October 2005 medical, and immunisation camps
...another area of concern is ofcourse the use of native herbs,this has really caused a whole lot of havoc though these communities. for example.....
l particularly want to point out a very pathetic case of a boy that was wheelbarrowed to the vaccination ground by his father who had applied herbs to his son,s boil which later developed complications and now spread up to the groin,i was actually thinking of gas gangrene because of the density of clostridial organisms in these areas. I decided these child would benefit from a combination of antibiotics,which was offered freely to the father if only he would bring the child to the health centre with our midwife taking care of the patient subsequently but he refused saying he would need to take permission from the king..... -Dr Oghumu 14/10/05
Excerpt from October 2005 Camp journal:
The communities visited were oboro,okpokounou where we had the medical camps,a total of 343 patients were seen in these communities,57 was seen at oboro while 286 was at okpokounou,these time around the students did most of the consultation and we concentrated mainly on chest examination, and examination of infants.
the students were taught how to diffrentiate between normal and abnormal breath sounds,you can see them taking turns in the pictures,the emphasis here is that there is a predominance of chest infections such as pneumonia,s especially in children,whooping cough,bronchial asthma and lots of respiratory tract infections,these was dwelt upon on the ist and 2nd days of the medicals,other cases were also studied but emphasis was manly on history takinig,physical examination and treatment
The 3rd day which was the 9th was teachers day and also a holiday for all the kids,you can see them celebrating in the background,
we left these community and proceeded to Akugbene the 3rd community were our 6th vaccination exercise took place,a total of 686 patients were seen in these community,509 of these were children immunised agaInst measles and 177 were women immunised against tetanus,40 of these were pregnant women that were seen in the Antenatal clinuc and were given a thorough exam with thier urine examined also,prior to these,the midwife had given a talk to community members on health matters with immunisation and hygiene as priority topics,this was followed by questions from community members with appropiate answers,the drama session followed these before the vaccination proper commenced,the story for the drama is the same as previous other dramas.of particular note in these community was a case of measles in an infant that was present! ed for vaccination,so i would say we were right on time to curb the spread.
the 4th communuty called okwama and 7th village to be immunised was our next port of call,Routine health talk,drama were also done in these community with ANC clinic and the subsequent vaccinations done,a total of 572 patients were immunised,426 of these were children immunised against measles while 146 were women immunised against tetanus,50 of these were pregnant women,the highest so far in all of the communities visited,these seemingly poor response from the women in all of the communities visited could be identified as a very potent cause for the high infant mortality experienced in these areas as it regards NEONATAL TETANUS,this ithink calls for great concern and attention should be drawn to these areas as these problem is endemic in these communities......... -Dr Oghumu 14/10.05
Excerpt from Summer Camp diary 2005:
COMMUNITIES:
Okpokunou and Oboro
ATTENDANCE:
- Dr Lawrence
- Dr Patrick Ehroma
- Community Health Workers trained by New Foundation
NO. OF PATIENTS:
Okpokunou - 214
Oboro - 136
Total - 350
CASES
The common conditions seen are Malaria and Infections.
l noted in particular the following cases:
- Respiratory tract infections, mainly upper resp tract. But there were 3 cases of Acute Pneumonia in children.
- Several adults with Celullitis affecting the limbs.
- Many cases of moderate to severe anaemia in children.
- 2 cases of kidney disease, ? Glomerulonephritis, in children.
- A case of Hydrocephalus secondary to Febrile illness in an 8- month old child.
- A case of congenital unilateral upper cleft lip. Ante natal cases, mostly unbooked.
- Hypertensive Diseases were so many: there was a case of possible Hypertensive Encephalopathy, presenting with secondarily generalised seizures and several of Retinopathy.
- diary notes from Dr Ehroma 31/06/06
Doctor discussing cases with Health care workers at Oboro 10/05
Team arriving at community for medical camp 10/05
Examaining patient Opokunu 10/05
Journal entry:
ln attendance were Dr. Lawrence Oghumu, Dr. Patrick Ehroma, a Staff Nurse and about seventeen ( 17 ) village health workers (involved at different stages of the camps ).
Cases / Patients seen are as follows:
Akugbene : 164
Ogbein - Ama : 90
Okpokunu : 572 - Among these are 31 ANC cases.
lmmunizations include: Measles vaccine for children, and Tetanus for women of child - bearing age. As you can see, this was a very hectic day for all of us. But it was very relevant because of the high childhood morbidity and mortality in this part of the country. As a matter of fact, most of the women l saw in the ANC who have had up to six ( 6 ) previous pregnancies, have lost at least half (1/2) of their babies. l remember one who has had two ( 2 ) previous pregnancies and lost both babies at delivery and another who has had nine ( 9 ) previous deliveries and lost six ( 6 ) of the babies. One question l asked often was : Madam, how many more children do you want to have? The answer, invariably, was : Doctor, l would have loved to stop with this pregnancy , but l have already lost so and so number of babies. lf l stop now, l do not know how many will survive.
The general clinics presented the usual challenges, Malaria and Acute lnfections being the most common cases. Among the special cases we saw are the following:
-Burns, poorly managed and septic.
-Clinical Pulmonary Tuberculosis
-Bacterial Pneumonia
-Neonatal Sepsis with associated Jaundice
-Protein -Energy Malnutrition
-Jaundice in Pregnancy
-Hydrocephalus, Dr Patrick Ehroma 13/08/2005
Women and childrens clinic 08/05
