By Lorraine Glowczak
Two senior Saint Joseph's College students, Adrienne
Dolley and April Benak, participated in a medical mission trip to Uganda during
their winter break, leaving on January 4 and returning on January 19. They
participated with the Partners for World Health (PWH) organization, traveling
with doctors, nurses, and other students. While in Uganda, Dolley and Benak
provided education and training to physicians and nurses on non-communicable
diseases, medication administration, wound care education, infection control
and emergency care.
“This mission’s goal was to help educate women and
midwives with the intention of preventing complications during childbirth,”
began Benak. “We also provided birthing kits, referred to as ‘Mama” kits, that
contained much needed items such as diapers, pads, etc. We worked to ensure
that the medical supplies given to the organizations were being used properly.”
Their fifteen-day trip included spending time in the Neonatal
Intensive Care Units (NICU) in the city
of Kampala (Capital of Uganda) as well
as in the regions of Gulu and Manafwa. Dolley and Benak assisted medical staff
and parents by teaching them about the proper use of CPAPs as well as taking
blood pressures and monitoring babies, alerting doctors and nurses when an
infant stopped breathing.
“There were no medical monitors like we have here in the
U.S., alerting staff immediately when a premature baby stops breathing - so we were
the monitors, walking from incubator to incubator to check on each baby,”
explained Dolley. During their visits at the three NICUs, Dolley and Benak
would monitor anywhere between 75 to 80 babies at one time. “In some cases,
NICUs will have at least 100 babies or more to care for,” Dolley added.
As one can imagine, both Dolley, who plans to become a
doctor and Benak, who will be entering into the teaching profession upon
graduation in May, learned more than they could ever imagine on this medical
mission trip.
It all began by volunteering with Partners for World
Health, located in Portland. PWH collects medical supplies and equipment from
healthcare facilities, manufacturers, other organizations, and individuals. The
supplies and equipment are then sorted, evaluated, repackaged, and prepared for
distribution to individuals, communities, and healthcare facilities in need.
“Our work limits the impact on the environment by
diverting discarded materials from landfills and provides needed health care
resources to the developing world,” as stated on the PWH website. “PWH aims to
improve health conditions by sending medical personnel on medical missions to
developing countries and educating New England communities about global health
issues.”
While volunteering at PWH, both Dolley and Benak decided
to become a part of the volunteer travel team and go on a medical mission trip with
the organization. They immediately got busy to raise the needed funds by
collecting recycled bottles, approaching businesses for support and having a “Hope
to Help” auction that included special guest speaker, Elizabeth McLellan, the
founder of PWH.
“We learned so much, not only with the trip itself, but
through the process of reaching our goals - and it started right here in this
community,” began Benak. “We discovered how supportive people are – everything
from the Pearson’s Café [the campus/student cafeteria] who helped us collect
the bottles to the Windham, Raymond, Standish and Brunswick* businesses who
didn’t hesitate to help in some way. It is really amazing how supportive and encouraging
people are.” *(Dolley is from Brunswick).
The positive response towards the students continued in
the southern end of the globe. “All the people we met were ridiculously kind,”
explained Dolley about those they met in Uganda. “We were offered food and
praise and gratitude. They treated us as if we were family. I don’t think I
have ever experienced anything like that.”
The two students admitted that there were some
challenging experiences they faced during their medical mission trip. “We were
cautioned about some things we might see that we wouldn’t see here in the U.S.,
so we were prepared,” Dolley said. “And, we also got to debrief with fellow PWH
volunteers at the end of each day.”
Some of what they witnessed included but not limited to:
three or four babies in one incubator, the lack of electrical outlets needed to
power the much needed equipment, the lack of communication between medical
staff and mothers and the improper use of CPAPs.
“I think what frustrated me the most was the lack of
vital sign monitors,” began Dolley. “A baby could have stopped breathing for a
second or for a few minutes but there is no way of knowing – and every second
counts when a baby discontinues breathing. It is a matter of life and death. You
don’t know if a baby has stopped breathing or if they have died.”
Although there were many challenges witnessed during this
trip, Benak is taking from the experience the many positives of the medical
mission and plans to convert that into educating her future students. “I want
to share and teach students about different cultures and the day to day life of
those in other countries,” she said. “And the only way for me to do that well
is if I experience it myself.”
On her trip to Uganda, Benak focused on the day to day
life of transportation, capturing in photos
how families (and animals, and
products) are transported from one point to the next. “I’ve labeled this part
of my adventure….’On a Boda Boda’”
Benak explained that a boda boda is a very small
motorbike, slightly larger than that of an American
moped. “I have seen a
family of five on one bike and at various other times have seen a cow, a baby
bed, a couch, chickens and crates of eggs being transported on a boda boda,” she
exclaimed. Benak has already shared this cultural experience with the
fifth-grade students she taught during her student teaching assignment last
semester.
Dolley, who initially wanted to be an anesthesiologist,
has changed her mind about the direction of her career as a result of the
medical mission. “I now want to be a doctor in neonatology, working with
newborn infants, especially those preborn or ill,” she said. “But before I
attend medical school, I want to take four to five years and continue to
participate in various medical mission trips. Once I return and have completed
medical school, I want to live in rural Maine and serve a community where
medical needs are not met. I want to help those who cannot help themselves.”
To learn more about Partners in World Health or to
inquire about volunteering or medical mission trips, peruse their website at www.partnersforworldhealth.org/
