We have been here for such a short time, and I’m sure that we have only scratched the surface of the obstacles facing Ethiopian health care. That being said, one obstacle that has been made apparent is the lack of clinical education being offered to the health care students in this country. The students are so bright and gifted, and they have such a desire to learn… but they are taught bad habits and antiquated techniques. This dearth of educational opportunity can be summed up in the following story told to me by Leslee, one of our nurse anesthetists:

Solomon* is in the anesthesia Master’s program in Ethiopia. He came to Black Lion Hospital to observe our anesthetists and anesthesiologists work. As Leslee was waking up a little boy after surgery, Solomon remarked at how he didn’t seem to be in any pain. He said how lucky this child was, to be taken care of by Americans and to come out of surgery without pain. He looked at Leslee and earnestly said, “I want to do what you do. I want to wake up my patients without pain. I want to learn to be the kind of anesthetist that you are. I wish I had never been born in this country.” Here is a young man with so much enthusiasm and so much book knowledge, but hasn’t been taught how to do a pain block or to properly administer sedative so that post-operative pain is greatly minimized. It’s amazing how the thought of waking up from surgery without pain is viewed as a gift in this country, whereas in America it seems to be viewed not as a privilege but as a right.

In light of Solomon’s frustration, today was full of teaching: most of the anesthesia team was at Black Lion Hospital teaching the Ethiopian anesthesia students; Dr. Cohen was at CURE Hospital honing his skills in cleft palate surgery; Dr. Isaacson was being assisted by an Ethiopian surgeon; and Dr. Ritchie and Dr. Martin were running a urology clinic with the help of the Ethiopian doctors-in-training.

*name has been changed

The team on the 1st OR day - (from L to R) - Ashlee, Raquel, Aaron, Mike Ritchey, Cindy, Nancy, and Jo

It’s Monday and surgery finally began. The Urology team spent the day at Black Lion – first they had rounds in the morning to determine which patients they would operate on and then they performed three operations. It is nearly impossible to describe the conditions in which people live and work here. No pictures or words can possibly capture the thickness of the air in a 10×10 hospital room filled with 4 metal cribs, 4 sick children, and 4 families trying to provide a little comfort amid the chaos. And yet if you look out the hospital windows in the distance you can see construction crews and cranes building high rises. It seems as though money must come to this country to create new things, but is never used to maintain the things that are already here. The hospital looks like it was once shiny and new, maybe 50 or 60 years ago, but since then it has consistently fallen into disrepair. Most of the families spend the day in a courtyard full of broken plastic chairs that would be thrown away without a second thought in the US. Most of the walls look like they have the original mint green paint that is now chipped and bruised beyond recognition. But somehow the families sit and laugh with their children, waiting patiently in the hopes that they will be made well.

The ENT team spent the morning at CURE Hospital, which is an amazing place. There are many CURE Hospitals throughout Africa and the world. They are funded by the US Government and American doctors will come and stay for a number of years to do work in the country. Dr. Paul Lim is a plastic surgeon from the US who has been at CURE for two years, doing about 15 cleft palate surgeries a week. It’s amazing to be surrounded by such charity and to see doctors having such a profound impact. After seeing about 50 patients at CURE, the ENT team and Amber (an audiologist) headed to a School for the Deaf on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. The children were lovely and a number were seen for potential ear problems. Amber will be with them for the next few days performing hearing tests and other diagnostics to determine which children we can help.

In just one day we have already seen and accomplished so much, but there is still so much more to do. It’s uplifting to see the impact we can have, but also frustrating to know that any dent we make is so small compared to the immense need.

Waiting for the bus to the hotel with a man from the Ministry of Health - he was solely responsible for getting us through customs!

In true traveling fashion, nothing ever goes according to plan. Half of the team arrived in Ethiopia without a hitch on Thursday, March 18. The rest of us were flying from Dulles to Addis Ababa on Friday morning, but upon arriving at the ticket counter we learned that there was a crack in the windshield of the plane and we would be leaving at Friday night at the earliest. So after many hours of watching March Madness, the flight finally took off, getting us into Ethiopia late Saturday night (really 2am Sunday morning).

 Sunday was the whole teams first day at Black Lion Hospital. It sounds naïve to say, but Africa is truly a different world. But the people are lovely, full of smiles, and incredibly patient. The OR team scoped out the operating rooms, while the Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) team triaged patients. We managed to see 21 patients with hearing problems, and have already scheduled surgeries for the rest of the week. It’s amazing to see the people and to be able to make a small difference.

But all in all, things seem to be off to a good start. The Urology team starts surgery tomorrow and the ENT team will see more patients to see if there is anything else that we can do to help. It’s making out to be a trip full of surprises, but amazing none the less.