Construction!

There are a lot of new buildings and additions being put up around here. Here are a few pictures of some of what is going on.

New Administrative block and outpatient department. It has taken 4 years to get to this point.

Addition to maternity.

Another view of maternity addition

Inside new maternity addition

Things are always changing, but there are still lots of people coming to be treated and lots of needs.

Back Online!

It has been an interesting week and I am sorry I have not been able to post recently. One of the recent storms we had took out the cell phone tower that provides out internet service. It was out for a week and then for the past couple of days, I have been pretty busy and did not even have time to check email.

Anyway, I will post a few pictures that I have taken over the past week or so and not write a whole lot this time.

Last Saturday the Haun family took me to Nakpanduri to visit a friend there. On the way we had a flat tire.

Trey Haun admiring the cause of our flat

William Haun starting the process of changing the tire

The whole family Haun

In case you are wondering why I did not help, I actually did. William was not familiar with where everything was and how to use it. And getting the spare down was really a new experience for him. Having done this a number of times during our career in Ghana, I was able to provide instructional assistance, if not much physical assistance.

Yesterday Heidi Haun, the BMC surgeon, went into labor and delivered a beautiful baby girl at the hospital. She was fortunate to have the assistance of some very good midwives. I had the privilege of standing by in case they needed some extra help. Everything went well and Heidi went home shortly after delivering.

Happy family about 7 hours after delivery

 

A Day in Court

Just before we left BMC in 2009, we had to fire the man who was hospital administrator. He is now suing the hospital, claiming we terminated him improperly and without cause. The case is now going on in the regional capital, Tamale and I was asked to represent the hospital since I was involved in the proceedings when everything happened.

We left Nalerigu this morning about 6:00 AM and drove to Tamale to be in court by 9:00. We sat in court for 3 hours, listening to 3 other cases and then the plaintiff presented one final witness. After that, we were told by the judge to return next week to start the defense case. Needless to say, I was not very happy to have taken the day away from the hospital while here for such a short time. We got back to Nalerigu around 3:45 and I went to clinic to see what patients had been saved for me.

Now I am on call and will be going soon to make rounds on new admissions and to check for any problems.

It did not seem a good idea to take pictures in court, so I do not have pictures from today. But here are a few from earlier in the week.

Even though we have not had rain, there are still some pretty flowers

Azara, a friend of Elisabeth's who sells limes for wonderful limeade

Large cystic mass on lady's knee

Immediately after the mass was removed

There is a lot of thundering and lightening right now, so maybe we will get some more good rain. Tomorrow is another surgery day.

Tuesday at BMC

Today is a surgery day and we had a full schedule. The internet is working fairly well right now, so thought I would mostly post a few pictures from the past few days while I have chance.

Dr. Tim Cahill making rounds in maternity ward.

Dr. Cahill and his wife and 2 girls are in Nalerigu for 2 years. They came through a Samaritan's Purse program and have been a big help to the hospital. While Dr, Shumpert and I are here, the Cahills are taking some much needed vacation.

Rev. David Ababire, pastor First Baptist Church, Nalerigu at a baby naming.

Sunday we went to church. Part of the service was a baby naming. After an hour, we dismissed to meet with all the other churches in town for a fund raising event. We elected not to go to that so got home early.

Road between First Baptist and the hospital on Sunday

Inside the new nutrition dorm, built with grant money from GBHCF

I hope I don't get into trouble!

Youth group sponsored by GBC and led by David Roland and Peter Faile
eating supper in the guest house.

                                             

                               



                           

RAIN!!

We finally got a good rain tonight and everyone is happy for that. Since the rain started after dark, I am not able to post any pictures of the rain. Below is a picture of how brown the vegetation has been and maybe in a few days I can show how fast things turn green.

View from our front porch before rain

It took nearly 10 minutes to upload and post this picture, so I will wait on trying to do more tonight. 

Today was clinic day and we were fairly busy. I did a surgery case, made rounds and then spent the rest of the day seeing outpatients in the clinic. Most of the people I saw were wanting to have surgery and came to be scheduled. My time here is fully booked, so we are telling people to come back in 2 months to try again.

Tomorrow is a day to do scheduled surgery and we have 5 cases on the schedule. Not very many, but there could be emergencies and there are usually things that happen to keep us from doing as much as we would like.

First Full Day at BMC

Well, we do have internet access but it is very slow. I will try posting a couple of pictures from today and hope nobody will be too offended by their medical content.

I slept fairly well last night even though it was pretty warm and humid. We were pretty tired after the trip from Accra. We got to the airport in Accra to check in for our 9:30 flight and were told it was delayed until 10:30. A little after 10:00 I went to see why we had not been called to board and was told the flight had been cancelled and we would need to come back the next day. Then they said we could transfer to another airline and they would do that for us. The flight was to be at 3:00 PM. We went to check in again at 1:30 and I was told my ticket had been cancelled!! after about 2 hours of arguing and pleading, I got a boarding pass. We finally left Accra around 5:00 PM after 8+ hours in the airport. We got to Nalerigu around 9:00 PM.

So today we started work. I did two hernia repairs and then went to clinic. After lunch did surgery on a lady with twisted large ovarian cyst. Then finished clinic around 5:00 PM and did a few minor procedures in the minor surgery area. Home around 7:00 for supper.

Staff using bandages made from old sheets

Torsion (twisted) ovarian cyst

Kumasi

Today Paul and I flew to Kumasi, once known as the Garden City of West Africa. We went to meet with the new chairman of the hospital governing board, Dr. Gabriel Sakyi Kwofi. Dr. Kwofi is the president of Living Waters Ministry and is a medical doctor. He is currently running three hospitals as part of his ministry and has a background in business as well as medicine.

Dr. Paul Shumpert and Dr. Gabriel Kwofi

Front of Living Waters Hospital

Dr. Kwofi seems to have good ideas for what needs to be done to take BMC to the next level of development and we look forward to working with him and Ghana Baptist Convention in making changes that will result in BMC being a vital growing institution with good demonstration of the Good news and God's love.

Many of the trucks, buses and cars have religious slogans painted on them and we pray that these will not be just words, but rather a way of life for Ghanaians.

Seen on the back of a bus today.

Tomorrow we head up to the hospital and get to work. I hope to be able to continue posting pictures and updates on our activities, so check back often.

Back in Ghana!

Dr. Paul Shumpert and I arrived in Accra this afternoon and are now at the guest house. It is fairly cool since it has rained here all day today. Hopefully we will both be able to get a good night's sleep. I do not sleep well while traveling and am really tired after being on the way for 24 + hours.

Don and Kathleen Price were so helpful in getting me and all my luggage to the airport. Elisabeth and I both really appreciate their help. I had 3 bags each right at the limit in weight so it would have been difficult to carry on MARTA and Elisabeth did not really want to drive through Atlanta by herself if she had taken me all the way to the airport. So a BIG THANK YOU to the Prices for their help.

Tomorrow Paul and I are hoping to meet with the chairman of the hospital board so we can get to know him a little and so we can share ideas about the future of the hospital and what we all can do to help.

I know everyone really would rather see pictures, but I thought I would write about the trip so far while I have fairly good internet access. When we get to Nalerigu, I will try to post pictures if we have good access.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts, prayers and support.