An American Male Nurse Volunteers in a Hospital in Small Town Nepal (Part 4: Travelman Saves A Life)

The woman ran into the lobby, her child in her arms, both of them caked in dust, except for where the tears had streaked across the mother’s face. She said something desperate and pleading in Nepalese as she forced me to take the child into my arms. I was nearest and male, and wore a white coat, she assumed I was important, that I could save her child. He was four and unconscious. The sisters led me and the mother through the curtain and into the emergency room. Doctor Ran met me at an available bed. I could feel the child breathing in my arms, he was alive.

I turned on the oxygen tank and asked for a clean nasal cannula as Dr. Ran assesssed the child’s pupil’s. I recognized the child from the village we’d hiked into two days ago with medical supplies. What was he doing here? I’d be giving no more Immunization shots today. The four year old was only the first of many.

As sister Nea handed me the O2 tubing she said, “I’m so glad you’re hear, Travelman. You may just save us all.” She leaned in and kissed me deeply, “Shiva be with you. Now save that child.”

I ran the back of my fingers gently across her cheek. “Don’t I always.”

She smiled at my cockiness, then turned sad, “I just don’t know how we’d get through this ebola earthquake rabid yak typhoon without you.”

“It’s what I do. I save countries. We still on for summiting Everest tonight? If you know what I mean.”

Sister smiled, “You’re incorrigible.”

...Okay, maybe things didn’t go exactly that way- or even remotely that way. But it sounds pretty exciting, huh? Over the next nine days I spent most of my time at the hospital playing with my phone and checking how long it was ‘til lunch.

I knew that I wouldn’t be doing much as a volunteer. Every time I told someone I was going to volunteeer in Nepal they looked at me like I was holding a new puppy, “Oh, that’s so great of you!”

I tried to explain the reality to everyone. “I’ll only be there two weeks. I won’t be doing much, if anything.”

Then they’d look at me like I removed a thorn from the puppy’s paw, “Yeah, but still it’s more than most would do.”

Maybe. Most people would rather use their time in other ways but I chose to do this. I did it for me. I did it to learn. I did it because it feels good to help if you get the chance. There was no hardship on my part except for lack of hot water and a decent cup of coffee. It ended up that I didn’t even help, I observed and I learned.

I wish more people would admit that when they go to another country to volunteer they are doing it for themselves (when it’s a short gig less than three weeks and they don’t volunteer at home). They do it to feel good about themselves for having helped people, have an enriching experience, tell their friends what they did, talk about how the look in that child’s eyes changed their life, and post on facebook- and steemit. The sign below hangs on the back of a bathroom door in a Kathmandu coffee shop...

I think they’ve had their fill of westerners dropping in for two to four weeks and saving their country.

I just erased two more paragraphs of ranting... I liked the experience, wish I was of more use, want to volunTEER again, will make sure I’m actually needed and can help. This one was simply an educational experience. Moving on...

I learned so much about the way they do things here. I’ll start with the broken bones. This guy was getting his cast off after eight weeks, give or take...

They give people the option of getting the old fashioned plaster of paris cast or the new lighter style that you see used in the western countries for the past thirty years. The plaster is a small fraction of the price of the new kind. I wish I’d taken notes and written down the price difference. Anyway, most people choose the cheap one. This guy didn’t have a single person sign his cast! He must not have any friends.

Dr. Ran held up an x ray of the guy’s arm. It was about an hour after Dr. Rog had removed the cast. The radial bone was completely snapped, the pieces were next to one another. It was a break that would have been immediate surgery with pin placement in the U.S. We asked if that was the x-ray from before the cast.

Nope. It was from the day of cast removal. Yoinks!

Dr. Ran pointed out the new bone tissue that had formed, it was faint but visible. This meant the guy didn’t need surgery and was good to go- with his bone pieces touching the outer edges of one another. Dr. Ran explained that bones realign after a couple years, it’ll straighten itself out. They give the people the option of surgery so that it heals much faster, but surgery is expensive so most people take the slow boat to recovery.

Dr. Rog had a heck of a time cutting it off.

Below is a shot of the second floor beds. It was a slow day. Patients who get admitted to the hospital are placed up here. On the first day there was a case of gastroenteritis and a case of Typhoid fever. Both are common.

Yeah, Typhoid! I saw three cases when I was there. Glad I took the immunizations for it before leaving the U.S. The patients usually stay a few days in the hospital on IV antibiotics. Typically, about three patients were upstairs on a given day.

Tuberculosis is also common. Dr. Ran said he has to be careful when listening to lungs with his stethoscope because people haven’t been taught to cover their mouth when coughing. They’ll cough directly into his face while he’s listening to their lungs unless he puts his head behind their head.

They don’t have any n95 masks either, and nothing near a negative pressure isolation room for suspected TB. I got online and researched infection control in Nepal... it’s not good. I didn’t see any hand sanitizer bottles or dipensers, or any disinfectant wipes. I don’t know the rates of nosocomial infections but they’re probably nothing to brag about. Again, they seemed to be getting along just fine...

And last but not least for this post, the hospital pharmacy. Here it is...

The OxyContin and Tramadol are on the shelf at about waist level, right above the strawberry banana plastic chair. The door stays open. The room is next to an exit. They have security camera screens in the pharmacy but I never saw a security guard or anyone manning the cameras. Jahn and I asked the doctor’s about it, they haven’t had any problems with theft that they’re aware of. I don’t know how closely the supplies are tracked. I never saw a pharmacist there. -Works for them.

Dr. Ran had a cabinet full of random medicines in his office. They were free samples that drug companies left for him to try. He keeps them for people who have very little money (most everyone). He tried to give a guy a package of one of them but unfortunately they had expired.

In spite of all of this and the other tidbits I’ll be sharing that made my mouth drop, they seemed to be getting along fine.

Oh, the life I saved? There was a spider in my room and I shooed it outside instead of stepping on it. Nobel has already contacted me about being in the running for the Peace Prize.

Travelman log, day 186. Got my permits, I trek tomorrow. Already have blisters on my toes from my new shoes. !steemitworldmap 26.6127 lat 85.2637 long Volunteering Part 4, Travelman Saves a Life-Pharping, Nepal, d3scr 316 Followers and counting, 991.2 steem earned. Rep 59. Travelman out.