Can You Help??

CAN YOU HELP??
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 parents 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.

babies

Yesterday was a terrible day at work. I came home, feeling numb, my legs somehow seemed to drag behind me and I felt like a zombie. I couldn't’t really think straight, was not sure if i was angry or sad or in shock. The first thing I Did was pick up my baby and hug and kiss her like I had not held her for days even though I had only been away for 4 hours.

Yesterday I left the ward earlier then normal to help out in the ED/Outpatient, and a catastrophe landed on our doorstep. A lifeless infant was rushed in and immediately all hands were on deck. For what seemed like forever we tried to revive this infant,when it arrived, although it had no heart beat or breath sounds, it was still warm, so in my mind, whatever had happened , had happened in the last few minutes which gave me a glimpse of hope.We tried everything we could, EVERYTHING and more. I stood at the head of the resus bed and ventilated and gave orders, get this draw up that...like a rush of adrenaline I was determined that we could save this child. But the statistics are, that 95% of all babies rushed into hospital in a life threatening state or without vitals, are met with death. We can save only 5% of them. I tried, we tried so hard. I did things I had only read about and not even seen done because all else had failed. And still, the gloomy hands of a terrible fate set in and took this child from us. I was annoyed by the pace of everyones movements, in these situations every second counts, but looking back, everyone was rushing around, it just seemed like every second was a minute, and every minute was an hour. An hour of trying, all the while frantic parents, a frantic mother, wailing around us, asking what was happening, distressed. Towards the end, when I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I started crying, I hit myself because I had tried for so long not to. Big useless sook. I blame it on the post pregnancy hormones if there is such a thing. Ever since having a child, all kids are now precious and personal to me.

I couldn't answer the parents wails over what was happening, but when i started crying- not the wailing type cry but a silent tear dropping cry, in the middle of still ventilating they knew what was coming. And my heart broke. Nothing i could say could ease this moment for them. So I stayed silent. It IS so unfair, a parent should NEVER have to see their child die. How does the mind body and SOUL recover from something like this?? I think a small part of you never does.

We still don’t really know what happened, we think it was SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) look it up if you have children, this is the sole reason my daughter has a flat head! And i wouldn’t have it any other way. People don’t know much about it here, but the word needs to get out because its universal. I try to tell mothers of young babys about it, sleep babys on their backs at least til they are 6 months etc. But the information needs to get out there beyond the confines of the outpatient visiting room. Something Im going to work on. Get a pamphlet out there or something, hopefully people read it.
Ok, soifua

Im back

From at 2.5 week holiday to auzzie/aukalani. quick trip to take adria to meet her pops (my dad ) in Auzzie, all up auzzie was hot, big but ok. Aukilani was cold, familiar and had too much easily available junk food for my liking!! Im sure as with everyone else, you never have enough $$ to do ALL the shopping that you WANT to do, and had to change our tickets so we could spend extra time with family (not that the 90% of our time that we spent with them was too little!! he he) even still, we still did not manage to meet up with lots more friends and relatives (sorry if you are one of them!! we thought about you!!)



SOOOOOOO, Im back at work. At the hospital, at the hotel...its full on- hosp is same crap different day, challenges me every moment im there. Hotel has been busy with groups of particular organisations and government departments, its amazing how much these guys spend (considering its tax payers money) on food/drinks/bar tabs. Like, the drivers order extra takeaway meals and run up bar tabs, its AMAZING (or is it lack of organisation/control by whoever is organising these trips) working in this industry is a real eye opener for me- seeing how other public servants get to spree. Sometimes i think perhaps, they work hard and only go on a trip like this once in a lifetime so are going all out, but then again these are the same faces that came last year...and the year before, and Im sure we are not the only resort theyve been too.It eggs me cos im a public servant (work for government) and my job has NO perks (apart from the 'satisfaction I get from helping people' yea ok, try to buy a car with that. And i mean no perks, not even a hot water kettle in sight to make a cup of coffee if I really needed one (our staff BORROW kettles from our patients- which I think is BS and keep telling them not to do it- esp the patients who need boiled water like formula fed babies etc)



SO i read a friends blog recently, spelling out her days work, which involved long lunch breaks and hours sitting at a desk trying to think of things to do, and I hear my other pals talk about similar settings at their jobs, and it makes me really wish my job were a little bit easier.



Today, I- saw a woman with metastatic cancer of unknown origin (all that means is we dont know where it started, but shes pretty much doomed cos its everywhere and we cant cut her lungs heart and brain out) who 1) presented once last year with a cough and a funny shadow in xray then was never seen again.2) presented after a year of a a tumour the size of a rugby ball growing out of her left back & failed samoan fofo, after much investigation bar one more to go, had to give her the bad news that it doesnt look good- sux to be me, I was sympathetic as she is young (40s) but so damned irritated by the fact that she sought fofo for so long- i mean, its partly the fofos fault now cause it has delayed her seeking medical advice from us, but no point now in telling them that. its like saying- "its your fault now youre gonna die so there" isnt it?

then, saw an 'angry' asthmatic...yes, angry that shes in hosp again, doesnt want to take her inhalers cause they give her a bad taste on her tongue (thats sometimes what happens when you have poor technique and swallow the powder instead of inhale it) tried to tell her this all while she was looking at me like i was a complete idiot, and then a long whinge about wanting a tablet to 'cure' it (we are not magicians with magic potions you know) and asked if she could see the surgeons to have an 'operation to fix it' - uhm sorry- no can do!-tried to politely explain all this, amindst lots of 'eh!' and "se!" and head shaking, so after a while got a bit fed up and told her off, i mean shes a 40 yr old woman with asthma her whole life, started in NZ- admitted to hospital often there and even got special 1 on 1 education on athma and how to use inhalers...and now shes throwing a hissy fit all becoz she stopped taking her meds and consquently got an attack...eh! thats all i have to say...if you cant help yourself dont think im going to find a way to make it easier for ya!



then, tried to ring apia to arrange a test for a patient of mines- this is how doing this pans out- ring our operator- transfer me to apia..wait-5 mins music , apia operator, can you get me the surgical doctor on call , UHM WE DONT KNOW WHO IT IS... dont you have a roster/list...YES BUT ITS GONE...gone?? GONE LOST NOTHING....ok well can you TF (transfer) to surgery ward please....wait, 5mins music, surg ward, HALO? hi can i speak to the surgical doctor on call...E , KA'ILO FOI PO'O AI....arent you meant to have a list?...E, KA'ILO FO'I PO'O AI UA AVE'ESEA FO'I LE LISI MAI LE LAUPAPA.. ok well can i speak to any of th docs?...E LE'AI MA GISI O I... do you know where they are??...PEI A O LAE O I LE OUTPATIENT...whats the extension for there??...E, KA'ILO, KALI MAI LE LA KOE TRANSFER OE I LE OPERATOR.....then she hung up on me..dooooo dooooo dooooo ringing in my ears

start all over again, cept go thru to outpatient...can i speak to one of the surgical docs....GA O LE ON CALL LE I BUT O LAE PISI.....is he with a patient....UHMM..LAE I KOKOGU LE POKU SA VAAI LAGA MA'I KAILO PO'O KUSI AGA NOTES...well can you ask if he has a moment im calling from savaii...wait ten minutes...HALO???O AI LEA...im calling from savaii, iw as waiting for someone to ask for the surgical doc for me...E , POO AI FOI UA ALU MA KI'A'I LE KALEFONI MA LOU REQUEST!KALI MAI.....wait another 5 minuets...WUI, E , UA LEAI SEISI O IAI...do you know where he would have gone?PEI A LAE ALU I LE THEATRE....whts their extension...E, KA'ILO KALI MAI SE'I TRANSFER OE I LE OPERATOR...then, she hung up on me...doooo doooo doooo ringin in my ear

ring thru to theatre..Halo? HALO...Can i speak to one of the surgical docs...OI , VAAI , VILI LE EXTENSION LEA %&* O LAE GOFO MAI LAKOU KALA ANE O LE KELFONI GA... ring that number, it rings twice, someone pics up and hangs up right away, try again, same things, ring old number back HALO, that number istn working, keeps hanging up..WUI AI FO'II O LE VAEGA GA O LE FIA KALIA SE KELEFONI! HA HA HA...Can you walk over and tell them IM CALLING FROM SAVAII AND HAVE SPENT 45MINUTES BEING TRANSFERED EVERYWHERE JUST TO TALK TO THEM TO DISCUSS A PATIENT...!!!...Wui, kalofae, ia , kali mai le ole a ou alu e fai ai ae fai e omai i i , i lou kelefoni....Thanks...he hung up on me..dooo dooo doooo

it took me an hour to try to get thru and ths is for 1 patient, and there were 3 more that needed 'dsicussion' with apia,grrrr.the system is so flawed its pathetic...such a waste of time all this running around with people who dont know where people are or how to transfer calls or how to get ahold of people its ridiculous, what if it was a real emergency that i needed specialist advice one??ia, survival loa of the fittest!!

eh, all this komumuing is giving me a headache, so out of all of that what i really want, is for someome to train whoever has to work with a phone that makes transfers how to TRANSFER a call and not hang up pon ya! soooo annoying!
ia, dats all fa laia!

work ramblings

Only read thee following if you want to hear the Samoan version of ER. Tee hee!

About once or twice a year, our little hospital with its very few staff and even fewer supporting services gets a big MVA thrown at us (motor vehicle accident). Always, it is tragic, and always there is a dramatic story behind it. None of the typical drunken driver cases.
Last year a young priest and his wife flew to the hospital at lightening speed because he wife had gone into labour very quickly. Unfortunately before they made it to the hospital they crashed, likely due to a small misjudgement of handling a very fast car which was driven by panic of course. The husband died instantly. The wife was in critical condition, was stabilised at our hospital and spent the next few weeks in intensive care in Apia. Her baby (still unborn) was found to have died inside her, and when she awoke from a coma, had to be told that she had lost both her husband and her unborn child. That is a sentence I would never wish upon even my worst enemy. I can not imagine how she manages to still breath and hold her head up today, if it were me i;m sure I would shoot myself, because that’s how weak I am…

Yesterday not far from our hospital, a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle belonging to the local po-pos (you know AKA upholders of law and justice?). Now this is something that really eggs me , because I drive past their headquarters to work everyday and ALWAYS I encounter the po-pos either flying at way too far above the speed limit or bloody driving at 2mph and being who they are, 20 cars behind them therefore feel obliged NOT to overtake…talk about funeral procession. The pedestrian was struck with such a force that he was thrown off his feet, some distance from where the accident occurred. LUCKILY, that distance was only a skip and a hop away from the hospital, so he landed on our front door FAST. UNFORTUNATELY he suffered multiple serious injuries, multiple broken bones, lacerations a punctured lung and internal bleeding. He was rushed to the main hospital and we are praying he makes it. Now, continuing on the po-pos that egg me, shame on them big time. Upholders of the law except there is absolutely NO leading by example. They can’t even stick to the laws themselves, then they go a commit the crimes. These are the po-pos I have grown up with and always known. Never have I ever felt safe, protected or even sure in the sense that if I did something RIGHT they would verify that. Some specific examples that colour my opinions of them are

- My brother drove down the main beach road in Apia one day when a cop who stood right across from the fire station flagged him down. Yes, he stood right where those no parking yellow lines are painted all over a 10 square metre portion of the road in front of the building is. So my brother diligently drove past the lines and then pulled over. So the po-po had to walk a whole 2 meters and 30 cm to get to him, which by the time he did, made him possessed with such rage which manifested as the following – popo “WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU STOP WHEN I SAID STOP” my bro “oh, I was just trying to get past the no parking area” popo “HOW DARE YOU ANSWER ME BACK YOU LITTLE SMART ASS, IF I SAY STOP WHERE EVER IT IS YOU BLOODY WELL STOP RIGHT AWAY AND DON’T THINK YOU CAN JUST DRIVE OFF YOU LITTLE *&%$!” all in samoan of course, no attempts by my brother to defend himself were met with any form of understanding. And he didnt even stop him for any reason in particular, just a random BS registration and licence check. So the lessen he learnt was, cops are always right, you’re always wrong, if they tell you to do something, even if its against the law (of the road) just do it…cos otherwise you’re a smartass little shit.

- Another time, myself the hubby and 2 week old baby were struck in our car from behind by a large concrete truck. The initial popos were thorough, reasonable and sympathetic. They quickly deduced by the skid marks on the road, the bystanders who saw the accident and the way the car received dents, that it was the trucks fault, and they told him so in front of us much to our relief, because it was infact his fault. When we got to the station to put our reports down in paper, another older more senior cop shows up…he laughs at the truck driver and mumbles something along the lines of “not you again” and smiles at him, then looks at our car, the truck, talks to the driver, and then comes and tells us infact, we can not press charges cos its our fault too blab la bla..i cant even remember what the BS reason was cause I was in so much shock, and the initial investigating cops could only sit there and say sorry , that they have to take what he says cause he was more senior then them, and that was that. The truck sustained no damage, we were left we a hefty bill and a shaken belief that the popos are their to help, they are not. one could say we should take them to court (the truck the po-pos) but we live on another island, we both have Jobs, a a young family, hardly spend any time in APia, it is just not feasable..


Now getting back to our pedestrian now struggling for his life in intensive care. The popos had the nerve to come snooping round the hospital after the patient had left to see if he was actually drunk as they had perceived. HE WAS NOT. He was a well dressed young man, walking somewhere to do something meaningful to him, on a Wednesday afternoon when he became the victim of a terrible tragedy. SHAME ON THE PO_POS for trying to fret around looking for excuses to cover up their shady existence.

I just thought, you should all know this. I know there are some goodies out there, some good friends of mines are po-pos themselves, but the crap ones just ruin the whole force its a damned shame.