Chidamoyo Hospital in Zimbabwe

Well it got to 105 today! We were in the pool after lunch to cool off! the water temp was only 80 and so it felt cold to me! this week has been very busy. I have added 104 new patients on ART this month and it is not over yet! We could add a 1000 more a month if we had the staff and time! People say AIDS is improving and there are less new cases, but we haven't seen that! Lori arrived last night and she is happy to be back and I put her to work today! The doctors are away today for their continuation education day so it was the nurses in charge day! Last night Dr. Murenje called me to deliver a footling breech. I was able get both feet down and then the hands and finally the head--the baby and mom did well. My heart always races until that head is out! It weighed almost 8 pounds. It was her second baby! Do you know we have become a bubble gum nation? Here they do not use coins so when you need change when buying groceries they give you bubble gum! I pass mine on to my k...

Well this is the end of a busy week. Major and Dr. Zimudzi went off to South Africa to pick up Lori, a nurse who is joining our work for at least the next 2 years! She arrives in Joberg on Tuesday morning. My visitor, Charolette is being dropped off in Bulawayo this evening to spend a few days with friends while the guys go on to SA. she was born and grew up in Bulawayo so she is going home! This has been a busy week with Wednesday having a staff inservice with our nurses and talking about a patient who got mismanaged in labor. This patient was complete for 5 hours and no one notified the doctor or myself until the baby came out flat and needed to be revived and eventually died within 24 hours. We used this as a "learning experience" to talk about what to do and what is normal when a woman gets to complete. Everyone said the understood! That evening just as I went to do some Lumbar Punctures on the wards, I noticed an OB chart at the nurses desk showing a patient had ...

This week it is getting up to the 90's during the days and high 60's at night--so it seems winter is almost over. It has been a busy week at the hospital. We had 3 outreach clinics in the last week and over 800 patients now on ART! One area that we go to the people are very disappointed if we test them for HIV and they are negative. Their is a foo organization giving food to those with HIV--so they want the food! This leads us to believe some people are seeking HIV in order to get food! Maybe food should be given to all the people who need it. My visitors bag finally arrive 5 ays after she did! She was very happy to have new clothes to wear! Lori will be here in 1 week an we look forward to that.