village clinics

We were able to go along with a doctor friend to see 2 medical clinics in villages.  Some of the "roads" we traveled on were really just paths or trails, and we were lucky that it hadn't rained in a few days because the village roads turn into mud puddles, or mud pits rather, after the rain.  It was clear why some people need to have Land Cruisers!

Above: this is what the first clinic looked like from the outside.

Above is our doctor friend, he is a fantastic pediatrician.  What is he doing?  Putting up shelves!  It is good to be flexible and ready to do whatever needs doing!  JP stepped in and helped with the shelf project once it got started so that the doctor could do other work.

The reason the shelves were being put up is that the clinic's office/exam room is small and they didn't seem to be very good at organizing things there.  The man in charge of the clinic is trained and certified as a nurse, but the work he does led me to think of him as a doctor.  In the photo below you can see his desk before the shelves.  How could he find anything?

Here is the nurse/doctor at his desk after the shelves were up.  It was going to take some time to get down to the desk surface, but don't the bottles of medicines on the shelves look great and orderly?

We went to another clinic in another village.  This one is newly built and was larger and better organized.  One of the big things that these clinics do is provide a safe place and trained nurses to help women give birth.  I read that in Mali 1 in 19 women die in childbirth, so this is a huge need.