Tancan 2013 Medical Mission

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Wednesday, August 14^th, 2013





We are open for business….





Songea Clinic Day 1: Today was the official first day of the Tancan 2013 clinic, at St. Norbert’s clinic in Bombambili, Songea. We will be screening and promoting preventive health education to the children of the community for the next two days of the clinic. The third day of the clinic caters to the elderly for the first ½ and expecting mothers and their children for the second ½.







We had a late start (TIA: This is Africa) but when things got rolling, they really got rolling. The HIV team worked non-stop, explaining what HIV was, why get tested and the importance of prevention. With the HIV team, fingers were pricked, blood was taken on the HIV test strips, and buffer was used to move the blood up the strip. If the patient was negative only the control section of the test strip, showed up (a line through it). If the patient tested positive then there was a line also through the patient section of the strip, as well as through the control section of the strip. Furthermore, if a patient was positive another type of HIV testing strip was used to ensure accuracy and replicability. We had children fighting trying not to get their hands pricked and children laughing at the others who were scared. Finger puppets were given to those scared to make them fell better. We finally got through the first day and there were about 3 positive cases of the 293 children we saw that day. We finished around 6:00pm, had a brief debriefing and schedule for the next day, dinner and then headed off to bed.

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