Liberia - Partners in Health

Sorry for the gap in communication - well that is Africa for you! Since I last blogged we have been busily travelling and settling into the Conference. We came down to Monrovia on Monday after rounds at Ganta. The hospital was about the same with the usual desperate cases of folks struggling to survive with diseases of poverty. It was great to see the staff that I got acquainted with last summer. Water and electricity were about the same as last summer infrequent and inconvenient. Once in Monrovia it was wonderful to settle into a room where I could shower. Dinner was great and then to top it off my suitcases arrived - yeah, my jeans were actually able to stand up by themselves (I won't bring up the condition of my underwear again). Tuesday we spent another long trip out to Camphor Clinic. This Clinic is an inspiration. We were met by 42 traditional birthing attendants who eagerly demonstrated their knowledge. We then toured the clinic itself which is maintained neat as a pin. The pharmacy was highly organized and all medications were labelled. The laboratory, sadly, doesn't have working equipment. Today, we started the business of the visit. The meetings to create a way of dealing with how to empower the Liberian Annual Conference in its quest to provide quality health care in resource poor settings. There were the USA partners, Representatives from Ganta Hospitals and UM Clinics, government officials, Curamericas. At the end of this I was able to meet the brother of one of the security guards who works at Medical Center of Arlington. He was very happy to hear news of his brother. I am looking forward to tomorrow as we vision and develop plans for the health of Liberia.