The following is from a report from Dr. Dave Reed, who is currently at the clinic providing medical care.
Dr. Reed, an emergency room physician at SUNY Upstate Medical University, is traveling with Direct Change's partner - the American Care for Sudan Foundation.
With ongoing expenses of $20,000/month to run the Duk Lost Boys Clinic, your continued support is appreciated.
"I woke up at 4 AM this morning thinking about how we take immunizations for granted in the United States, a reality that has profoundly reduced mortality of diseases that we now only see in medical text books."
"In this region, there are NO immunizations. Contributing causes include lack of electricity and refrigerators to store the vaccines, lack of trained staff, and lack of money to fund these efforts. It is sad to me that these are all achievable. Instead, these young children die of measles, pertussis, pneumococcal pneumonia, and meningitis. Last year, an estimated 7,000 children died of Meningococcal Meningitis. No-one is immunized against tetanus."
"We have a lab tech, a pharmacist, a nurse-midwife, one Kenyan doctor, and a nurse working together. The patients sit patiently in the sun, waiting for a chance to be seen, part of the reason we stop activities in the middle of the day. Diseases that are routine here are ones we only read about in the textbooks during medical school; an experience which is a big part of why I come."
"Between today and yesterday we have seen some of the cases listed below:
- Five patients with Trachoma, a very treatable water infection that affected many members of the community in the height of the wet season last year; it causes rapid progression to blindness, scarring of the eye initially followed by a defect of the eyelid, which will continue to injure the cornea until blindness is complete; one of the greatest miracle gifts an ophthalmologist can offer these people, as well as cataract repair, which literally in a day gives sight to the blind.
- I saw a man with a gunshot wound to the upper arm, which had occurred two weeks ago, but he had just arrived from the bush. Unfortunately he has a radial nerve injury that will cripple his arm.
- Malaria is routine, and the local people can't imagine that most doctors in the United States will possibly never treat malaria.
- Giardia and other waterborne intestinal infections are very common, and we are able to diagnose these quickly with a microscope. These are inevitable as we watch people forage for water wherever they can find it, putting it into whatever container they can get.
- A 7 year old boy came in after badly injuring his hand when a grenade exploded (I suspect he found it and was playing with it.)
- Syphilis is prevalent here, and we are fortunate to be able to diagnose it with an inexpensive lab test. I saw three patients with syphilis today. These types of diseases, complicated by polygamy, lack of regular screening, have a significant impact on the women who don't have the access to care that we take for granted in the United States."
"There are no ambulances, referral centers, or even a hospital within relevant range, unless a person has wealth that would allow them to charter a medivac flight to a large city to get care. There is no one here with that kind of money. At least, in Duk Payuel, they do have a clinic inspired by a returning "Lost Boy of Sudan" and thanks to the generosity of committed supporters of the American Care for Sudan Foundation."
"At the risk of ending on a philosophical note: It is remarkable to me that people here seem to find more joy in life than those who live in relative wealth in a the United States; they laugh, sing, and dance, go to bed soon after the sun sets, and start their days early to beat the mid-day heat. They smile despite being the survivors of a civil war that burned their village to the ground, and as residents of an environment so challenging it is likely two of their five children will die before the age of five."
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