Kintampo Municipal Hospital

Today was the day we first started working in the hospital. We meet Dr. Damian who walked us back to our guest lodge and over dinner talked about religion, medical school, and funerals in Ghana. It was a heavy conversation, and I gained a new and appreciation for an astonishing man.

The hospital itself was wonderfully different than anything in the United States. It was open air (which was troublesome during an ENORMOUS rain storm) with green grass and red soil making for a powerful landscape. Goats, dogs and chickens roamed freely around the hospital grounds. The facilities were very basic. There were more patients then there was space to keep them inside. As customary of Ghanaian women they wore bright colorful clothes with larger than life patterns. All of the hospital staff was so gracious and welcoming and so excited to have us there with them. We were introduced to everyone…half of their names I can’t remember…and I spent the majority of the day working with an HIV/AIDS adherence counselor.

It turns out that my project with cell phones is not feasible at all. The people do no have them, the hospital does not collect numbers, and they already had their own system in place for tracking down people for appointments…it was based on cultural values and a close-knit community. I thought about doing a project on the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS…how people with it are considered dead even though they are alive…until I saw a c-section. It was for a woman who claimed to be 38 weeks gestation, and she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. It was then I KNEW I wanted to try to do something with infant mortality. The pediatrician in me came out in full force. So I am going to try to alter my work to include something with them…