FAME

FAME: Fellowship of Associates of Medical Evangelism, aka the best group!

Today was the last day of FAME's short term mission. They got to Nairobi the same day as me (last Tuesday) and they have been diligently setting up clinics and seeing patients in different communities. Yesterday and today the team was in KOSOVO, one of the ten communities in the Mathare Valley. Yesterday the team of 8 Americans and numerous Kenyans saw a total of 215 people -adults and children alike.

The team is made up of a few nurse practitioners, a PT, a medical technician, and two others without medical training. They set up clinics in the church at KOSOVO and rotated people through registration, triage, nurse consultation, health education, and finally pharmacy. The system worked like clock work, and during the course of 4 days, this team saw a total of 900 people.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to work in the pharmacy.... it was a crash course in medical names. You would think I would know more -being the daughter of a pharmacist, but unfortunately those skills didn't really get passed on. The task was further complicated by the fact that each drug had 3 names, and each nurse -depending on whether they were from the states or from Kenya, would write different things for the same drug. After a few hours I seemed to be catching on, which was good because there wasn't much time for slow learners. Two pharmacist and one other intern were practically throwing pills into bags as fast as possible.

The best part about this clinic is that you get to see the progression all the way through. I got to talk with the people as they waited in line outside of the gate. I then found their charts (if they went to the school they had records, but if they weren't a student we made a temporary card), took height, weight, temp -and with the help of an interpreter, recorded chief complaint and did basic assessments. Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to be a part of the health education, but I did sit in with the nurses -and like I said earlier I "helped" in the pharmacy.

Free healthcare is very uncommon, and those seeking treatment were numerous. Most of them were anxious to get seen, even for the most minor of health issues. They very much enjoyed the attention and love they were receiving from this team. We reiterated our message that medicine treats, but God heals. Evangelism could be seen at every corner of the operation -from people praying for others, to nurses loving on kids and blowing bubbles with them.

It was so amazing to be a part of this team, not only because of what they did, but because of who they were. These people were down-right fun! They came over to the Kamau's house last night (where I am living) and we just hung out and ate dinner. My hope is that other teams like FAME will come and share their talents with the communities of Mathare Valley.