I apologise for the big gap in my blog, which has not quite
followed my progress as intended.
The truth is, there have been some changes in what I am
doing and where I am working since my last post.
I have also been home for a while, and had a lovely time
being back, seeing family and friends and going to a special wedding.
Now I am back in Freetown, Sierra Leone and working again.
Unfortunately, for a multitude of reasons, my VSO placement
at PCMH was not viable for me in the long-term. Those of you who know me will
have had more of a chance to discuss reasons for this, but basically I wasn’t
doing what I intended to do and was quite unhappy with some of the things I did
have to do. I think ultimately PCMH was just too big and dysfunctional for one
volunteer to be able to go in and be expected to fix it!
VSO were understanding of the issues and my feelings, and
they will (and are) continue to place volunteers in various health placements
in Sierra Leone.
For me, meanwhile, there was a period of doubt wondering if
it was time for me to go home for good, but also feeling that I had not really
carried out what I came to Sierra Leone to do. As it happens, at the same time
as I was looking to work, the centre with my original contact was looking for a
doctor. Aberdeen Women’s Centre is a charity hospital providing free care for
women and children. It is based in the area of Freetown called Aberdeen. There is a surgical unit which assesses and treats
obsetric fistula (women who develop a hole between bladder or bowel and the
birth canal as a result of problems in labour). They also have a maternity unit
which aims to look after women antenatally and during birth so that they don’t
develop a fistula! And they have a children’s out-patient clinic seeing up to
90 children per day to diagnose and treat the range of diseases they are
vulnerable to here.
I have come to work in the maternity unit, which delivers up
to 120 women per month and also has antenatal clinic and in-patient ward. We
have access to the operating theatre for emergency surgery whenever we need it.
There is a nurse anaesthetist on call available as well.
I am the only full-time obstetric doctor for the maternity
unit. I have accommodation provided here onsite along with a few other
international staff who work in the fistula unit and children’s clinic. Most of
the other staff are national, and we do have a few Sierra Leonean doctors who
will cover occasional nights when I can be off.
AWC is a great place to work, and is really trying to
provide a good standard of basic care to women who desperately need it. The
midwives, who go out looking for pregnant women to book, target the slum areas
and pregnant teenagers. The centre has managed to achieve very good outcomes
for patients through the use of evidence-based guidelines and protocols adapted
to the local setting. It is very interesting to work with all the conditions
that you come across in this setting, but I am grateful now to have access to
medical and surgical resources to tackle them with.
We are fortunate to be able to limit our numbers and raise our standards in a way PCMH could not do, and do not take outside referrals. We try to treat our patients with respect and it is touching how grateful they
are to receive proper care – in this place you never feel taken for granted!
Sorry the blog is more facts than fun today, this is the
update, hopefully things now are going to get a bit more settled and I will
write again.
Meanwhile, just keep in touch and I will keep on delivering more babies.
Meanwhile, just keep in touch and I will keep on delivering more babies.
Picture with one of the midwives at AWC.
Our logo and one of our ladies.