Liyoyelo: reaching the community

For just two short days this week, we were placed at Liyoyelo Urban Clinic. Instead of spending the days assisting with the various clinics in the buildings, we decided to take an opportunity to go on a mini-outreach with a nurse midwife each day. Here, we did well-baby check-ups, weighing each child and giving essential vaccinations and medications as needed. We spent a lot of our time doing the paperwork for the midwife. Although it doesn't seem like much, we know we were able to help her complete her job more efficiently and see more people that day then she would have otherwise. 

Our office

It was very cool to nurse outdoors, with the scale hanging from a tree and little stools of goat hide for us to sit on. In the end, sometimes that is where the best nursing can happen. When you nurse in the hospital or a clinic, the patient has come to you and is in an unfamiliar environment. But when you go to their community and work in a common space, it's being present and allowing the community members to be comfortable. At one point on our second day, the nurse had the whole crowd in stitches as she addressed them all. These pieces of community involvement and allowing people to be comfortable with their nurse only helps the profession and leads to better follow-up care and adherence to physiological and pharmaceutical regime. 

Julianne and Mark