This morning we met with Sulaiman, our translator, and we worked on recording and translating our course videos from English to Krio so that we can make them more accessible to the community. We also got the quiz questions translated and worked on updating the videos with our refined content. We will continue working to change and update the content in our videos as we meet with doctors, nurses, and other health workers. We would like to identify what these healthcare workers already know so that we have a clear idea of what content gaps we need to fill.
Today was our first day really venturing outside of World Hope. Arriving at the doors of City Garden Hospital, locally known as ABD Hospital, was really special and a bit nerve racking for everyone at the same time. We walked into a sea of people either selling fruits or waiting to be seen. As we walked in, we mentioned to the staff we were looking for our contact, but because of a slight (but somewhat fortunate)miscommunication, they brought us directly to the head surgeon. He was incredibly busy seeing patients, as he was given the most responsibility in the entire hospital. The head surgeon informed us that he was not expecting us and that he was busy at the moment. Confused and surprised, we were asked to wait outside until he was ready. After sitting for roughly 30 minutes, the doctor said he was ready, and we sat down in his office. To our surprise, our original contact, the chief health officer, joined us as well.
Interviewing both the doctor and CHO, we learned a lot of valuable information. They both shared similar stories of losing a loved one to a preventable illness early on in childhood, and it inspired them to study medicine. Since there is only one med school in SL, the doctor was given a scholarship by an American doctor to study in Ukraine, but he did all of his residency in SL. He emphasized the important difference between theory and practice, and that really learning about SCD was a result of firsthand experience, treating patients in pain, and putting yourself in their shoes. Otherwise, he said, most physicians and health workers go through school just trying to get a passing grade. The CHO shared similar insights and mentioned how important his internships and residencies were in understanding the dire need for improved diagnosis and treatment. Other than that, the ABD staff members had an excellent understanding of SCD and continued to explain the difficulty of knowing exactly what is wrong while lacking the tools to treat and diagnose patients. From our first impression, private hospitals seem to have a great understanding of the disease, but they simply lack resources. We are going to visit a few more private hospitals tomorrow and see if it’s the same way. Escorting us out, we took a quick photo with the CHO and then decided to walk around the Hospital. While we waited for Ibrahim to pick us up, we went into a small marketplace and Hamsa bought an energy drink which appeared to be incredibly popular as we began to notice them in locals’ hands. We took some cool photos and returned to the hospital until Ibrahim arrived.
After our visit to ABD hospital and our small excursion, we headed back to the World Hope headquarters to translate our recordings. We borrowed a few voice recorders from the DMS studio back in Lehigh, which we used for the interviews. We also used Hamsa’s phone as a backup just in case anything went wrong. Uploading the media files onto our laptops was fairly easy, although it took a bit of time on World Hope’s wifi. Jake, Chibugo, and Hamsa got to work transcribing the audio for them. They found that the audio from the voice recording was much clearer than Hamsa’s phone, although her phone had louder audio. This was a relief, especially after the trouble we went through earlier with the mics earlier that day with Sulaiman. We’ll definitely try the audio equipment BEFORE leaving the U.S. next year.
While we were in the middle of transcribing, Professor Mehta walked in and recommended that we visit a PHU with the AISHA team. The AISHA or A I Strengthening Healthcare Access team is focusing on using Amazon Alexa devices in PHUs to supplement the overworked healthcare workers in those areas. They were planning on returning to a peripheral health unit (PHU) they had demoed their device the day prior and invited us to tag along. We would have loved to get a close up view of a PHU, but unfortunately, the ladies at the facility told us that today was not a good day for a visit. We have more PHUs on our list to visit, courtesy of our translator Sulaiman, so this wasn’t a huge loss for us.
Then, before we went to dinner, we visited the supermarket. It was a large indoor market, filled with many snacks, beverages, sweet treats, and necessities. It was a great experience and the people there were very nice. We met a young girl who was 11 years old and she was helping her mother and siblings with selling the fruits outside the supermarket. She mentioned that when she grows up, her aspirations are to become a doctor after school. We were very inspired by her and encouraged her to keep going and pursue her dreams. It was amazing to give back to the community and interact with hard-working parents and children.