Page 61 - WilmU Spring Summer 2013

Opposite le : Susan Chumley (back, in the blue
shirt) spent much of her time in Kenya teaching
HIV education to young girls and women. Some of
those girls began teaching the class to their friends.
women whom I had just met. There was no run-
ning water or electricity. We would be providing
medical care for people in the western part of
Kenya and in the Kiberia slums of Nairobi. Many
of our patients had never seen a doctor before.
Most of our clinics took place either in local
churches or schools. Every morning, we would
pack all of the medical supplies on top of our
two buses and journey to the medical venue of
the day. A couple of times the roads were too
hazardous to drive all the way to the site, so
we would have to bail out of the bus and hike.
Patients would have been lined up for hours in
anticipation of our arrival. The school venues
were always the most lively as the children
would run to our buses and surround us.
Our clinics consisted of a triage area, a
wellness clinic, a sick clinic, a dental clinic and
a pharmacy. Most days I worked in the dental
clinic. The majority of our patients had never
seen a dentist in their lifetime. I would assist
the dentist with the numerous extractions of
horribly decayed teeth, then “sterilize” the
equipment in murky river water that had been
brought to me by the local citizens. I would mix
the water with a sterilizing solution and let the
instruments soak the proper amount of time.
Extractions were done using local anesthesia.
A er the extractions, the patient would head to
the wellness clinic for health education classes
that were being taught by our fellow team
members. Although the clinic days were very
long (from sunrise to sundown), they were so
rewarding. Most patients were very grateful for
the care they received.
Medical Highs, Lows and
Horrors
I sawmy first case of elephantitis on our
second day of clinic. An elderly gentleman hiked
many miles to come to our clinic. His right leg
and hands were horribly swollen with many
gaping wounds. His foot was wrapped in a soiled
rag. When we removed the rag, we found an
open deep wound on the bo om of his foot.
There was li le we could do. We cleansed the
wounds and wrapped them in clean dressings.
We gave him dressings and topical antibiotic
ointment to use at home. He had lived with
this condition for many years but I think he was
hoping that we could cure him. It was very sad
to see him hobble out of our clinic at the end of
the day to walk back home.
On the same day, a mother brought a very
lethargic and dehydrated toddler to our clinic.
Apparently he had been treated for malaria
a few weeks prior. The child really needed
anti-malarial medications, but we only had adult
doses in our clinic. We advised the mother to
take the child to the hospital, but she refused.
The pastor who worked with IMR explained
why: Hospitals in Kenya were either mission
or government hospitals. Mission hospitals
were cheaper than government hospitals, but
there was no mission hospital in the vicinity.
Government hospitals required payment before
care would be provided. If the mother brought
the child to the hospital and he was treated, the
child would not be released from the hospital
until she paid. The mother was told that there
was a chance that the child would never be
returned to her if she were unable to pay. IMR
and several volunteers pooled their money
so that the child could be treated at the local
hospital. The pastor personally took the mother
and child to the hospital to ensure that care was
provided. According to a doctor who was on
our team, if IMR had not intervened, the child
probably would not have lived through the night.
One of the best clinic days was in the Kiberia
slums of Nairobi. I taught class a er class of HIV
prevention to pre-adolescent and adolescent
girls. I had a few girls who a ended my class
several times. They got to know the information
so well that they started to teach the class to
their friends and peers. They giggled and had
a lot of fun, but they got the message. I actually
felt like I had made a small difference in their
lives.
Susan Chumley, 48, is a nurse in the Student
Health Center at Delaware State University.
She graduated from Elizabethtown Community
College in 1997 with an associate’s in nursing,
McKendree College in 1999 with bachelor’s in
nursing, andWilmington University in 2013 with a
master’s in Nursing Leadership. She served in the
Air Force for four years and was a government
contractor in Japan for seven years. She lives in
Dover and has a 12-year-old daughter. WU
Opposite right: IMR members
o en had to abandon their bus
and hike to their clinic venues
due to bad road conditions.
Above le : A member of
Susan’s team li s up one of the
schoolchildren near the team’s
clinic.
Above right: An International
Medical Relief team member
teaches dental health to
Kenyan citizens.
SPRING/SUMMER