The University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) opened their doors to our team for this two-week mission. This mission was particularly challenged in several areas. The massive equipment and drug shipment was delayed in Lagos for two days while clearing Nigerian Customs. At UNTH, we were challenged by frequent electrical power failures. The majority of our surgeries and post-operative care were conducted under emergency backup generator. Our biomedical engineers, Frank Watts and Daniel Finley, provided invaluable support by constantly dealing with power failures, ageing and obsolete wiring, and monitoring and infusion pump failures. The Engineering World Health (EWH) organization, founded by University of Memphis biomedical engineer Robert Malkin, has been instrumental in providing us with biomedical monitors and other equipment for missions. The Nigerian medical and nursing staff were helpful. Because of economic and political complications, this local medical team has struggled with obtaining medicines which are truly packaged and potent. Our team witnessed this sporadic drug potency. A Nigerian political crisis forced a country-wide strike which further limited electrical power supplies and other support needs. NEVERTHELESS, our ICHF team and the local team pulled together to transform this tenuous situation into a highly successful mission. These are some photographs of the UNTH facilities and staff. |
|
Drs. Kesavulu and Taborda Aitken continuing patient rounds...in the dark |
operating room |
local Nigerian nursing team undergoing orientation on new monitors provided by ICHF & EWH |
local food vendors near hospital |
overlooking Enugu |
thankfully, we had Frank and Daniel |
Frank Watts repairing equipment |
existing operating room equipment |
a tangle of infusion pump power supplies |
Frank repairing ... |
|
local UNTH nurses with some of ICHF team |
two security guards assigned to our team during the mission |
clothing drying outside patient wards |
UNTH grounds |
walkway to cafeteria |
|
UNTH "livestock" |
washing facilities |
|
entrance to main patient ward |
patient ward where children awaited evaluation and (hopefully) surgery |
|
entrance to UNTH |
overlooking Enugu |
operating room |
the single anesthesia machine which Drs. Lubin and Taborda Aitken found awaiting them |
local team |
local operating room team |
operating room during surgery |
on initial arrival |
|
"our bus" |
||
UNTH insignia |
||
"This health institution has been designated a child-friendly hospital" |
UNTH grounds |
|
medical book store |
||
immediately outside the hospital |
UNTH entrance |
|
UNTH walkways |
||
|
||
these two men kept us fed |
||
outstanding pharmacy staff |
rush on gasoline station during country-wide strike |
Nigeria is a republic in western Africa, bounded by Cameroon to the east, Chad to the northeast, Niger to the north, Benin to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. Nigeria has a federal form of government and is divided into 36 states and a federal capital territory. The country's official name is the Federal Republic of Nigeria. |
The International Children's Heart Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3 charitable organization based in Memphis, Tennessee. We are dedicated to helping children with congenital or acquired heart disease in developing countries throughout the world. We serve all children without respect to their race, religion or sex. Our primary goal is to make ourselves obsolete in the countries that we serve. To this end, we strive to educate the health care professionals in the countries we travel and bring them to the United States for advanced study so that they may better serve their own children. |
Copyright 2004, International Children's Heart Foundation. We appreciate your interest and support. Questions, inquiries, or comments regarding and/or are always welcome. You may save the life of a child by clicking here. The knowledge that you made such a significant difference in the life of a child, a family, and a community is priceless. |