On Blood and Cell Phones

This morning dawned hesitantly, but by 9 am the sun was blazing into the muck of the rainy-season and promising a good day.  The health center truck came up to our house to get the district vaccine supply (which we’ve been storing in our fridge) while I want down to see patients.  Nurses were organizing supplies and personnel for the first “Child Health Day” outreach, and annual exercise designed to take vitamin A, deworming medication, and immunizations out to the community.  Over the next week teams will go out to 6 or 8 more distant schools and gather children for treatment and health education.  It’s a great idea, if somewhat chaotic.  We are sending our two health interns as well, to record and weigh and dispense and encourage.  But just as all this was getting organized Scott began to hear gunfire, distant but close enough to be concerning.  In the old days this would have led us to forbid anyone to move out of their homes, we would have canceled the outreach, we would have been thrown into a dither of uncertainty.  But in the new era of cell phones, we simply called the District Internal Security Officer, who called the nearest UPDF detach and found out they were conducting a training exercise.  Everyone apologized for not informing us ahead of time . . . And then health care and the day went on as normal.  Amazing.

An hour later I found that one of my sickle cell patients looked significantly worse.  Her labs confirmed a drop in her hemoglobin to 3.8.  All week we have been lacking blood of her type (O+).  But thanks to my cell phone I had called and begged blood from the Fort Portal Blood Bank yesterday, and when this tiny child needed it I could also call Bundibugyo Hospital and confirm the blood had arrived last night and could be sent to us today.  I remember the “old days” when we would have had to simply wait it out and hope for help.  

Later still, Scott was called by the US Embassy, who may be able to send a representative to our Pediatric Ward Dedication.  Later still, our immobile neighbor Mukiddi (who has a phone!) called Scott for emergency help.

Cell phones, important tools for defense and health!  I know that most people in America are plagued by too many phone calls, but I am still able to be thankful for the days of effort, travel, and missed opportunity which are saved by the simplicity of a phone.