We have arrived!
Keith Tatton and Anita Riggs have landed in Bahir Dar.
For some of the team members, being in Ethiopia is a brand new experience. With a 17 hour flight and airport terminal time behind us from Toronto, I enjoyed hearing the questions from the newbies about what they were seeing and expecting to experience in the next 13 days.
Kim, our Head Nurse and Bill East arrived a couple of days earlier and found everything to be ready for our time here. Late Sunday afternoon after we settled from our flight, we walked to the hospital to orientate ourselves to the layout and patient flow.
Clockwise from the left; Gayanne Pacholzuk – Burn Prevention Education, Kathryn Leccese – Pediatrician, Genevieve Ferland Caron – Surgeon, Dr. Adil Ladak – Surgeon, Deborah Earnshaw – Nurse, Lisa van den Brink – Nurse, Anita Riggs – Physiotherapist, Dr. Gillian Moll – Anesthesiologist, Deborah Nolan-Mann – Medical Records, Keith Tatton – Asst. Medical Records and Asst. Burn Prevention Education, Dr. Bill East – Medical Team Asst., Brian Elliott – Blogger and Photographer, Kim East – Head Nurse.
Today was our working Day 1 at the Gamby Teaching and General Hospital in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Well before 8 am we were set up with Deborah Nolan-Mann, our Records Keeper with Keith Tatton beside her, assisting. The local media showed up and the hospital and RESTOR Int. will be on the local news tonight.
Two of our invaluable assistants to the mission, Asafa and Muli
There was a large crowd of people there waiting well before 8:00 am who wished to be seen by our team and some tension between a few who wanted to be seen before others. Kim straightened that out with a stern chat, a shaking finger and consequences of no doctor examination if they didn’t behave!
Thirty-seven people were seen before 12:30. Unfortunately, we did have to turn some away as there were many children that needed to processed and seen by the surgeons. However, it was a good day and the work in the operating rooms starts tomorrow.
Aderajew and his Mom are waiting to see the surgeons.