Hello everybody! Sorry for not putting this post up last night. For this post, I want to recap and reflect on my four weeks in Ghana. The experience was enriching and is one that will stick with me for the rest of my life. During my stay in Cape Coast, about 150 kilometers from Accra, …
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Home Sweet Home
The ten hour flight from Accra wasn’t as bad as I was expecting considering I slept during some of those hours. Furthermore, I was able to speak to the person sitting next to me. She was from Kumasi (Ashanti Region of Ghana) and she mentioned to me that this was her first time going to …
Last Day in Ghana!
This morning, me and one of my cohort members woke up and had a wide range of emotions! We were sad that our time in Ghana was up but we were equally excited to go home and embrace our loved ones who were anxiously waiting to hear about our journey. This morning, I attempted to …
Cape Coast to Accra
This morning, I woke up bright and early to complete my last shift at the teaching hospital. I only worked for half the day today since I had to leave to Accra in the early afternoon. Despite my short shift, I was able to learn a lot from Dr. Armah. We had some new cases …
Last Day in Cape Coast
Today was my last full day in Cape Coast. The hospital was very busy today. I was once again with Dr. Armah. He was in the hospital overnight and was there until the afternoon today. He told me that he’s gone two full days without any sleep. At around 8:00 AM when I saw him …
Working and Letting Loose
At around 8:15 AM this morning, Dr. Lovi’s team began their rounds. Many of the patients that we saw were follow ups from yesterday. After the rounds this morning, I was supposed to be with Dr. Armah again but he disappeared when we dispersed after rounds. After an hour or so, I found him and …
Rounds at the Medical Wards
Today, I was paired up with Dr. Lovi’s team on their rounds through the male and female medical wards. Dr. Lovi is the head doctor of the team and in addition to him, there are medical students and residents that are a part of his team. Each student/resident would be assigned to a patient or …
Beginning of the Final Rotation
This week, I was hoping to do work more in the outpatient delivery unit. Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen circumstances, I was not able to get a spot in the OPD unit. However, I am back at the inpatient wards but instead of pediatrics, I am now working in the male internal medicine ward for …
Checking off the Bucket List
Hello everybody, I have some exciting stuff to share with you all including the surprise I mentioned a few weeks ago. Before I share that, I want to first of all say that today is World Hepatitis Day! 80% of people living with hepatitis lack prevention, testing, and treatment. Hopefully we can reduce this number …
Cape Coast Castle
This is my last full weekend in Ghana. I cannot believe that my time here is almost up. Earlier this morning, I saw Roland (another coordinator of the program residing in the Accra house). He was visiting some family and friends in Cape Coast this weekend so he stopped by the house to say hi. …
Last Day at the Public Health Clinic
Hello everybody, hope you are all doing wonderful! Today was my last day in the public health family planning clinic and it was a good day. The family planning clinic has three different sections based on what I’ve observed: a procedure unit, a pediatric area, and an adult area. On Wednesday, I was more involved …
World Hepatitis Day Radio Show
Today was a very great day. Earlier this morning, I was at the hospital to observe a ritual clinic. I didn’t get to watch a whole lot since I was with other people discussing the outline for the radio show. At around 10:30 in the morning, I went along with three other nurses and public …
Family Planning Clinic Day #2
Hello everyone, my apologies for not blogging yesterday. I decided not go to the hospital yesterday and decided to recover a bit. I’m feeling a lot better now so I was able to go back to work today! Today, I was able to watch a contraceptive implant procedure. We had one person who was beginning …
1st Day at the Public Health Department
Today’s blog won’t be too long. My fever was a lot better but my throat was hurting. I went to see an ENT specialist and he gave me some antibiotics so hopefully I should recover in the next few days. I startedmy new rotation at the public health family planning clinic today. However, I was …
Weekend Getaway to Accra
Hello everyone, my apologies for not posting yesterday. I was having a fever and sore throat yesterday so I had to go to sleep early. Today’s post will highlight events from yesterday and today. Yesterday, me and another cohort member woke up at around 5:30 AM to catch a bus to Accra (the capital of …
Last day of Pediatrics OPD
Today was a normal day and many similar acute cases from yesterday were also present today. I was also able to do Dr. Arthur’s notes (she wanted to see if I could type fast)! Overall, this week in the pediatric OPD was very successful. I was able to learn and do many things that pushed …
Routine Work with Some Free Time
The OPD today was very normal as indicated by the first part of this title. Many cases today were all acute illnesses. I was able to learn more about the oral drug for malaria. After work, Dominic (nurse from Monday) came over again today to talk more about communicable diseases. I will give a quick …
Back to OPD
I’m back in the outpatient delivery (OPD) rotation at the teaching hospital! Unfortunately, Dr. Arthur was not feeling well this morning so I ended up working with one of her colleagues, Dr. Ellen. She was a very nice lady who taught me a lot of things. Today, I got to try something new. Dr. Ellen …
Outreach in the Village of Jukwa
Today I was able to get a break from the teaching hospital environment. Early this morning, we took a bus along with some nutritionists, nurses, and a few other staff members to the village of Jukwa. It was about a 45 minute drive. During this drive, I met a public health department worker named Chandi. …
Inpatient to Outpatient Pediatrics
Today marked the beginning of my new rotation at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. Last week, I worked alongside nurses and medical students in the pediatric ward by documenting vitals and patient history. In addition, I sat alongside the students and residents to discuss different child mortality cases. This week, I will be shadowing Dr. …
A Trip to Elmina
Today was filled with another day of tourism. We only were able to go to one place. The sun sets very early here in Ghana and many places close early. However, we have three more weeks to cover other places! Today, we called a new taxi driver that was recommended by Geegy. His name was …
It’s the Weekend!
It’s finally the weekend so I get a small break from my rotations at the teaching hospital. Today me and my cohort drove about 45 minutes north of Cape Coast to Kakum National Park. According to our tour guide Kofi, the park has been around since 1992 and many of the insects are nocturnal. The …
Last Day of Inpatient Pediatrics
As indicated by the title, the head of the pediatrics ward was able to get me into outpatient pediatrics rotation next week! Based on what I’ve observed in inpatient settings here in Ghana and in the U.S, I think my interest lies more in outpatient care. Today was a normal day again starting out with …
Close Community of Cape Coast
Today was a very normal day with some excitement at work! The day started off with the mortality meeting as usual. The different Ghanaian medical students are responsible for presenting different cases to the group and I have actively been engaged in the discussions. The rounds along with busy vitals and patient history documenting began …
Working and Wandering
Today at the hospital, we continued our child mortality meeting from yesterday with the Ghanaian medical students and residents. Many similar diagnoses were present from yesterday which got me thinking: so these diseases have no treatment or does Ghana lack the proper treatment. Plus, are these diseases prevalent in the US and if so, what …
Day #2 of Pediatrics
Today’s day began with a 2 hour child mortality meeting with the Ghanaian medical students. We discussed 10 different cases. Many of these cases contained children who only lived for about a few days. This was very upsetting to see. After the meeting, I resumed my work with the nurses logging in vitals and other …
1st Day of Rotations
Today was my very first day at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. I went to the hospital at 9 this morning and was given a tour by Madame Beatrice. We were shown all the different wards. Afterwards, the director of the hospital gave me my first rotation assignment. For the first two weeks, I will …
Accra to Cape Coast
The day started with meeting a few more people from different programs of CFHI. At approximately noon, we headed towards Cape Coast which was about a two and half to three hour drive (highway was only one lane). After we arrived, we immediately went out with our coordinator Georgina (Geegy) to explore the city. We …
Landed in Accra
Akwaaba (welcome)! After a ten and a half hour flight from JFK, I was speechless and humbled as we landed in Kotoka International Airport. Never in a million years did I think I would go to Africa, but here I am as a college undergrad! It all hit me right when we landed. Just for …
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