It has been nearly a week since we arrived home. Long enough that I am beginning to feel settled, yet not quite completely settled. While I am getting back into the rhythm of my daily life here in the U.S., I think about my time in Tanzania almost constantly. The pleasure of a long, hot […]

  One morning we found this little baby underneath one of our Land Cruisers on our way to the hospital in Tanzania. She didn’t flinch or run when we swooped her up.  I suspect she was very hungry and had gotten separated from her family. With the help of many, both Tanzanian and American, I […]

I’ve been working with our crakerjack Pharmacist, Lisa Kim and I bow to her. She is the Woman! She keeps her cool with a room full of doctors and nurses asking for various antibiotics, ointments, Tylenol (lots of Tylenol), and various other esoteric drugs, at least to me, without missing a beat. It is truely […]

Being an internal medicine doctor, I’ve been on many humanitarian missions. I’ve driven into Mexico, sailed into Indonesia and flown into Tanzania. Once again, I thought I’d seen it all. What made this trip so special was that we were lucky enough to have a complete veterinary team join us. I was given the opportunity […]

Today, I had the oppurtunity to do home visits. Our team comprised of a local case manager, our own social worker, nurse, physician, german medical student and translator. We all climbed into a Land Cruiser and journeyed off into what seemed like the opening sequence of Jurassic Park. We visited 4 patients with HIV, all […]

Home visits Here’s what a typical home visit looks like: social worker, psychologist, nurse, doctor, and translator form the core visiting group. Other members of our group-artists,teachers, tech folks-often help out too. Currently we’ve been seeing people in Endulen, an out-of-the-way place tucked into the hills of the Ngorongoro region. There is a small hospital-clinic […]

A middle-Aged man sits in a mud hut alone. He’s had HIV for 10 years. Appearing severely malnourished and sallow, he hasn’t had anything to eat for several days. The home visit team including social worker, doctor, nurse, and support staff approach his dwelling. Chickens meander in and around his hut. Local children, curious about […]

I came to Tanzania with the understanding that I would be running the recovery room for patients coming out of anesthesia. Once I arrived, I realized it was not so much a recovery room as a recovery hallway, but with the help of my fellow OR nurses and the anesthesiologists we adapted and overcame. It […]

We are on the move! We left Arusha, St. Elizabeth Hospital and Kisongo Clinic and made the long trek to the Ngorongoro Crater area and Endulen Hospital. We were told by Dr. Shriner that this clinic would be different. The patients would predominantly be members of the traditional Massai tribal culture. Additionally, they would likely […]

Today our journey took us through a very picturesque scenery, very green and lush, from Rhino Lodge overlooking the Ngorongoro Crater, to the small village of Endulen, home of long time PSCTP driver/team member, Lesikar Naalais. Along the way we encountered many young children on the roadside and were able to give them toy cars […]