This week in the clinic was just like any other week in the clinic. Starting off with a very busy Monday and ending in a very busy Friday. Throughout the week, I was sitting in the exam rooms, observing the routines of a clinic visit. What I saw was that there were many cases of Malaria. Which is a very common occurrence within the clinic. Malaria is a serious disease caused by a parasite. The disease generally occurs in tropical and subtropical areas where humidity and rainfall levels are high. The disease is spread to humans via the bite of an infected mosquito. With so much standing water throughout the country, the mosquitoes multiply fast. Hence why Malaria is easily contracted. A number of the patients at the clinic are there for Malaria treatment.
This week there was also a delivery of a healthy baby boy. He was born Friday around twelve in the afternoon. The delivery started out slow in the morning so Hanson went ahead and induced her. The delivery went smoothly with no complications.
I also noticed that Rose, a nurse, was giving some really great advice to new mothers. The mothers were giving the new born babies water instead of breast milk. She was telling them that the water is really bad for the baby because of everything that was in it. And that their immune systems aren’t like ours, so they will get very sick with the well/creek water. She told them that they need to breast feed because the milk has all of the nutrients that the baby needs. I thought this was really smart because the moms need to understand what is good and what is not good for their baby.
All and all it was a pretty normal week here in the clinic. Fortunately, there were no severe patients and nothing bad happened. On to next week.
Kasey (the intern)
Po River Medical Clinic 