Healthcare in rural communities. Something which I came face to face with while on my trip to Nepal. I contracted a bacterial infection which without medical care could have been a serious problem. When I arrived at the hospital in Kathmandu I was feverish, dehydrated and disoriented. When airlifted out of the Himalayan mountains I could not walk, was unconscious and I have no recollection of the hours before-hand. I was very lucky, having access to the proper medical care meant that I was treated and back on a plane to family within a week, but others in Nepal are not so lucky. 13,000 children under 5 every year die in Nepal from diarrheal diseases due to poor hygiene and sanitation. Only 46% percent of the country has access to latrines, with only 12% having access to the sewerage facilities. 80% of communicable diseases in Nepal are due to contaminated water and poor sanitation.
While on this trip we were sitting outside our teahouse waiting to get ready for the day when a man carrying a basket came down the steps towards us. This is a normal sight in Nepal as everyone uses baskets, held by a strap across the forehead, to carry loads. He was not however carrying just a load, but a sick old man, who needed medical care. The only way for those in rural areas to reach the necessary medical care is to travel down the mountain, carrying the ill person, to reach transportation to a major city. This could take over a week and once they reach a hospital, care is not guaranteed. Childreach works with Dhulikhel hospital to provide healthcare to the rural populations in Nepal. They run a ‘School and Child Health Programme’ which assists in health education and health camps for mothers and their children. So far the program has touched the lives of over 2,500 mothers and children. Following Childreach’s effors to make each project self-sustainable they are working to increase the knowledge and skills of the health workers in areas most needed, establishing telemedicine facilities in Outreach centers and helping rural healthcare become more accessible to all.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Last Diary Post
Woke up and knew that I wanted to go home, today. Childreach had been amazing and told me they could get me on a flight back to London as soon as I was out of the hospital and my dad was in Surrey visiting my grandma. I wanted to come home.
When they asked me if I wanted food I knew that if I wanted to leave I had to try to eat something. Never before has half a slice of toast and a banana felt so victorious. I had finished my antibiotics course during the night and the doctor came to speak to me. The swelling in my stomach was still pretty bad and I was in pain but knowing that I could receive medical attention and just had to be well enough to fly he agreed to discharge me, providing that I receive medical care as soon as I arrived back in England. I could go home.
The next day I got on a flight back to New Delhi and then transferred to Heathrow. My dad was waiting for me when I landed and I have never been so happy to see my family.
Childreach, Really Wild! Travel and Insure&Go, were amazing throughout this experience. I was well taken care of at the CIWEC Clinic Travel Medicine center under Dr. Ramsay and cannot express my gratitude enough for taking care of me, they do an amazing job.
Overall my experience in Nepal was not the one which I had hoped for but getting ill taught me some valuable lessons, and the importance of the money which was donated. I got to speak with more Childreach volunteers than I would have and learn firsthand about medical care as well as life in Nepal. The work that Childreach is doing in Nepal and around the world is invaluable and I plan on posting segments of the importance of your donations and how I saw how much they were needed. Thank you so much for all of your time and your kind donations, it means the world to me and to others whom you have helped.
I wish you all a happy and healthy new year!
Sophie Goggins
xxx
When they asked me if I wanted food I knew that if I wanted to leave I had to try to eat something. Never before has half a slice of toast and a banana felt so victorious. I had finished my antibiotics course during the night and the doctor came to speak to me. The swelling in my stomach was still pretty bad and I was in pain but knowing that I could receive medical attention and just had to be well enough to fly he agreed to discharge me, providing that I receive medical care as soon as I arrived back in England. I could go home.
The next day I got on a flight back to New Delhi and then transferred to Heathrow. My dad was waiting for me when I landed and I have never been so happy to see my family.
Childreach, Really Wild! Travel and Insure&Go, were amazing throughout this experience. I was well taken care of at the CIWEC Clinic Travel Medicine center under Dr. Ramsay and cannot express my gratitude enough for taking care of me, they do an amazing job.
Overall my experience in Nepal was not the one which I had hoped for but getting ill taught me some valuable lessons, and the importance of the money which was donated. I got to speak with more Childreach volunteers than I would have and learn firsthand about medical care as well as life in Nepal. The work that Childreach is doing in Nepal and around the world is invaluable and I plan on posting segments of the importance of your donations and how I saw how much they were needed. Thank you so much for all of your time and your kind donations, it means the world to me and to others whom you have helped.
I wish you all a happy and healthy new year!
Sophie Goggins
xxx
Day 11: Kathmandu Hospital
When the next morning came and shifts changed I was still awake. The day nurse told me that the doctor would soon be here to check on me. He did and was surprised that I seemed to be worse. Normally fluids tend to fix most problems trekkers come in with but it became apparent that was not my problem. I was still nauseous and my stomach was swollen and severely tender. I was having trouble moving and still couldn’t stand without help.
I had been trying to get through to my family all morning but due to the bad connection and electricity cycling in Kathmandu (the electricity is limited to each section of Kathmandu and cuts every so often) my family was having a very hard time to get through to me and me to them. When we did the connection was so horrible that I could hear them perfectly but they couldn’t hear a word I was saying, which obviously caused my mum to get upset as she could tell I was in pain but she couldn’t hear a word I was saying. I hadn’t really cried up until that point but I worked myself into a state and I completely lost it. When the nurse came in to check on me she gave me an IV which knocked me out, giving me some much needed rest.
Embarrassingly during this time visitors came from Childreach to visit and I apparently had a fair conversation with them which I do not recollect. The nurse on their way out apparently told them she was shocked I even came out of my sleep to talk and I slept for much of that day with the medicine’s aid. That afternoon when I woke up I still felt horrible and the nauseau while getting better meant that the pain in my stomach was becoming much harder to ignore. When the doctor came in to check on me I was sent straight for a scan of my stomach. He had told me that my test results had come back and it seemed I had a nasty bacterial infection but just wanted to check. The ultra-sound doctor tried to be gentle but my stomach was so swollen and tender that even the softest touch felt excruciating and I tried to hold back tears through the scan. She had to call the doctor in to “check something” which was more than slightly terrifying as they apparently thought I had appendicitis. Upon further inspection I was told that was not the case but instead I had “very unhappy swollen intestines” which they would keep an eye on. I was put back to bed and started on an IV of antibiotics. At this point they had switched to my hand, as the two IV points on my inner arms were now full arm bruises which made it hard for me to bend my arms. I was told that I would not be discharged that day and probably not even tomorrow.
Nima came to visit me that night and was really lovely as he came late after work and just talked to me as I was having trouble sleeping and still in a lot of pain. He told me about his daughter and about work and about why I had met so many Nimas on the trip. Turns out it depends on the day of the week you were born. Everyone born on a certain day is named Nima. I did get to go to the storeroom to make a call to my parents telling them what had happened and not to worry (likely!). I was asked if I would like any dinner but food seemed out of the question. I was told if I didn’t eat it was likely I would not be going home until I did so.
I had been trying to get through to my family all morning but due to the bad connection and electricity cycling in Kathmandu (the electricity is limited to each section of Kathmandu and cuts every so often) my family was having a very hard time to get through to me and me to them. When we did the connection was so horrible that I could hear them perfectly but they couldn’t hear a word I was saying, which obviously caused my mum to get upset as she could tell I was in pain but she couldn’t hear a word I was saying. I hadn’t really cried up until that point but I worked myself into a state and I completely lost it. When the nurse came in to check on me she gave me an IV which knocked me out, giving me some much needed rest.
Embarrassingly during this time visitors came from Childreach to visit and I apparently had a fair conversation with them which I do not recollect. The nurse on their way out apparently told them she was shocked I even came out of my sleep to talk and I slept for much of that day with the medicine’s aid. That afternoon when I woke up I still felt horrible and the nauseau while getting better meant that the pain in my stomach was becoming much harder to ignore. When the doctor came in to check on me I was sent straight for a scan of my stomach. He had told me that my test results had come back and it seemed I had a nasty bacterial infection but just wanted to check. The ultra-sound doctor tried to be gentle but my stomach was so swollen and tender that even the softest touch felt excruciating and I tried to hold back tears through the scan. She had to call the doctor in to “check something” which was more than slightly terrifying as they apparently thought I had appendicitis. Upon further inspection I was told that was not the case but instead I had “very unhappy swollen intestines” which they would keep an eye on. I was put back to bed and started on an IV of antibiotics. At this point they had switched to my hand, as the two IV points on my inner arms were now full arm bruises which made it hard for me to bend my arms. I was told that I would not be discharged that day and probably not even tomorrow.
Nima came to visit me that night and was really lovely as he came late after work and just talked to me as I was having trouble sleeping and still in a lot of pain. He told me about his daughter and about work and about why I had met so many Nimas on the trip. Turns out it depends on the day of the week you were born. Everyone born on a certain day is named Nima. I did get to go to the storeroom to make a call to my parents telling them what had happened and not to worry (likely!). I was asked if I would like any dinner but food seemed out of the question. I was told if I didn’t eat it was likely I would not be going home until I did so.
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