Thursday, Sept. 8- Patients from Choma

We had a general idea of how many patients we could expect from Choma, because Blu had done pre-screening a few weeks before we arrived. We decided Thursday that I would go with Protashow, Elizabeth and Mulenga into Choma to pick up patients in case more came than had been pre-screened, while Suzanne and John got to work at the clinic on fabrication from all the patients we saw on Wednesday. John gave me a crash course in identifying prosthetic eye patient candidates in case more showed up than the 1 young boy he was expecting. 

People in the bus headed back to New Day. We had 8 people with existing prostheses for repairs, 4 patients for their first prosthesis and 1 eye patient for John. 

While I was in Choma picking up patients with Protashow, Elizabeth and Mulenga, Suzanne saw a patient for a thumb prosthesis. Suzanne casted him, we'll make it back in the States and then either ship it back to New Day or take it with us in April when we go back. 

Things got really busy when we got back to the clinic. We had 15 prosthetic patients total throughout the day. Suzanne and I saw patients from noon to 6pm for castings and repairs without stopping. 

This little boy had an existing prosthetic eye that was made for him when he was 3 years-old. He's now 8 year-old, so the eye is too small for him. His father, in the red shirt, came with him.

John had brought some toy horses with him that he let the boy play with while he was working. When they were finished, John let him take the horses with him. He was so happy to be able to have the toys.

Luyando came with her mother to the clinic and had arrived before we got back from Choma. She had outgrown her prosthesis, which was also broken. She was casted for a new prosthesis. Last year, we had gone to Luyando's village to see her.

Talking with patients to see who had been seen and who hadn't. 

John working on a prosthetic eye.

John's work area at the clinic.

Patients waiting. 

Suzanne with Joe. He is blind and an above knee amputee. Suzanne casted him for a prosthesis that will have a knee that locks for him to walk and he can pull a lever to have it bend to sit down. This is for safety since he is blind. We also gave him a walker to use instead of crutches.

Repairing Edward's prosthesis. The suspension belt was replaced, and he got new prosthetic socks and a new pair of shoes.

Suzanne with a cast and patients waiting. 

Chelle and Suzanne with Lwisa and her daughter. Lwisa was fit last year with a below knee prosthesis. This year, she just needed new supplies and a new foot on her prosthesis.

We also repaired 3 more prostheses, casted 7 more, and saw one patient who is not ready for prosthetic fitting yet due to a wound. 

While we were seeing patients, Sydney and Titus came. They are from a medical facility in Monze that has a prosthetic department and drove several hours to meet us. They were very encouraged by our work, since we are able to service areas and individuals that they are not able to serve.

While the patients are waiting, they are able to eat lunch. There are several ladies hired to cook for the group of patients we had at the clinic.

Pot of nshima, which is made from maize flour. It's a thick mashed potato consistency (and tastes like Malt-O-Meal to me.) Very tasty with beans and cabbage!

After a busy day of seeing patients and after we ate dinner, some of our group went to the dining hall for fellowship with songs and prayer time with the New Day staff and kids.

Chris didn't hesitate to jump right in with singing.

Since the majority of the patients had been seen, we were looking ahead to multiple days of fabrication before patients started coming back for fitting. 

*Next post: Friday, September 9- Fabrication day at the clinic