So , basically I have given up, given up asking again and again for things we desperately need at our little hospital in the middle of nowhere, which is somewhere to me, and 40,000+ other humble Samoans. I asked last week, last month, last year, and keep getting the yes ok , but years later and the same old broken doors with its broken internals, are opening up to the same frustrated but grateful patients. You look at our hospital and it looks nice, that’s because whoever donated the paintjob did a good job, but forgot to check whether the nicely painted hospital needed anything nice, like the everyday equipment needed to save and improve lives!!
So here it is, my beg and plea...to any good Samaritan out there who might have a pair of these to spare, we would receive anything ever so gratefully, as we at present make do with the very basic of everything, if anything.
We need
- Some good Blood pressure machines (in medical terms sphygomaneter!!)
- preferably with a cuff that is extra large (we only have the flimsy average sized cuffs which do not fit most above average sized Samoans half the time they are broken/leaking/out of batteries) we also need the kids sized cuffs, cos sick kids need their Blood pressure monitored too...here in Savaii we use the “hmm...he looks like his BP is ok” which does not work ALL the time...
We need crutches...desperately
Old ones new ones, broken ones, short ones tall ones. Remember those pairs you saw in your cousin’s uncles closet from when he broke his leg 3 years ago?? If you can spare it, you will change someone’s life here. The number of times I flinch when I see a child with a broken leg or an adult who developed terrible hip pains come into the hospital , and having to tell them to keep their weight off their leg for 6 weeks or longer, for a child, means being completely crippled for 6 weeks- no school, no play no interaction, because we have no crutches to give them that would allow them the freedom of mobility while still keeping their weight off the leg. What happens is kids miss out on school and end up repeating a year, or they are determined to walk on it anyway and then the break never heals, gets more complicated, and lands them in hospital with several sequels of operations to fix what was initially an uncomplicated fracture. The elderly people, become bedridden, develop terrible pressure (bed sores) sores which end up needing surgery they become depressed, they miss out on life and give up... all because we can not offer them crutches.
Its not as if we have NO crutches in Samoa...we just don’t have any in Savaii, and telling people they need to go to Apia and go through the long waitlist of getting measured and awaiting some carpenter somewhere to MAKE the crutches..Is like asking them, them with no paid employee in the family, to move to another country...it does not happen.
We need bandages, anything you can spare of all sizes and shapes...we run on recycled gauze (flimsy cotton) and tape that rips the hairs off your arms and cotton wool- I long for
the days of beautiful clear opsite, and cutifilm, and absorbent and non-absorbent dressings, different ones for boils and cuts and scrapes and sprains...not all the same pathetic gauze, wrapped, tied, stuck on..And fingers crossed things work out.
What’s this little fancy gadget you may ask?? It’s called a saturation monitor, and it gives us vital information on whether a critically ill patient is receiving enough or too much oxygen. It is such a small little device but gives us HUGE bits of information. Savaii has none, Apia has some...but
one would be all we needed, one small leap for man (the Savaii man) one HUGE leap for mankind (the Savaii kind) if you know a GP or work at a hospital that might be getting new ones and tossing old ones...please think of us...it would make a huge difference, to that relative of yours when they come in with Pneumonia, asthma, heart problems, and more....
Curtains, old ones new ones, ones made out of old sheets, tablecloths whatever, our cubicles and even some toilets (!!) have NO PRIVACY...someone last year nicely decided to donate and put up some curtain RACKS...so they are their in place waiting to be used..But oddly enough...no curtains...can you help?? Do you like to sew?? It isn’t until you are a patient and realise how hugely uncomfortable it is to have 30 other patients see everything you do, including using a urinal by your bed if you cant for whatever reason make it to the bathroom, get a sponge bath and wounds on your bum dressed twice a day in front of huge audiences, that you will know the extent of gratitude one would have for a simple curtain, walling them off from the prying eyes of the public, especially when you’re not feeling your best to begin with .
On a brighter note, do you have any of these lying around??
Yes, books, kiddies books, I dream a dream, that dream is the day our little hospital has something to offer our paeds (kids) wing. These kids, sick and irritable come to the hospital and spend days to weeks, missing out on school, and the social privileges and luxuries of being children, they spend their days staring at the walls, pulling their hair out and begging their paren
ts to go home. It breaks my heart, and 1 time out of 2, parents will abscond with their children, simply because they can not bare to stay here with us. I am sure if the ward was a little friendlier with a few books to make up for missing out on school and for past time, life in the hospital would be sooo much different for them. While we are on that subject I may as well mention that a few toys wouldn’t go amiss as well!!
And if I’m mentioning books, I might as well mention that we have no where to PUT the books- and toys, and if you could spare a bookshelf – that one that’s been sitting in the garage for years, we would treasure it like it were worth its weight in GOLD!
Anything that you might be able to help our little hospital with would be hugely appreciated, and we would be grateful for years to come. People often forget about the little hospital in Savaii...You walk into the one in Apia and the kids ward has a Ronald McDonald feel and toys and pretty pictures and TV and books...its like a hospital in Auckland, we have nothing, nada, gloomy stale walls, no ventilation (fans) or curtains or even a hot water kettle for the patients...we might as well have been a few docs nurses bits and bobs lumped up in a white box...so, if you can help...please let me know...Thanks.
