Today Tama, Lily and I went to Home Away in the morning. Lily will be doing work in their warehouse where they do food and clothing distribution as winter is coming and people need coats. We stopped at their restaurant and asked if they could include hot food delivery to the covid isolation unit and they said they will.
Due to lockdown, all the printer shops were closed but I managed to catch a guy in the computer shop which was not open. He was just there and I convinced him to sell me a printer and some paper. We need this to make the pharmacy cards. The iso box for the central pharmacy is here and we will be moving the pharmacy in over the weekend. We hope. Hoping central triage will be next as it gets colder and colder in the evenings outside.
Triage was quite busy this evening. The primary doctors were already backed up several hours and the triage line kept growing. At one point I was told no more patients.
But I had emergencies – a young man with a nasty huge abscess and a fever, a child who fell with a large head lac, a young man with a soccer injury possibly a Fx, and a really depressed man who had two previous suicide attempts and came to triage because he had not slept in 48 hours. I don’t know his story but his medical paperwork stated he had experienced “horrendous torture and in a devastating situation “. I didn’t let him out of my site and kept him sitting near me until I could snatch our Afghani doctor who gave him something for sleep. He is in line for psychologist, but so are thousands of others. OMG I am worried about this man.
Many were still in line and I was able to give them paracetamols for pain, fill some of their prescriptions, meds for stomach, provide minor wound care. I had to send them away without seeing a doctor. Luckily, I had a backpack full of beautiful cloth masks made by Ronnie Whitaker and distributed these and some granola bars which kept most everyone happy. It takes so little. The masks are a hit and I love seeing people in the camp wearing them. I am not taking many photos as it is really discouraged – I am being careful about internet posting of images.
Lily has taken on the role of field coordinator and is going to get the ngos linked up so everyone, both refugee and volunteers, know where to go for what service. Somehow in this new camp all that is unclear. She has a huge task ahead of her and I’m confident that she will get it done. Above is an image from HOME AWAY where they are making hot meals to distribute to the vulnerable, the prison for covid isolation. Looks delicious and nutritious.
