Morning shift:
6.15:Smack my alarm off, stumble down the ladder from my bunk, jump in my scrubs, grab my pens, badge, door key and water bottle and wander up the very steep set of stairs to the dining room.
7.00: After breakfast walk 3 minutes down the corridor past the hot engine room door and past D and C ward into B ward where i work, whispering as some patients are still asleep and grabbing my assignment sheet from the magnet on the door (everything is magnetic) and seeing what my day holds for me. Some days I have 4 patients , some days i have 8. It depends!
7.00-7.30: We pray together as a group and commit the day to the Lord asking for healing for our patients, wisdom what to do in difficult situations, that that we show Gods love through our actions and that we have fun as a team working together in Africa on a ship!!Then we have handover, i get to meet my patients for the day or i see the ones i have got to know very well over the last month or so who have been with us due to complications post surgery. I introduce myself 'Na mi name Hannah, na mi na u nurse tida' and i get a smile and a bemused look as i then explain that ' I de try fo tok small small Krio' and they nod and smile. Happy I have remembered my Krio i continue to meet the rest of my patients.
7.30-12.00: We give out our medications, teach patients who are about to go for surgery that they need to 'scrub very fine' the area they are having surgery and explain how and what will happen. So many people here have never interacted with white people, never been in hospital, never been on a ship, never had a cannula inserted in their arm, never had their blood pressure taken, never had some of the medications we give etc. The list is very very long. Some people don't even know for sure how old they are which gets very interesting when doing medications for kiddies because its done by age and weight but that's another story. We encourage people to go for 'small walka' but they really do like their beds so its hard to get them out into the corridor but we eventually manage after our translators have a little chat with them. We have devotional time with a team from Freetown who come in a sing, pray and dance with our patients African style for about 20 minutes. They are LOUD! I didn't know how loud people can clap, its unreal!I feel slightly deaf after they leave. Then its movie time...we try to cater for kids and adults so its Madagascar or some other cartoon most mornings and we get to sing along to 'We like to move it, move it'. Patients go to and from surgery. Life can be very busy in the mornings along with trying to entertain some of the kids who either hate or love white people. We blow balloons up or blow bubbles for them!
12.00- 14.00: Dinner is at 12 and no matter how much you need to do their observations or a dressing or give medication you do not disturb them during their meal. They do not like it and you either get a very resistant arm when trying to do a blood pressure or a disgruntled grunt. So, its best to either plan every just before 12 or just after. We then run around doing bits and pieces just before the next set of nurses come in at 14.00 for handover. We check our all charts, make sure any of the orders the doctors made for the morning have been done, do the dressing changes and give more medications.
14.00-15.30: We pray, commit the evening shift to the Lord and then handover to the new set of nurses. Then its time to bring the patients up to Deck 7 where the patients get to get some much needed 'fresh' air and for them to see Africa!! We either climb up the steep steps together or use the lift depending on what surgery everyone has had. We open the doors feeling the massive blast of either hot or humid air after being in air conditioning all morning. The kids from the other wards cycle around up and down the deck on the little bikes and carts we have up there while the adults watch the boats and ships passing by, chatting and talking on their mobiles. Its a great chance to just interact and get to know your patient which has been such a blessing and enjoyment. I love hearing their stories and seeing the impact the surgery is going to make on their lives. We stay together on deck for about an hour if it doesn't start getting too stormy and then we wander back down to the hospital and that is the end of my shift for the day!
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