Yes, I do actually work also...

Things here are good. I can't believe I have only about one more week of work! Last weekend I had a nice visit to Lusaka. It was fun to visit with Ben and Jen and I also got to spend two days working at Beit Cure Hospital, a hospital started to treat children with orthopedic and neurosurgical problems. It was a bit astounding how a privately funded hospital could have so many more resources. It was much more like operating at home. We also did some rounds at the University Teaching Hospital which was huge. There were hundreds of patients with seemingly very few physicians and resources. Reportedly many pts get admitted then have to wait several days before seeing a physician. Obviously this is another huge contrast compared with Beit or home. After returning to Choma I went with the District Health Office to rural area to do outreach- primarily prenatal care and vaccinations for kids. I really liked doing that and it was interesting to set up a clinic in the little schoolhouse without electricity.
On a more sobering note, two of the town's nurses died this week and we also did an autopsy on a 6 year old girl who it seems was likely abused (she had a lot of blood in her brain). People here just have so much more death to deal with than we do. Its such a contrast to at home where if someone from the hospital dies it would be a big deal rather than just an ordinary week. Its so different here in that regard Today I opened about 15 emails regarding the death of the Oakland Police, who were treated at Highland and much a part of the Oakland community. Amongst them were people gathering funds for their families, shuttles to the services at the Oakland Coliseum and encouragements for people to get counseling in the aftermath of the traumas. At Choma today a few people said the death of the nurse who died yesterday was a pity and were trying to make arrangements to attend her funeral Monday but nobody was particularly shocked or surprised. She had been in her young thirties, working in the theatre without problems when I arrived and now is dead of unclear causes but it doesn't cause much of a stir. Obviously the cop killings were a very different situation but I guess the timing just made me think even more about the difference. I always find myself wondering in environments with so much death and tragedy if the communities just get numb to it on some level. At every stage of life- from in utero, to childhood, maternal death during childbirth, young adults up to the elderly if they make it that far- there is just so much more death here.

I'm not sure where I'm going with all of this death talk but it just makes me realize that for all of the flaws in the health care system at home, even the poorest in the US have generally more access to care than an average citizen here.

That's it- not many posts left. Hope you all are well!