We arrived at the hospital early this morning to unpack and set up the OR, ICU, Clinic, and Pharmacy. It wasn't long before families began lining up outside, waiting to be evaluated. In the Clinic 5 children were brought in the room at a time. They were checked in and had their vitals taken, an exam, and an echo done. Many families were eager to make their way in to be seen and had to be reminded to stay outside until we called them in.
The Clinic saw 27 patients and chose two patients who will be operated on tomorrow. Some children were very shy while others happily smiled to have their picture taken. They colored and blew bubbles while they anxiously waited to be seen. Last year's team even got to see some familiar faces for follow ups. One little girl and her mother drove 5 hours to visit.
The Pharmacy, ICU, and OR were cleaned up and stalked to prepare for the busy days to come.
A few team members made their way over to the Cultural Center where they bought souvenirs and got to see more of Kumasi.
Last night for an appetizer, Michael and Kevin treated us to delicious dates wrapped in bacon (if you've never tried it, you're truly missing out). Tonight for an appetizer we had apple slices, crackers with onion dip, cheese, and assorted nuts courtesy of Karen and Janet.
The team coordinators had a little surprise for two of our physicians:
Dr. Kshitij Mistry and Dr. Asha Nair lead story time. Mistry shared that he went by the name Kenny growing up, due to the common mispronunciation of his real name (Kshitij). On the other hand Asha always seems to have the wrong name written on her Starbucks cups in the morning (she usually gets Ashley, Tasha, Sasha, the list goes on).
We all can't wait for the first surgery in the morning!
