Queen II
Queen Elizabeth II is the national hospital of Lesotho. It’s a very different experience from working at the Baylor Clinic and I don’t think I’ll ever forget my first day there. Many people had told me about the conditions at Queen II: roaches running all over the walls, small, dirty rooms crammed with many beds, everything is constantly in short supply-doctors, nurses, space, and especially medical supplies. Even with all the forewarnings it was still a very shocking to experience Queen II firsthand where things were exactly as I had heard them described. The first morning was rough and it was definitely an eye-opening experience to see what the only government run hospital in a poor third world country looks like. It took some getting used to and it’s still not easy to watch some of the sickest children in the world dying of AIDS in those hospital beds, but there are some wonderful stories of children who are recovering from malnutrition, TB, and many other preventable diseases. I spent the day shadowing Jaime and she was really great helping me get to know the hospital and brainstorming ideas for the project I hope to work on there.
Nutrition/Play Therapy Project
I plan to spend the next four weeks at Queen II getting a new project underway in the Children’s Medical Ward. The project focuses on the Nutrition Assistants, NAs, whose job is to provide formula night and day for the babies in the malnutrition ward. The NA job description also calls for them to ensure that the children are meeting developmental and social goals (especially important for malnourished babies), though that part of the job has fallen by the wayside. I’m hoping with this project to provide training in developmental intervention and play therapy so that the Nutrition Assistants can provide better care for these sick children.
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