We started the day not knowing for sure how many patients would show up. One by one they came and by 2pm we had admitted 7 patients to the only center in the Pangasinan Province. . In the end 5 full dialysis treatments were completed on day one of operations and all 7 will return on Monday. Not too shabby considering we’ve only been in the country four days and managed to get everything set and ready to go.
I’m not sure if the best part was watching the excitement on the faces of our young trainees or the emotion in the eyes of Emy, Jillia, Noni, and Eveleyn from our Bridge of Life team who used to call this place home.. When Noni addressed the team at our home room meeting- she told the nurses “this is a dream come true for me”. They are all eager to share what they’ve learned in the US to help improve the quality of care for their countrymen. When the blood hit the first dialyzer you could feel the energy in the room.
In the end our trainee nurse Aileen said it best when in the middle of the hustle of getting machines set up and patients admitted and on , she stopped for a second, looked me in the eye and said “It’s a great day” and she was right, it truly was.
I’m not sure if the best part was watching the excitement on the faces of our young trainees or the emotion in the eyes of Emy, Jillia, Noni, and Eveleyn from our Bridge of Life team who used to call this place home.. When Noni addressed the team at our home room meeting- she told the nurses “this is a dream come true for me”. They are all eager to share what they’ve learned in the US to help improve the quality of care for their countrymen. When the blood hit the first dialyzer you could feel the energy in the room.
In the end our trainee nurse Aileen said it best when in the middle of the hustle of getting machines set up and patients admitted and on , she stopped for a second, looked me in the eye and said “It’s a great day” and she was right, it truly was.
You are doing a great job on the blog. Very informative - will be interesting to see the pictures of the "real" world. You look great behind the governor's desk!!!Glad things went better today - must be very satisfying and exciting... keep up the good work..
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd posted a comment, but I think it went to your office mail instead..
I wanted to say:
CONGRATULATIONS on the first dialysis treatments in the new centre. What a great experience for all, I'm sure. A great leap forward for the renal patients of the area!
And nurses and doctors and other staff involved.
It's great being able to follow your progress on the Bridge of Life project.
I love it! (Both the project and following it.)
Take care and watch out for the fishy food :-)
Birgitte
Testing, testing..
ReplyDeleteOne more try to get it right - I hope.
This is all new to me. Live and learn..
Greetings from Birgitte