This post is dedicated to my OT friends…and Laura Rodgers, of course. 
I know some of you have heard about the OT work being slow for the first several weeks, but I haven’t posted much about it. There was a little timing glitch in my arrival…I came when I was told, but the patients I will primarily be working with will start their surgeries this week. As my OT buddies know, we are always teaching people to adapt and we often find ourselves adapting to new and different situations. So I have been able to work as an OT in some unexpected ways…it has been fun and challenging. Mercy ships does a lot of maxillofacial surgeries…many involve fixing jaws that have been ankylosed (or scarred closed/non-movable) because of an old injury or congenital problem. Once the jaw has been operated on…maybe bone taken out or bone grafts put in…the patient needs to exercise a whole lot or the problem will come back. So, I’ve been helping the patients do their exercises; Mainly opening and closing their mouths or stacking tongue depressors to place in between the teeth to stretch the jaw passively and keep the mouth open for a while. There are some patients who have benefited from oral motor exercises to improve oral motor strength and coordination since many of them have never chewed/eaten a variety of foods…so thanks to my speech friends for teaching me about that (there are no SLP’s here). It seems that the concept of prevention is foreign to many Liberians, so teaching them what to do in order to avoid problems can be challenging, but I am doing my best. I have also been continuing to help with orthopedic screening the last few weeks. I have been a runner, a history-taker, and even an X-ray reader in some cases before the orthopedic surgeons arrived. I have found that sometimes in this environment you have to do the best you can with what you have…and then pray. Actually, praying first is helpful. As the orthopedic surgeon keeps telling the patients here…”We are just people; We do the operation, but God is the one who does the healing.”
Today (actually Monday March 31st) I sat with the plastic surgeon while he screened patients to start surgeries this week. We saw a lot of burn scars…many of them are not able to be improved upon, but he will do surgery on the ones who have contractures that are impeding function. I am looking forward to working with those patients soon.
Other fun facts about being an OT in Africa:
- Wearing flip-flops to see patients and rolling your scrub pants up to capri length is perfectly acceptable in West Africa.
- It’s a good thing Ann taught me the value of using regular velcro for straps, because alpha strapping does not exist here.
- You make any type of splint out of whatever material you can find…the varieties of splinting material are limited.
- Yes, you can make a splint by heating water in a kettle and then pouring it into a bowl…you just have to do it quickly. (That was the method I used for the first few splints until someone brought an electric skillet in a suitcase last weekend. I haven’t used it yet, but it will be great.)
- Often you need a translator even when you are both speaking English…Liberian English is quite different…and if another patient wants to translate, embrace it…there’s no HIPPA violations.
- The ruler on the finger goniometers is also very helpful in measuring the distance a maxillofacial patient can open his/her mouth.
The 1/2 circle tent outside the ship is our dockside unit where we will see patients for outpatient therapy after their surgeries.
Inside the dockside unit before it was organized.
That was another one of my jobs while the work has been slow.
Dr. James with the recent shipment of walkers. Yes, he does wear those suspenders every day.
This is an example of a huge container that contains supplies. They are shipped to the Africa Mercy once every few months.
I spotted these boxes that made me feel at home.
