Friday

Friday morning Kelly and I FINALLY had a chance to go on the mammogram van!! Unfortunately the van, which Yale and Johnson & Johnson donated, has not worked in over 6 months. There is also a second mammogram van at the Cancer Institute, which is also out of commission.  Mulago Hospital does have a working mammogram machine, but we’ve been told that mammograms are almost never ordered due to their cost, and that ultrasounds and fine need aspirations are done instead.  That being said, we are very confused as to why two mammograms vans have been donated, and furthermore why we were told we’d be traveling on the van as it operates two days a week throughout this rotation, and come to find out it hasn’t worked in six months! But either way, we’ve learned a ton at the Uganda Cancer Institute!  So what did we do on Friday on the van??  Well on Fridays they do screening breast exams, and since they aren’t enough exam rooms, they use the van for extra space.  This seems completely backwards to me, but we went with the flow.  So we performed several exams, and if there was anything suspicious, sure enough a breast ultrasound was ordered, no mammograms.  We also met Josephine, an eleven year survivor, and volunteer every Friday during this “screening” program.  She talks to woman as they wait for their appointment about the importance of self breast exams, she hands out pamphlets, and answers any questions they may have for her.  Meeting her was the highlight of our day :-)

Friday evening our group went to meet a tradition healer.  Traditional healers are very popular in East Africa, in fact many patients will go to one before going to a medical doctor.  This traditional healer explained to us that she is given remedies for her patients in her dreams from her ancestors.  She will then collect different plants to produce the remedies. She also explained that sickness is often due to a curse or a demon, and she can help relieve someone from such troubles.  However if it is a sickness she cannot heal, she says she refers her patients on to a medical doctor.  She has no training herself, other than the gifts she was given by her ancestors.  This was an enlightening session because so many of our patients bring up traditional healers.