Catching up

We visited for our first time last month Kalukembe/Caluquembe hospital with the team from CEML. Just a 45 minute flight away (and now with paved roads only about 2 1/2 hours by car), this hospital was founded  over 100 years ago. It is a busy place with a wide reputation and without any permanent physician for over 10 years. It only shut down one day while it was being bombed by government forces during the civil war. Today, it is a church-administrated, government-funded hospital. The CEML staff go almost every month for a long weekend to perform surgeries on complicated cases (vesicovaginal fistulae, complex femur fractures, oromaxillofacial surgeries, and so forth), round with staff to see the difficult cases and discuss questions they have, and encourage everyone in the good work they do. While Annalise Olson performed surgeries all day and night, Priscila was busy repairing vaginas in the OR; Daniel taught a some ultrasound, saw medical patients and relocated a hip that was out for 2 weeks! and Zeke entertained the off-duty nursing students. We look forward to returning later this month, then hopefully extending our time to a few weeks in September with them. For more stories on Kalukembe, check out Dr. Tim Kubacki's blog at http://kubacki6.wordpress.com

 Daniel, Eduardo and Annalise with a sequestrum and the patient (from whence the rotten mandible came) at Kalukembe. For those with stomachs, we have pictures showing how far the infection spread. Feel free to ask. 

 Zeke and friends on the airstrip at Kalukembe

Priscila and Annalise at the weekly radio show on medicine and health. Yes, even an OBGYN and a surgeon have opened Harrison's. Priscila has been involved in the topics of sexually transmitted disease and endometrial cancer. Daniel volunteered to watch Zeke at home for these shows. He did try his hand at the motor vehicle accidents show and realized his Portuguese was still at an elementary level. He answered an open-ended question with "Sim! (yes)" The moderator wisely navigated the rest of the questions to others for the remainder of the show.