Saturday

Day 2 of clinic.  Today we took two buses loaded with people, meds, and one monkey.  He is so cute.  He greated us this morning on top of our luxurious  bus and continued to be our guide until we arrived at Diamniadio, about an hours ride from Nord Foire. 
I am a chaplain in a Trauma hospital  in Colombus,  Ohio and from time to time I am called to interpret Spanish or French.  Piece of Cake!  Easy button right?  Right!  Well today we had a patient that spoke Creole.  Well guess what?  None of us spoke Creole either.  What to do?  Answer- Creole to Woolof, Woolof to French, French to English.   Awesome amazing teamwork all working together to help  this woman  with her health  needs.
One more comment  then I leave the tiny key board of  cell phone.  The people of this community were so gracious.  So many returned to us to say thank  prior to  leaving with their meds in hand.  Quelle journee. 
Morley

I also work with an interpreter, Valerie, a nurse with the mission health ministry.  She is a valuable source of information with knowledge of local resources and customs. On the medical side, I've seen some fantastically elevated blood pressures. We've identified 4 new cases of diabetes, with many other known diabetics with poor control.  I've performed some minor procedures such as joint injections, lancing of abscess,  and removal of foreign body from nose. Common complaints are back pain, joint pain, heartburn, eye irritation,  and cough. My goal is to keep the team healthy. We had two incidents today that made us gasp, but fortunately resulted in no injury:  hand slammed by van door and collapse of plastic chair at lunch.  The team has still been trying to catch up on sleep after our flight, will appreciate off tomorrow. Paul, Mary, and Morley will all play a role with church tomorrow.
Jeff
P.S.  About the collapse of this plastic chair - Peter Pan has lost his wings!!