Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Long Day
First long day of work here in Kampala. We, Dennis and I and another Doctor, Erik, visited a home care hospice provider in the rural south west near Rwanda. Dennis works at APCA, he's great. The provider is an partner with APCA and their endeavors offering palliative care for cancer and HIV patients. We spent a long day traveling around the area and visiting some home bound patients, as well as outreach centers that cater to groups of people who are able to move around. It was a sobering, emotional and uplifting day. The work that the providers give is incredibly valuable, but inspiring also. They administer drugs and medication to people who cant afford it, are distrustful of hospitals, are culturally separated from western medicine, and incapable of understanding the full complexity of the disease they have at the present time. They are resourceful and passionate and dedicated to helping the poorest of the poor, the neediest of the needy, they're just incredible. We literally drove out to the countryside to several makeshift centers, (imagine a banana plantation field with people gathered in the shade of a eucalyptus tree being seen by a doctor and nurse) that people were comfortable with to adminster and check on patients. Even in the most seemingly implausible situation they're carrying out a mission of compassion that's moving and impressive.
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