“If only she had come in one day sooner.” \u00a0I can’t tell you how many times I think that here. \u00a0Elfinesh was a 32 year old woman in the prime of her life, with a loving husband and two small children. \u00a0She came in to the emergency room with a history of four days of vomiting. \u00a0The illness, abrupt in onset, had taken a horrific toll on her body in such a short time. \u00a0It was probably sepsis – when an infection spreads rapidly through the body via the blood.<\/p>\n
We worked as hard as we could. \u00a0Three of our staff doctors and two of our nurses attended to her simultaneously. \u00a0Placing IV lines, giving fluids, antibiotics, running tests. \u00a0Elfinesh clung to life, but she was so far gone that she was in a coma and unresponsive to anything. \u00a0A few hours into her course, she stopped breathing. \u00a0We tried to support her breathing, and when her heart stopped, we tried CPR. \u00a0Unfortunately, our attempts came to nothing, and after about four hours, she passed from this life into the next.<\/p>\n
I wish I could tell you this was a rare occurrence. \u00a0But the reality is that in a country where access to medical care is sorely lacking, many patients wait too long. \u00a0Maybe they live several days’ walk from the nearest health center. \u00a0Maybe they have no money to scrape together even the $2 that it would take to see a doctor. \u00a0Perhaps they are delayed by traditional and cultural healing practices that actually exacerbate the problem. \u00a0The barriers to care are numerous, and as a result, many suffer. \u00a0All of our providers can tell stories of patients who came in just a day too late.<\/p>\n
You see, there are no Minute Clinics in Ethiopia. \u00a0In our region of 3 million people, there are only two hospitals. \u00a0There are no accredited laboratories. \u00a0In a country of 90 million people, there are only 18 CT scanners. \u00a0There are NO cardiac surgeons. \u00a0Consider even the lack of the most basic of health care needs – trained general practitioners. \u00a0In Ethiopia, there is only one doctor for every 50,000 population. \u00a0(In the US, there are 100 times as many providers per capita).<\/p>\n
We are working to address these issues. \u00a0Not only are we providing care, but we are training in order to build capacity. \u00a0But we need your help! \u00a0With funding, we can provide more training and more service. \u00a0We can expand access so that there are fewer stories that end like Elfinesh’s. \u00a0Help us help Ethiopia.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“If only she had come in one day sooner.” \u00a0I can’t tell you how many times I think that here. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medical-care","category-patient-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n