A New Chapter

The time has finally come!  After 12 years of secondary education, I am finally done with residency and ready to start the work I have spent so long preparing for.  I am heading to Togo, West Africa to work in a mission hospital for the next two years as part of the Post Residency Program with World Medical Mission.  The name of the hospital I will be working at is Hospital of Hope and I will be the only ob/gyn there.  Here is a brief rundown of what all of this means…

What is World Medical Mission (WMM) and what is the Post Residency Program (PRP)?

- WMM sends hundreds of doctors every year to 45 remote mission hospitals and clinics around the world.

- Doctors can serve anywhere from two weeks to two years.

- WMM is the medical arm of Samaritan’s Purse.  In addition to sending doctors and dentists as volunteers, WMM serves as a lifeline to dozens of mission hospitals by providing millions of dollars worth of critically needed equipment and supplies. 

- World Medical Mission’s PRP is a fully funded two-year program for Christian physicians and their families who desire to do medical missions long term.

- Through the PRP, post-residents work alongside veteran missionary doctors.  This allows them to hone and develop the skills needed to practice medicine in a developing country.

- There is a desperate need for medical expertise in the developing world and the PRP trains and equips doctors to work in this setting.

What is Samaritan’s Purse (SP)?

- SP is an international Christian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham that provides an immediate, no-red-tape response to the physical and spiritual needs of individuals in crisis situations.

- SP has worked in more than 100 countries to provide aid to victims of war, disease, disaster, poverty, famine and persecution.

- For more information and to see what projects are currently underway please visit samaritanspurse.org

Tell me more about Hospital of Hope (HOH)

- The hospital opened on March 2, 2015 (so it is very new for a mission hospital).

- It is located in northern Togo on the outskirts of a town with a population of around 40,000.

- There is a sister hospital in the southern part of the country.  Several years ago the missionaries there recognized that there was no adequate health care available in the northern part of the country so the idea for HOH was born.

- There is currently one expatriate midwife at HOH in addition to several expatriate pediatricians, family physicians, an ER doctor and a general surgeon, but I will be the first ob/gyn.  I am looking forward to helping this department grow and develop over the next two years.

- Many of the women in the area have never had access to an ob/gyn (or health care for that matter) so they are used to delivering their babies at home and living with treatable gynecological conditions.

- Patients also come from neighboring countries like Ghana, Benin and Burkina Faso for treatment.

- The hospital is located in a predominantly Muslim region.

Tell me more about Togo

- Their economy depends on agriculture.

- There are 5 physicians for every 100,000 people.

- The maternal mortality rate is 368 deaths per 100,000 live births (28 per 100,000 in the US)

- The infant mortality rate is 45 deaths per 1,000 live births (6 per 1,000 in the US). **The US actually has pretty high maternal and infant mortality rates compared to other developed nations.
-55% of women are literate. 

Ok…now that everyone knows the nitty-gritty I will focus on posting more exciting stories in the future!

So, when do I leave for Togo? 

I wish it was soon, but I have to go to language school first in order to learn French. French is the national language and must be learned even though many of the Togolese people still speak tribal languages.  There will be translators at the hospital to help translate between French and the other languages spoken by the patients.

The language school I will be attending is in…Switzerland!  Who would have ever thought?! I am excited to have the chance to live in Switzerland for a while, but I literally know about 5 French phrases and I am not great with languages so it will still be a rough six months of study and immersion. 

I will talk to you all again once I get to language school.  I am leaving in early August.

Thank you so much for following along on my journey!

**The views expressed in this blog are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of Samaritan’s Purse.