Work begins at Mazimbu hospital

We met the staff at Mazimbu yesterday and introductions went very well. This is a new hospital for us. The private hospital that hosted our team the past two years, St. Mary’s, experienced a change in administration last year, and the new management is focused in other directions. Bishop Mameo, who heads the Morogoro diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania, worked with Barbara to find an alternate location for the team. So we are working with the government hospital in Mazimbu, an outlying area of Morogoro. The facilities are wonderfully clean, airy and spacious and the staff has welcomed us with warm smiles and Tanzanian hospitality.

In preparation for today, the team met last night to brainstorm logistics, weighing our new knowledge of the facilities with past methods that had helped streamline the flow of patients. It was decided that Cindy and Elizabeth, who have the most medical training after our doctors, would be the initial point of contact. We have learned from past years that some initial screening is very important. We want to work with the Tanzanian medical system and offer our skills in areas that are not routine. We do not want to see patients that need treatment for malaria, parasites or other common ailments, giving the impression that the Tanzanian doctors are not competent. That is certainly not the case! Cindy and Elizabeth are able to ask enough questions that they can direct those types of patients to the hospital for help from the staff doctors.
Patients were then guided to our registration desk, where Pati entered their information into our computers and organized the minor paperwork we are using for records. Jordan and Shelby then worked together to record their vitals and lead them to the waiting area for the doctor they would see. Doug consulted with all of the surgical cases that were referred from the Asbury Methodist team, making the final determination of whether surgery was indicated. All other non-surgical cases were seen by Adam, who would diagnose their conditions and prescribe treatment, sometimes referring it to Doug for surgical consideration. Neil worked with Adam to record his case notes and be available for any other help that might be needed.
And after the doctors were done with their examination, medicine was usually prescribed, which took them to our pharmacy, manned by Glennis and Christopher.

This flow worked very well for us today, especially since we had four translators, in addition to Barbara. Although we will make minor adjustments each day as we fine tune our procedures, the team left the hospital today knowing that we had worked well together, with our patients and with the hospital staff.

Tomorrow will see our first surgical cases. We have four procedures scheduled, beginning at 7:30. We know that we must be flexible—in Tanzania a schedule is only a rough draft and the only time it is firm is at the end of the day, when it is complete!