Luck of the draw

Hello everyone! I can't believe that in a few short days we will all be leaving Mongu and continuing on with our travels. I've learned more from this practicum then any regular university class could have taught me. I often look back to the night before our first day of clinical in Mongu. We were all having dinner together when one of my instructors made a toast and said "if this experience doesn't change your life it will change the way you look at your life." Three weeks later I can confidently say it has.

I spent this week on the Children's Ward with Ali, Kristen Merkley, and Avneet. Those of you that know me know that pediatrics is an area of interest for myself and I was very excited to have this learning experience in a new country. Having worked as an employed student nurse on the pediatric floor in Penticton over the summer I have had a small amount of experience in this area. However, looking back I don't think anything could have prepared me for the week that I had. In Canada we are fortunate to fly the really sick acute kids to our children's hospital in Vancouver where there are several doctors, tools, and machines that are specific to certain pediatric conditions. In Mongu, they are forced to work with what they have. This has been a constant theme in my past experiences at the hospital here, but this week it really hit me.

We were only a few minutes into the doctors medical rounds when a new bed with a twelve year old boy was moved from a different room into the acute bay. He was diagnosed with malaria and sepsis. It was roughly about two minutes into me looking through his bedside chart when I realized something was very wrong. The doctor had begun CPR, and a medication was pushed through his IV. The full equipment that would have been used in a code in Canada was not there. I couldn't help but feel frustrated, useless, and confused as I tried to comfort his mother. With the language barrier I wondered if what I was doing was helping or making things worse. All I wanted was for this mother to get closure and spend her last few moments with her son. I didn't know how to give her that and this was one of the worst feelings I have felt as a nursing student. I try not to always compare the hospitals back home to here but when this boy passed away a part of me couldn't help but wonder, would the outcome have been different if we were in Canada?

Before coming to Africa I had heard many conversations and debates about bringing supplies or helping out in other countries. Common questions have been "why would you want to help another country when your own country still struggles?" My answer has never been more clear to me than after this day. We all live in the same world, we are the same people. Land and water are the only things that separate us. As confusing as this day was and as hard as it is to make sense of a situation like this, there is one thing that makes perfect sense. We are so lucky to be born in Canada where there are many resources, opportunities for education, and huge advancements with the health care system we have. Unfortunately, this boy wasn't as lucky. We had the luck of the draw being born in Canada and the only difference between them and us is luck. 

Kristal