake desk and the diaspora solo. The ER was packed and he was exhausted since he had been there since 7 PM the previous evening and also worked yesterday morning which only allowed a couple of hours of sleep mid day.
CCS programs in all countries are structured where you spend the morning at your work assignment and have the afternoon | evening for cultural activities. I only spent a couple of hours in the ER today since I needed to leave early for a trip to Klikor to visit the native doctor, and the village sits right at the border of Togo which is 2 hours away from Ho.
Dr. Moro and I decided I’d just shadow him on his rounds today since I needed to leave earlier than normal. As we started on rounds I noticed 2 beds had been added against the longest wall of the diaspora, another bed with a patient in the center of the room and people were still being rolled into the ER in wheelchairs. About 30 mins after I arrived they started turning away inbound traumas. There were a few new patients today so Dr. Moro started from the top giving me the history of each one. One of the newly admitted patients needed a catheter and NG tube. Dr. Moro insisted I watch him insert the tube and explained how he measures to ensure it reaches the stomach. I told him I was going to return to the US and tell everyone about the Moro technique for inserting an NG tube. That was the only joke I got out today, the rest were at my expense which is a great segue to how I got my ER nickname.
My favorite patient from yesterday was discharged today and it turns out her daughter works in administration with the HR director I had the comedic exchange about Trump with yesterday. The HR Director [I need to figure out his name] visited the ER today with his colleague that was completing paperwork for her mother. When he spotted me he yelled TRUMPPPP across the ER and waved his hand frantically as if he was excited to see a friend he hadn’t seen in awhile. I tried to keep a straight face and didn’t acknowledge him so he yelled TRUMPPPPP louder the second time holding up one fist in the air. The entire ER laughed hysterically and spurred a barrage of US jokes from the rest of the staff. The nickname stuck and is so inappropriate that it is a perfect pick me up for the environment of the ER.
After lunch I started my journey toward the border of Ghana and Togo. I learned the people of the village of Klikor believe in spiritual and plant based healing. The native doctor went over the medical practices, and explained how spiritual aspects are integrated via a “diviner” that receives messages from oracles that has him perform rituals if the person is open to receive them, or that he passes along to a priest that prays to different deities on their behalf. There was festival in the center of village with people wearing traditional clothing, drumming, dancing and singing. I didn’t have my phone with me so there aren’t any photos I can share but it was definitely positive, vibrant and fun celebration.
Tomorrow I'll be visiting the herbal | traditional medicine area of the hospital in the morning and taking a hike thru the rainforest to get a view of the Wli waterfall in the afternoon. I'll make sure I have my phone with me in the rainforest so I can post photos. :/
Man uploading these photos is a labor of loveee on this wifi you hear me LOL. I just posted a few rainforest photos. I couldn't get as many as I wanted because it was POURING down raining and I kept accidentally locking myself out my phone for "5 mins" trying to keep it dry.
I had the same reaction to the diaspora but I'm starting to slowly get a sense of what it may mean. For example, when I visited Klikor yesterday I saw a shrine in memory of villagers taken in slavery so I'm starting to try to process from this side of the ocean if that makes sense.
I've snapped a few photos of my meals this week…
Rainforest photos coming up????😃 Im thirstily(not sure that's a word, but I like it. Lol) rubbing my hands like Birdman.
It's so interesting they refer to that room as the diaspora. When I think about the definition and my own knowledge of the word, i find their use if it in this context to be deep man....like the ocean.
Question: will we get a lil Taryn Bourdain action? I meannn... the poster from the other day has a lovely quote about food being medicine... I'm just waiting for Yvonne to write your prescription,oops, I meant invite you over for a meal 😄.