Togo Road- Trip Part 2

Upon arriving at the Hôpital Baptiste Biblique we made contact with Doctor Russ Ebersole and before a bathroom break we joined him on a tour of his hospital. I liked the place the moment I saw it! I was encouraged to see what the faith of other believers has accomplished and the work for Christ that is being done in this remote part of Togo. I have been to a few Liberian and Beninese hospitals, but none of them compared to the hospital I was now visiting. I was energized as I toured the hospital and Doctor Russ introduced me to the team serving and working with him. The hospital has some wonderful pieces of modern medical equipment that we don’t even have on the ship, but it is still an African mission hospital for sure. I saw the IV fluid storage space on a shelf in the corner. Doctor Russ explained that all their IV fluid is made and mixed by hospital staff. Bottles are sterilized and re-used; “it’s cheaper that way.” We saw a medical supply room where there are tons of supplies and a number of random items that had been donated, such as pieces of surgical kits for cardiac surgeries. A lot of good those do in Africa… Doctor Russ said he calls that stuff “Junk for Jesus…” Harsh, maybe, but in reality, not really; myself included, why do we so often leave only our leftovers for God?...

We marched past a room with a lovely curtain with two hospital beds inside. “That’s the maternity ward,” Doctor Russ said. We rounded another corner and I saw a portable X-Ray machine. “Wow,” I said, “You have a portable X-Ray machine, amazing!” Doctor Russ said it is even more amazing when it works! The Hôpital Baptiste Biblique is the second largest hospital in Togo. The first being a government hospital in Lomé with a couple hundred beds and the Hôpital Baptiste Biblique follows behind with 28 beds…. What a sobering fact.

The hospital has a pharmacy that is amazingly well stocked. You would think all hospitals have pharmacies, but that isn’t the case. In many hospitals here, doctors order meds and the nurses are supposed to administer them, but patient’s family members first have to go into town, find the meds, if they can, buy them, and then return with the meds in order for them to be administered. At the local hospital in Benin, surgery doesn’t even take place without interruptions. If IV fluid is needed in the middle of the case, someone from the OR steps out of the OR theater and hands a sheet of paper to the family requesting which meds and IV fluids are needed at that point in the operation. If no one is there to buy them, no work will be done.

We continued touring the hospital and saw the lab. Doctor Russ explained their lab doesn’t have the ability to do bacteriology, but they get by. “Treat the patient with your best guess drug. If it doesn’t work, try another.” I almost choked when Doctor Russ explained the back room in the lab was where their blood bank was located. I couldn’t believe a remote mission hospital would have the proper equipment for storing and banking blood. In shock, I said, “You have the proper devices for thermoregulation and storage of blood?” Doctor Russ said, “Well we have a refrigerator…” we all laughed… (For those of you who don’t know, proper blood banks use far more expensive and extensive equipment to store blood properly… but this is Africa after all, you have to get creative).

Mid-way through the hospital tour, I decided the hospital I was touring was absolutely amazing. My time at the hospital has stirred my heart more and more for medical missions. The hospital was started about 25 years ago and some of the very men, who helped with the mason work, are now trained nurses and physician assistants running parts of the hospital. Incredible; and so important because the true job of a field missionary is to work oneself out of a job. Hôpital Baptiste Biblique has a three-year training program and now almost all of the hospital workers are Togolese Africans.

The next part of the hospital we saw was the medical library. As I scanned the shelves of nursing and medical textbooks from the 1980’s and 1990’s I thought, “How sad that they don’t have current-modern texts.” Apparently our doctor friend read my mind, because he said, “ Our medical textbooks are old, but we have realized that doesn’t matter because the equipment we are donated and the way we practice medicine in Africa is about 20 years old and behind most modern practice anyway.” Oh, so true.

Hôpital Baptiste Biblique does not provide free medical care. Medical care is expensive and from experience, the hospital found out if they don’t charge something people think something is wrong with the hospital. The local people realize the simple truth that things that are worthwhile cost something. The hospital has a men’s ward women’s ward, maternity unit (the two beds behind the nice curtain), pediatric unit, ICU, operating theaters, infectious ward (with mattresses lying on the floor) and an isolation room (where Doctor Russ jokingly said, “Yup we have the negative pressure, reverse airflow, and everything… like at home… see, we shut the doors…” Every other ward space was wide open, only the maternity ward had curtains… so it was a step up to have a door on the isolation room.

The hospital also has a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Doctor Russ, being a pediatrician, saved showing us the NICU, his pride and joy, for last. We followed him to the nurse’s station and stood there for a while waiting for him to take us to the NICU. Confused, we looked at him and he said, “This is the NICU.” Yup, we had just waltzed right through the NICU. The NICU at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique is five incubators lined up in front of the nursing station! The NICU is where critically ill, tiny babies are cared for. At home even after thoroughly washing your hands, gowning, and donning gloves, your chances are still very limited for actually being able to enter the NICU. But, in Africa, where supplies are limited and staff patient ratios can be extremely high, the best place to keep your critically ill patients is where the most eyes will be watching, no better place than right in front of the nurse’s station! Unbelievable!

I spent a fare bit of time in the NICU while I visited Hôpital Baptiste Biblique and that is where I met precious Baby Grace and her mom Jacqueline. Grace is the smallest baby I have ever seen. She was born at 28 weeks, seven months gestation, instead of nine months. Grace is a miracle! Her head was about the size of my two fists put together, but still she had perfectly formed toes, eyes, fingers, a mouth, and a nose. She was so tiny! There is no way Grace would have survived without God’s help and medical care. In the time Grace’s mom has been staying at Hôpital Baptiste Biblique learning how to care for tiny Grace; she has met Jesus and will now have a home with him in eternity some day! That night I went to bed praying that someday Baby Grace will also come to know the miracle of her birth and God’s unique, amazing grace poured out for her on a cross many years ago. This story isn’t over…More to come…