Day One Mozambique Operations Update from Andrew Stevens
After what seemed like days of travel (or actual days if you traveled from Alaska like me), we arrived in Mozambique. Unlike the typical emergent missions of Team Rubicon, our group mainly consisted of professional medical personnel:
Andrew Stevens, Team Leader, EMT and Marine combat veteran
Dr. Glenn Castaneda, Chief Medical Officer, Air Force veteran, pediatric neurologist
Joe Costa, Army veteran and physician’s assistant
Dave Pruschki, retired Navy Corpsman
Nancy Campa, nurse
Dolores Meehan, nursing student and our operational liaison
We nervously unloaded our bags, packed full of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, anxious with the possibility that our government clearance to practice and distribute medicine in Mozambique had not been processed. As we inched forward in the Customs line, the thought of being forced to return to the States passed through our heads. Fortunately, the security officers who screened the bags at Customs decided to call it a day before our bags and passports were checked. We met Simon Mudiwa, the director of the clinic where we would work, and loaded our bags into his truck. Crisis averted.
We didn’t know what to expect on the 200-kilometer drive from the airport to the clinic in Gondola, but we were not disappointed from the view of our truck. The streets were filled with locals, balancing anything from firewood to buckets of grain on their heads. We passed modern buildings and traditional mud huts. Entire structures were repurposed as billboards; Coca-Cola advertisements were painted everywhere. The air was thick with the smell of smoke.
As we arrived at the clinic, we were surprised with the conditions. Our accommodations would rival many international hostels, complete with electricity and beds, a new brick building surely constructed in the hopes of attracting Western NGOs. Somewhat disappointed that the TR: MOZ team would not have the same conditions of traditional TR deployments (dirt floors, no roof), we claimed our beds. Within minutes, we had our first patient. An 11-month old girl had pulled a pot of boiling water off a table and had severely scalded her legs. The burns covered nearly one third of the small child’s body. Much of the scalded skin was already sloughing off, leaving the open wounds at risk of infection. Dr. Castaneda, Joe Costa, and Dave Pruschki treated the burns.
Seeing the severity of the burns, we knew the child would soon become dehydrated and would require IV fluids and further treatment. After dressing the burns, we decided the best course of action was to transport the child to the nearest medical center. Upon arrival however, the condition of the center only reinforced our beliefs that Team Rubicon was needed in the region. The sanitation of the clinic was extremely poor and the only aide we found to treat to the child took it as a huge inconvenience. Fortunately, an IV drip was administered and both the child and her mother were given a bed in the clinic for the night. Riding high on our successful treatment of the child and our good fortune at the airport, we felt confident that we would be able to bridge the gap in this country so fraught with poor medicine.
