M'nima village clinic

On Tuesday we drove the 1 1/2  hours from Lilongwe to outside of Salima town, to a village called M'nima. Kathy Nunnley has a project there, Feed Hope, and had asked if we could do a village clinic. There were 6 of us volunteers: Joey Swartz, Claire (newly minted MD from the UK), Tanja Muff, Ty (premed student from US) and Trey - high school graduate from US. We also had translators Eve and Lewis and of course, Charles Msukwa who is the great co-ordinator of everything! We used the Feed Hope building, which is nice, new and spacious, but only has light from the sun. We ended up seeing slightly over 150 people, with the most diagnosis probably 'general body pain' followed by malaria. We also saw a smattering of other complaints. This time of year (dry, windy and dusty, with fires everywhere) cough is always a big complaint. Some diarrhea and abdominal pain, a few infected areas (toes, buttocks, etc), and the usual rashes. Poor Claire ended up with some complicated patients. My most complicated patient had been totally evaluated at the local district hospital but not 'cured' and the lady 'couldn't find her book' (health passport) explaining what they had found / done, etc.  I recognize that a mobile clinic is NOT going to ferret out the more unusual problems - we really aim to treat acute problems, and offer some relief of pain (even if chronic) and can give short medication courses (month or so) for things like blood pressure.  We did find a small child with cleft lip, and my translator, Eve, took the mom's number - Eve will call the Mom with the information about upcoming 'Operation Smile' clinics. We also found a young teen age girl with some sort of birth injury involving the right side (paralysis and contractures of right arm / hand, atrophy or non-development of right shoulder and upper back) who apparently has some sort of tonic/clonic seizures. We fortunately had some seizure medications for her. When we set up the work stations, the best light was coming from the open doors, so the malaria testing station was there. I set up my table next to them! Never again! Oh, my, it is the loudest place in the building with all the children crying!  We finished and were packed by about 5 PM, with no lunch breaks. We snacked on the way home, but didn't arrive until after dark. Those of you familiar with driving in Malawi after dark know how stressful this can be! Praise the Lord, we made it home safely. Enjoy the photos!

HSA giving out the registration 'paper' as the crowd gathers!

Claire examining a patient - as you can tell the baby is not very happy about the whole ordeal!

Checking the blood pressure on a patient. This is predominantly Muslim area, and many if not most of the villagers are from the Yao tribe. We actually had to have a translator for our translator in one older lady who only spoke chiyao (or whatever it is the Yao speak) Note how close I am to the malaria testing station!

Claire with another little patient. He looks a little happier than the other one!

Tanja and Joey, along with translator Davies, handing out and explaining medications to a patient.

Another view of the pharmacy staff hard at work. They had a low table, again! and so many of the meds had to be on the floor. This is truly a back breaking job!

Malaria testing, with their patients on the floor, while Eve and I are interviewing another patient. No HIPAA here! and the noise factor can be quite something else!

Trey making friends with one of his 'victims'.

More of the crowd waiting.

Trey did quite a bit of 'floor time' at the malaria testing station!

More pharmacy translating! Davies was a great help to the pharmacy team!

Close up of the malaria testors! Ty in the blue scrubs, watching Trey do the actual finger pricking.

Hope you all enjoyed the photos. You can find Kathi's project online, I believe. And of course, you can always donate to me through Global Health Innovations, just be sure to attach my name and Malawi missions to your check!