Home health nurse in the bush!

When I went to nursing school and seminary, I dreamed about days like today.


Today, I went to see my first home health patient out in the bush. Hapsatu is the “stepmother” to one of the Fulbe believers that works at the Christian radio station near the hospital. (I say “stepmother” because she is really the co-wife of his actual mother and I don't know what else to call her- so um, “stepmother.”) She is an older lady with congestive heart failure that the doctor saw last week in the hospital. She has been home for almost a week. I went to assess her and see how she was feeling.


In almost 11 years of nursing, I had a lot of “firsts” today:

• Before I could see my patient, I had to stop at 2 homes and chat for a while.
  
• I had to walk down a dirt path, through a corn field, down a steep and slippery hill, over ant hills, on top of logs placed over a large mud puddle, through more mud, and up another slippery hill to get to my patient who lives in a mud and stick hut.
  
• I got paid with corn and sweet potatoes. My patient's family also fed me dinner.
  
• I took my husband and child with me to see my patient. (Charlie was ecstatic about the corn since it is one of her favorite foods plus the corn was pink which she thought was totally awesome.)
  
• I did my assessment is almost complete dark (because this mud hut didn't have windows).
  
• I educated on topics such as boiling river water and fresh cow's milk to make it safe for drinking.
  
• And I tried to do all of this in a foreign language. (Random healthcare foreign lingo tidbit: in Fufulde when you say you have to go to the bathroom, you say you have to “go behind the house.”)
  

The funniest thing of the day was the way everyone was scared of Charlie. Somewhere along the way, they had come across a picture of a white child with blonde hair. They thought it was a very frightening photo and could not be real because they had never seen such a thing. And then here comes Charlie with all of her white person blondness in real life. They were terrified- especially the kids. But by the end of our visit, she had won them over with her politician like handshakes and pleasantries.


The best part of the day was when we shared with Hapsatu about the sick woman who touched Jesus' clothes and was healed. Hapsatu was amazed that all the woman had to do was touch his garments. We told her that sometimes Jesus heals our bodies when we reach out to him, but he always heals our souls.



I loved today. Days like this are why I became a nurse and a missionary.