Achain

The Tertiary Sisters of St Francis operate 6 Hospitals in Cameroon.  In addition they have 40 Health Clinics in out lying areas around the hospitals.  These small clinics are staffed 24 hours a day by nurses and have 10-40 inpatient beds.  The nurses do deliveries and provide medical care for large areas where there are no other health care facilities.  Last Friday Terry and I traveled to Achain, the Clinic farthest from our hospital.  The road goes up and over several mountains and at times was no more than a path.  Most of the time the road is like a dry rocky river bed.  The road is impassible during the rainy season, more than 6 months of the year.  Sister was correct in predicting that the truck would need to go in for repairs when we got back.  We lost the exhaust pipe after bottoming out one too many times.

The staff at Achain was friendly and were happy to see us.  I think they were most happy to see the supply of medications and IV’s that we brought with us.  We consulted on a large variety patients.  One lady we saw had a large breast abscess.  We were able to drain here abscess sparing her a difficult trip back to our hospital.  The staff provided a wonderful lunch for us at the conclusion of the clinic.  The rain may prevent us from a return trip to Achain.

Elemighong

The Tertiary Sisters of St Frances operate 6 hospitals in Cameroon and another 30 Health Centers.  The Sisters have decided to provide more support from their Hospitals to nearby Health Centers which are staffed by nurses only.  Today, I traveled to Elemighong Health Center, about 15 miles from Njinikom further up in the mountains.  The clinic is staffed by 2 nurses who provide 24/7 coverage.  They have a 6 bed medical ward and a maternity ward where they average 7 deliveries a month.  The nurses themselves provide a few basic laboratory tests.  They had not had a Doctor visit their clinic in years.  I accompanied Sister Philippe today who conducts regular Prenatal and Vaccination Clinics in Elemighong.

While Sister Philippe saw 16 women in Prenatal Clinic I did medical consultations on a dozen patients.  I saw a 40 year old lady with a bowling ball sized pelvic tumor.  She had consulted 2 years ago about the tumor but had no money for the tests that were ordered so she never followed up.  She agreed to come to the Hospital Monday where Dr Jim Unger will see her and with donor money her needed surgery will be done.  I can not help but think it was Divine Intervention that had me in Elemighong today to arrange for this lady’s care.