Today, we spent the majority of our time observing palliative care in St Gabriel’s new hospice department, which is funded by the Princess Diana Fund. Palliative care is involved with treating pain without dealing with the underlying cause. After seeing each and every one of those patients, I felt sad because of 1) the suffering they are having to endure from their illness (especially with the 11-year old boy with that contagious smile who had suddenly become paralyzed in both legs) and 2) my inability to do much to alleviate their suffering. Luckily though, they had an outstanding team of palliative care staff that truly cared for their well-being and alleviating their suffering.

Throughout the rest of the day, it was a challenge trying to find ways to contribute to the hospital. This challenge, coupled with not being able to see a doctor rounding, especially made me frustrated with not being able to do much to help what seemed to me to be an overwhelming amount of sickness and suffering at the hospital. It isn’t uncommon for a patient to come into the hospital and pass away the same day. However, this may possibly be because the sick often don’t come in until they are intolerably sick, and by this time, they are beyond any medical help.

On the positive side, I think we just found the perfect application for the portable, handheld centrifuge which we are supposed to demonstrate! We spoke to one of the nurses in the pediatric ward and specifically asked about difficulties in terms of medical technologies in his ward. Low and behold (is that the expression?), the nurse asks for a way to check hemoglobin concentration or hematocrit, especially because there are so many pediatric patients suffering from anemia caused by malaria, tuberculosis, and malnutrition, and it is important to be able to rapidly and consistently assess the progress that these kids are making after treatment. I can’t wait until we get to show him our portable, handheld centrifuge, which will probably be sometime in the next couple weeks!