Hello, to anyone who might be thinking about going overseas for medical work! I want to encourage you to step out of the proverbial "box" and try something new and different! Living overseas is a challenging, yet rewarding experience. There are so many opportunities to do things you might never have been able to do. For instance, when I first arrived (fresh out of nursing school, mind you), I helped with over 30 surgeries, ranging from cleft lip repairs and hydrocephalus shunt placements to growth removals and leg amputations. And I don't just mean handing the doctor the instruments- I mean being his right-hand-man!
This is me in between the 2 men, helping with the surgery:
After working in the hospital for a few months and deciding that was not my "cup of tea," I went out to a small clinic that deals with Tuberculosis patients and also does vaccines for babies and pregnant moms, as well as prenatal check-ups. I learned how to do the prenatal exams, feeling for the fundus and the head, counting the baby's heartbeat, etc. I also became very practiced with all the shots, intradermal, intramuscular, etc. They even give the measles shot in-between the shoulders up high, almost on the neck- I hate giving that one! I found out that the reason they do it is so that moms will remember that their kids did get that shot, because otherwise the moms have no clue! Most don't even know how old their kids are- or their own age, for that matter, and the shot records are cards that are easily lost. Before the vaccines are given out, the moms gather to wait, and I use that time to teach them something about health, such as how to care for ones' teeth, or how to have proper nutrition. I even did a song about brushing teeth that I had another nurse help me translate from Portuguese to Olumuila, the local dialect. It was so fun to hear them singing the song as they walked down the path back to their houses. My current project is creating a community health booklet containing lessons that can be easily taught with puppets, dramas, or some other fun, memorable manner. The hope is that I will be able to teach some local nurses how to use the booklet so that they can have all the materials and resources in one place and easily carry on teaching community health long after I leave.
This is me with some of the Tuberculosis patients waiting for their meds for the day.
Giving a DTP shot to a baby.
If there's anything I've learned in my time here so far, it's how unimportant I am in the scheme of things, and yet how much one person CAN make a difference if one makes the choice to be as useful as possible, which sometimes requires lots of creativity.
So I want to encourage you to step out. Take a chance. Touch a life. You never know- the life that ends up being touched may just be your own.
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at krhalsey@gmail.com
