Well Babies
Here in M
alawi it’s hard to get routine physical exams. Well-baby visits are a luxury we simply don’t have. However, last week a medical team from the US led by Dr. Ken Root was able to do just that. His team of 2 doctors, an occupational therapist, 3 medical students, a pre-med student, and a Malawian dental technician examined 15 babies and 10 staff members in one afternoon. Whew!
All the babies had heights, weights and complete physical exams done. We weigh babies every week, but the team cam
e with growth charts for each baby, so we can start tracking the weights and following them on a graph. Fantastic! Developmental screenings were done on those we felt had problems. The team was organized, calm and thorough. Everything went smoothly. It was like a dream day at the pediatrician.
What did they fi
nd? Generally healthy and happy babies!! A few had fungal diaper rashes. But for the most part everyone was OK. Developmentally, we had one baby with a tight hip and were shown how we can exercise and stretch it to gain normal function. Everything was fixable. It was good news for us all.
When our team examined our staff they treated everything from high blood pressure to a toothache. Maladies are
very difficult to treat here and long term ones present special problems because medications are often not available. However, the team came equipped with medications as well as expertise. We got creams for the fungi and medications for the staff. Everyone got what they needed.
All in all it was an amazing day. We were grateful for the time, energy, and expense it took the team to do this for us. We are healthier for it. And we had a great time!
alawi it’s hard to get routine physical exams. Well-baby visits are a luxury we simply don’t have. However, last week a medical team from the US led by Dr. Ken Root was able to do just that. His team of 2 doctors, an occupational therapist, 3 medical students, a pre-med student, and a Malawian dental technician examined 15 babies and 10 staff members in one afternoon. Whew!All the babies had heights, weights and complete physical exams done. We weigh babies every week, but the team cam
e with growth charts for each baby, so we can start tracking the weights and following them on a graph. Fantastic! Developmental screenings were done on those we felt had problems. The team was organized, calm and thorough. Everything went smoothly. It was like a dream day at the pediatrician.What did they fi
nd? Generally healthy and happy babies!! A few had fungal diaper rashes. But for the most part everyone was OK. Developmentally, we had one baby with a tight hip and were shown how we can exercise and stretch it to gain normal function. Everything was fixable. It was good news for us all.When our team examined our staff they treated everything from high blood pressure to a toothache. Maladies are
very difficult to treat here and long term ones present special problems because medications are often not available. However, the team came equipped with medications as well as expertise. We got creams for the fungi and medications for the staff. Everyone got what they needed.All in all it was an amazing day. We were grateful for the time, energy, and expense it took the team to do this for us. We are healthier for it. And we had a great time!
posted by Paul and Darlene Heller at 2:06 PM
1 Comments:
What a delightful blog. It was our pleasure to provide pediatric care and assessments to infants taken care of so well. This made our work that much easier.This is a testimonial to the excellent care and attention the infants receive at the Mzuzu CN from the nannies and Paul and Darlene.
Ken
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