We started our three-week clinical rotation at Macha Mission Hospital this week. The hospital is huge and pretty unbelievable. The smells are pretty strong and it in no way feels like the sterile environment of American hospitals, but in Zambian standards the people receive good care. This is the establishment run by Johns Hopkins that has eradicated malaria in a 2,000 sq/km radius.
We toured for the entire morning, which was exhausting but we’re all pretty impressed by the hospital. I killed a huge roach in one of the wards that squirted out a disgusting amount of juice…I think it’s safe to say I’ve conquered my fear of bugs. I’m almost more freaked out if I walk into a room and DON’T see a giant arachnid.
We only had an hour in the wards this afternoon, but it was a jam-packed hour…and probably the most emotionally taxing hour so far this trip. Four of us were on the female ward and the nurse told us she would let us do anything...we’re going to learn so much! Anyway there was a death…ugh. So we all helped prepare the body and take it to the morgue. It was so weird. This patient looked 10-12 years old. We found out later that she was 28 but had wasted away to nothing. HIV/AIDS is a horrible, horrible condition…I experienced that firsthand today. She was so light that it only took two people to lift her. We wrapped her up and put body identifiers on her – it was so surreal - just a few hours earlier she had been alive and now her body is just a shell.
It got pretty bad when we put the body on the stretcher because the women family members began to wail. I’m not talking little sobs…these wails chilled me to my bones. I felt so sick to my stomach and my hands were unbelievably sweaty. Women who don’t even know the family join in the processional and it was pretty unnerving. Their wails almost sounded like a song – but not one you want to have playing on repeat.
That was my first encounter with death here in Zambia. It was horrible but that’s the unfortunate reality here. Deaths happen on a daily basis and I’m thankful we got to experience it, but that woman had a life and a family and AIDS tore her body apart. Ohhh how badly I yearn for heaven where there is not more hurt.
Macha is going to be a great place for us to learn and be challenged (obviously). Sorry for the heaviness of this content. Until next time. Brucie.
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